Ben Cruachan and Stob Diamh

[skye2304]

Gosh! Spoilt again with the weather. We stopped over in Perth with a couple of walks in mind, depending on the forecast. In the end forecast was not brilliant but I thought if its too bad then a reverse descent back the way we came would be reasonable. Instead the weather, again, was fantastic.
Parking is a little sparse by the side of the road, next to the railway station. The start of the path actually goes under the rail line - thru the dank little tunnel you see on the path up to the station!
As is the norm for walks in this area, the approach up to the Dam is enjoyable with views over Loch Awe.

Morning over the Cruachan dam

Looking at Ben Cruachan's profile you might think the climb to the top is a little steep. If it is you don't notice it. The approach up the south ridge is long and tiresome but not as bad as I thought it might be.

Looking up the south ridge (no, that's not the top!)

Once you summit, you realise it was all worth it and those reports that say this is one of the best ridge walks in the Highlands - are spot on.

A view SW, from the summit of Cruachan

The ridge itself is not fearsome. The northern aspect is precipitous, the southern aspect a steep slope.True, there are one or two easy rocky bits on the initial descent from Ben Cruachan. Even under snow, these were Ok. A very windy day might put you off.

The ridge from Ben Cruachan

My only downer was the final descent back to the dam road. That last mile or so down the slope and along the dam was an 'orrible bog!
But take nothing away from what I thought was a perfect, early winter's day outing.
Another one I would definitely recommend doing again.

[Paul Webster]

Great stuff - the last two photos especially good.

[sloosh]

Yeah, those photos are great!

[mountain coward]

Love the photos... especially the last one... but I would find it far too narrow in winter I think - I wasn't keen on that bit in summer (although I did that as my first or second Munro - can't say which as I wasn't 'Munroing' at the time)...

[skye2304]

Cheers. I'm really disappointed with photos...I recently bought a Pentax Optio S12 - just for the quick point and shoot whilst out and about.
The camera, for some bizarre reason, insists on stopping down to f/2.8 on any landscape mode. So everything, except the very near, is blurred (as you can see from my recent photos). I am definitely no expert but I think I am going to have to bin it, get my old camera out and put this one down to experience... unless anyone knows a way round it? (no, it doesn't have a manual F-setting)... days like this in Scotland, are far to few to mess up on!

[Milesy]

I was up yesterday. Most of the snow had been scoured off and all there was left was some hard icey nevé. And some people at the top with no crampons or ice axes.... Goodness knows how they managed to get up or down

[LeithySuburbs]

Compact digitals can be annoying.

I suspect you are accidently focussing on the nearpoint (such as trig point) - this will usually put the distance out of focus. Try focussing on something far away (infinity in photo terms) then move the camera to the desired position to frame the shot. This will probably involve holding the release button halfway down (it should beep when it has found something to focus on) while you move the camera. Once in position, fully depress the button. Of course this may be totally irellevent b*ll*cks for your camera .

Anyway, try it out - hope it helps

There will also probably be a chapter in the manual on focussing if you have it.