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I was keen to get out on the hills but I didn't have a lot of free time so I looked for hills closer to home in order to be back for lunchtime. I have been guilty for too long of only looking at Munro's and after reading allansmitchell's report from Ben Donich, I decided to keep my eye on the forecast and if it was looking good then I would go for it. The forecast on MWIS got better the closer we got to today so I got all my gear ready last night including my tripod and filters and set my alarm for 6am.
When the alarm went off I questioned my sanity but after some breakfast I was good to go and I set off at 6:45am. The road was fairly quiet and I made great time up the A82 until I got stuck behind two lorries. I said a prayer as we approached Tarbet that they would turn right even though they were fairly wide and I knew they would be going straight on towards Arrochar. I eventually got past them before the Rest and be Thankful and quickly arrived at the car park.
It was still quite dark as I got my gear on but at ground level, the visibility was good so I could see a reasonable distance. Sunrise wasn't for about 50 minutes at this point but the light was beginning to improve and I turned off up the path and started gaining height quickly. I reached the gate that doesn't lock and before long I was on to a flatter part of the walk and so far I was making good time.
I passed the odd patch of snow and before long I arrived at the section that requires a tiny bit of scrambling and as I stopped for a breath, I could see that the rocks were covered by a thin layer of ice which would make climbing down tricky. I took my time and carefully made my way over the rocks although at one point I sat down to slide slowly off the rock and before I knew it I had slid off and landed on the path without even trying.
From here to the summit conditions underfoot became tricky and quite often I walked on the grass next to the path as the path itself was treacherous. I reached the summit after around 1 hour 40 minutes and the view was minimal although it still wasn't too cold. It had been a waste of time packing the tripod and filters but I would have kicked myself if I had left them behind and the summit had been clear. I inhaled my tomato soup and set off back down the hill whilst taking my time to avoid slipping.
About a third of the way down I could hear the sound of crunching gravel coming up and as I peered into the clag, I saw 5 large shapes appearing and each was holding a long dark shape in their hand which looked a lot like a rifle. They drew closer and it was obvious that I was were correct about what they were carrying. They plodded on past me after I warmed them about how slippy it was and it was surreal to watch them disappear again into the clag. They were all carrying backpacks although one or two were almost as big as the man himself and I was glad that I didn't have to carry quite as much.
I met another few folk on the way up and because the path was dry by now, I made good time back to the car and surprised myself when I realised that I had done the return journey in just over 3 hours. I've realised my mistake in overlooking Corbetts and there are another couple close to the one that I fancy attempting soon. The pictures below are a mixture of phone and camera although some didn't come out at all because of the weather and I've only put a few up here.