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'I will climb a Munro with you, if I can take my Skis'. To ski down a Munro had been on Marcos list, since I dragged him up his first winter Munro a couple of years ago and if Skiing would be the motivation needed to drag him along, I was happy with the challenge
Finding a suitable mountain, which I had not climbed and not too far away took some time, but eventually we agreed on Meall Buidhe.
The drive up to the starting point is a challenge in winter, as the quickest route coming from Loch Lomond is impassable in winter (at least with my wee car). So the long de-tour was the only option and not even got us to the car park as thick ice and snow covered the last 2 km.
But whats a 2km walk.
We parked at the side of the road and unloaded the gear. Marcos idea was to walk in his skies all the way up to the top of the Munro starting from the car.
I had learned that some nifty stuff and skins can make skis into walking gear, I was a bit skeptical but supposingly he had done it 20 years ago in the Alps....
We set off from the car and by the time we had reached the car park and official starting point, Marco had realized that walking in Skis somehow got harder since his last outing 20 years ago
and decided to carry the Skis to the top- a wise decision!
I lead the way up the mountain and unfortunately the snow was deep and soft. It looked lovely, but it was hard going. Marco was struggling with the weight of his gear, but refused any help for the first 45minutes. When he finally accepted my offer to carry his Skies for while, I realized that carrying 6 kilo Skis, any length of time up a hill is a big pain in the backside!!!
The only way to help in the long was to carry one Ski each. It will definitely not go down as something I have to do again, but using the Ski as an awkward walking pole (a very heavy one I might add) was the only way.
We finally reached the top, after a much longer time than planned, but the views were spectacular.
At least for the last bit we were able to dump the gear at the first cairn and make the way without the baggage.
For the ski down part I can not write much about it, but listening to Marco he said it was a great experience, so I will let the pictures speak…
The starting point before the road got too bad
Setting off
Sheep in the deep snow- struggling as well
On the way up with views over Loch nan Damh
On the way up, by that time we had one Ski each
The non advisable walking pole!
The lovely Loch nan Damh
Having a rest during a snow shower - luckily the only one that day
Towards the dam
Great snow drifts
The top comes into view
The view from the top
Skiing can begin
On my way down
Loved the pink sky
Check out the huge avalanche on the mountain in the back
That one...we never saw it happening, but it must have went down while we were up there.