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Up until October 2019 I'd never been up a Munro more than once. If someone had predicted that Ben Chonzie would be the first to get a "double tick", I'd probably have laughed in their face! We first climbed Ben Chonzie as a rather spur-of-the-moment hill in summer 2012, on the drive back from Arran to Aberdeen. That time we'd done it from the Loch Turret side, returning over Carn Chois. The circuit had actually exceeded our low expectations despite a very muddy patch by Lochan Uaine, but I still wouldn't have categorised it as a classic.
Nevertheless, with shortening daylight hours and a covering of snow (we weren't quite sure how deep) on the Munros, Ben Chonzie looked like the perfect candidate for what would turn out to be our last proper hill walk of 2019. This time we headed up from the normal, Glen Lednock side - but we varied the return route as is mapped out below:
The trees around Comrie and the Deil's Comrie were still sporting lovely autumn colours as we drove up Glen Lednock to the start at Invergeldie. Start of the track:
For most of the ascent beyond the farm it's just a case of following the track (forking right just before the dam, and otherwise always taking the uphill branch). Good views back towards the snowier West Highlands as we gained height. A few sheep and hairy caterpillars about, otherwise quiet.
We were fooled by a faint path at about the 600m mark which we thought might be the main path to the summit. This soon faded away to nothing so we returned to the track and I decided to follow the map a little more closely from this point
...the real path is marked by a cairn and is quite clear on the ground.
Approaching the summit plateau - a few other walkers around now:
OK so the summit plateau isn't the most interesting of places, but there were good views north and the whole area was made a bit more scenic by a light covering of snow.
Loch Turret:
Summit shelter:
We'd reached the top in a couple of hours, so there was loads of time to try a different descent. We opted to head due west, through Coire Riabhach (which doesn't actually appear to be a coire - or else the wrong place is labelled on the 1:25000 OS map) to meet another track along the Invergeldie Burn. This was across pathless, fairly steep ground, but not too boggy and no snow here. We also finally stumbled across a couple of mountain hare, which had been absent on the way up. After nearly stepping on them, I think we got more of a shock than they did! View from the descent:
Looking back at the way down:
Invergeldie Burn:
Once down at the track it was plain sailing down the glen - quite scenic - until the outward route was rejoined. The shortcut path marked on 1:50000 maps doesn't really exist on the ground, so keep to the track...
