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Easter Sunday. Forecast was for it to improve during the day with most tops to be clear of clouds later in the afternoon.
Thought it would make sense to have a later start for this one, (aren't these light evenings great?) met up with my friend Rachel for breakfast in Killin. The ice had melted enough on the Ben Lawers road to be able to drive up to the visitor centre car park. Set off from there at around 11:30, the top of Meall nan Tarmachan was covered in cloud and on our ascent we disappeared into the mists for a while. Saw some stupid people sliding down steep slopes as we got closer to the top.
Heading up into the clouds on Meall nan Tarmachan
Didn't hang around for long on the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan, just to check the map to check direction to continue along the ridge. In no time at all we'd reached the airy summit of Meall Garbh and sat down there for a brew and a bite to eat. At around 2 pm, the clouds started to lift and we got some good views.
Starting to clear up on Meall Garbh
Safely negotiated the rocky bit of the ridge, then put on my crampons to give me a good grip for the descent along the ridge.
me on Tarmachan ridge below Meall Garbh
Meall nan Tarmachan, Meall Garbh
Tarmachan ridge from Meall Garbh to Beinn nan Eachan
After the descent of Meall Garbh the going became a bit easier on the approach to Beinn nan Eachan, the visiblity was continuing to improve too.
Beinn nan Eachan
The approach to Beinn nan Eachan on the Tarmachan ridge
Meall Garbh
Meall nan Tarmachan
Meall nan Tarmachan and Meall Garbh
ascending Beinn nan Eachan
Stopped for a cup of tea at the top of Beinn nan Eachan, looking back along the ridge, the views were amazing.
Glen Lochay from Beinn nan Eachan
Tarmachan ridge from Beinn nan Eachan
looking towards Ben Lawers from Beinn nan Eachan
Meall Garbh from Beinn an Eachan
After descending Beinn nan Eachan, the snow got patchier, so I took the crampons off for the reaminder of the walk. There were fine views of the way we'd been from Creag na Caillich and also over towards Ben More.
Tarmachan ridge from Creag na Cailich
Ben More and Stob Binnein from Creag na Caillich
Tarmachan ridge from Creag na Caillich
Ben More and Stob Binnein (zoomed in!)
Glen Lochay from Creag na Caillich
Loch Tay and Killin from Creag na Caillich
Meall Ghaordaidh from Creag na Caillich
end of the Tarmachan ridge
Meall Corranhaich and Beinn Ghlas
Loch Tay
Meall nan Tarmachan
Made our way down from the ridge to meet up with a track that would lead us back to the car park, the snow was a bit deeper here but it wasn't a bad walk back and the views were good, though Rachel remarked that we should've done this part of the walk when the tops were in the clag and we'd have had it clear all the way along the ridge...why didn't we think of that 6 hours earlier??