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Managed to prize my recently retired dad away from his new found love of DIY and gardening for a sneaky Munro.....only just mind!
I decided on Ben Vorlich +/- the menacing Stuc a Chroin as Alistair had done this the week before and I am trying to keep up as best I can. Though Stuc a Chroin did sound a bit scary, he told me there was a detour path for the more timid that avoided a steep scramble up the rock butress ( eek!) - no way i'd be going that way. After a quick google of the detour path, I wasnt sure I be going that way either.
So a meet up on the side of Loch Earn was arranged for 0800 hrs and we decided to give it a bash, at the very least we knew we would manage Ben Vorlich.
The day came and we parked up on the verge just before the old stone bridge and it was not long before a car load of students (rather young and fresh faced looking) pulled up behind us. They sprang into action and were out of sight and off up the hill in no time. I felt slightly better that there would be others up there I must admit.
We passed a grave just before the bridge which we couldn't make out. Turns out it marks the spot where the bones of seven members of the McDonald clan from Glen Coe were found. They were killed in 1620 whilst trying to rustle cattle from the Stewarts of Ardvorlich! Scotland at the time was a pretty high risk zone!
Despite noticing a helicopter in the garden of Ardvorlich house!? Our passage was safe and were soon on our way along the wide and obvious path up Ben Vorlich.
- Dad outside Ardvorlich house
Some interesting plants along the way, which walkhighlands helped me identify
- Yellow Saxifrage
- Coults foot
It was a quick ascent into cloud and mist. Had to get out the full waterproof works out just before the summit, Dad was reluctant, had never worn his waterproof trousers before and thought they would be a hindrance. Five minutes more of heavy rain and they were being dragged out from the depths of his rucksack, I'm saying nothing.
Another five minutes later, after nearly falling over the edge on several occasions whilst trying to get his boot through the legs, dad discovered (to his amazement) that they unzipped all the way up to allow for a smooth and safe transition. In the end he was more than slightly chuffed with them
and they couldn't be parted for the rest of the day.
- Hiking up toward the summit of Ben Vorlich, clouds looking pretty heavy
- The summit - really cant see much
- A happy wet hiker and another Munro conquered for dad and I
The summit of Ben Vorlich is a surprisingly small platform, not too thin to be frightening but without being able to see anything of what surrounded us I felt slightly unnerved. I was going off the idea of Stuc a Chroin rapidly. We met the students again up here, now looking cold and slightly less spritely but their presence was a comfort.
Soon the conditions turned more favourable and a break in the clouds revealed a nice path leading off Ben Vorlich in the direction of Stuc A' Chroin. Feeling much more confident about the prospect we agreed to head down and 'take a look'. I had already informed dad that I was nervous, this rubbed of on him and we tentatively trundled on towards it.
I'm afraid pictures of this section are non existant, I was too preoccupied and now deeply regret this. Typical.
The path was easy down to the col and there we could see this scary rock butress shrouded in mist, and to the right of it the also scary looking detour route leading up a steep grassy slope. Hmmm.
Not wanting to admit defeat quite yet and allow yet another Munro to scare me off I suggested to dad that we could walk far over to the right where the hill tapered to a more inviting angle and then boost up the ridge that way. We couldn't really tell how long that would take or how far it was.
Dad then took the upper hand and rightly said that was a ridiculous suggestion. In his opinion 'option 1 was the butress, 2 the detour path, and 3 we leave it'. He then sensibly said we couldn't possibly write it off until we had gone closer to get a better idea of the angle. So off we went to take a look. From the base of the detour path we both were surprised by how much more benign it appeared and now agreed it looked easy! Up we went confident, happy, poles and all.
We got about 3/4 of the way up without any difficulty. At this point the path was getting quite a lot steeper, and our fully extended poles were really getting in the way but we were both a bit too scared to put them away (error). Our feet now clung (somehow very well) to a rather alarmingly steep path that was mostly devoid of rocks to safely lodge your feet behind and hand holds!
We both felt scared, I could tell. If Alistair had been there he would have got the blame, but with Dad being scared too I felt obliged to keep my head. We scrabbled up to a place where the incline eased off slightly and briefly, not fancying the way up or down much from there.
We only had about 10 metres left so I set off first. Our hands were out because of the poles so it was a question of a penguin type run to the top just to keep moving and get it over with. Dad I could see had adopted the same style.
Up on top adrenaline running riot we took a deep breath & got our centre of gravity back. This was then rapidly knocked off by strong winds, which I began to fear might blow us off the edge. Dad I think at that point realized he had decided to hike with a petrified, hyperanxious, pain in the neck.
- Face says it all, yes that was a bit hairy!
- Dad now enjoying the view
Both of us were well aware of the fact that this path would not be fun to return down, dad was afraid of ripping his now precious waterproof trousers (so he said) and so we started discussing whether or not a munro would count if you were unable to get down. We didn't come to a conclusion about this, and instead enjoyed our summit glory. Both of us very proud of over coming the path challenge despite the desperate scrabble.
- Pretty proud of this one + photographic evidence for Alistair.
- Dad on one of his possible tops
There were a few cairns up there so we had fun walking around on top and got some views as and when the clouds permitted us.
- Walking between the cairns on the summit
- Still smiling.....not sure how I got up, not sure how I'm getting down?
- Dad at the memorial cairn thinking the same
In order to get off Stuc a' Chroin we were both unanimously in favour of the previously 'ridiculous' idea of walking right off down the summit ridge to the point where the slope back down into the valley looked easy enough.
It was wet, ankle breaking territory and a slow going slog underfoot but we were just glad to be avoiding
THAT path.
Having overcome Stuc a'Chroin were didn't mind a slightly longer walk back home and the weather was holding out. We found our place and descended easily down into the valley.
From here we made a bee line for the lowest point of the ridge on the slopes of Ben Vorlich and joined up with the normal descent path following the contours of Ben Vorlich back round to the main path.
- A nice view of Ben Vorlih from the slopes of the 'scaredy cat' detour
- Big bright juicy cloud berries!
- Having crossed the valley back on the lower slopes of Ben Vorlich, making our way back up to join the contour path and then the main path back out
Not exactly Liatach but a great challenge for us amateurs and a good bit of steep track practice, I think it pushed us both just the right amount outside our comfort zone