Ben More - First Report

[MikeyKean]

Arriving at 0845 on a Saturday morning and not knowing exactly where the parking was just off the A85, I was glad to see the row of cars close to Ben More lodge. If full, there is further parking at a nearby lay-by or failing that just drive to Crianlarich and walk back no more than one mile to the start of the assent.

Being a relative novice, this being my ninth Munro (I count Goatfell on Arran as a) it was my first climb last year and my legs nearly gave up on me and b) it is only five metres short so a bit of a run and jump should just about hit the Munro threshold), I am always amazed at how different each Munro is. 😀

Following the small sign for Ben More, we were on our way and the inexperience showed as it only took 15 minutes for a wrong turn to be made. The path wasn’t immediately clear to us and we initially followed the tyre track as opposed to the path. The path, once finally on the right one, follows a steep assent most of the way up.

The path is a bit patchy in parts during the first half of the assent and on speaking to various people during the day (it is a community after all 😀), it seems that more of a defined path is being created which will help as parts were pretty muddy and a bit of a slip hazard, especially when coming down.

The summit is pretty cool, forgive the lack of hillwalking terms, it has lots of little caves and rocks. Bit of scrambling as you approach the top but nothing to worry about and really enjoyable!

Didn’t go on to climb Stob Binnein as we seem to stick with one Munro per climb but would definitely like to start combining a few different Munro’s per climb!

We took it easy all the way up and down, never in any great rush, always keen to take in the views, so up and down in 5 hours, but could easily be done a lot quicker.