set off a 5am as I always like an early start.
Arriving in Ballachullish at 6.50 all looked as promised in the forecast
so quickly getting into my grear is was ready and set off with Jake in tow at 7am
the route over past the school was nicely frozen so no problems with boggy ground
The first part I headed straight up to meet the path onto Beinn Bhan ridge
this is certainly a lung opener
the views soon started to open up and were simply inspiring
- Looking over Ballachullish
On reaching the start of the ridge it was simply awesome being out in the hills
- Looking over towards North Ballachullish and the Bridge
Reaching the top of Beinn Bhan it soons levels out giving the old lungs time to recuperate
Soon we reached the ascent up to Sgorr Bhan and here it was time to don the crampons
the snow on this part was well consolidated and made walking easier so was able to make good time
- Snowy ascent to Sgorr Bhan
Getting towards the Munro top Sgorr Bhan the views were breathtaking all around
- Looking over Loch Leven to the Mamores, Beautiful !
Once on the summit of Sgorr Bhan it was here I got a good look at the curved ridge
leading up to Sgorr Dhearg and it look great in a thick white coat
A few walkers had obviously been up the day before so the path breaking work was all done
- Ridge curving up to Sgorr Dhearg
Heading along and up to Sgorr Dhearg I did notice a lot of cornicing
but there was a good set of tracks to follow ,wouldn't like it in a white out though
and here some light snow flurries started and this was to continue but nothing that
would spoil the day
Reaching the summit of Sgorr Dhearg there was basically only 4 metal spikes left of the trig point
and no cairn except for this
- Jake on the summit of Sgorr Dhearg
- Looking over towards Sgorr Dhonuill
- Over towards Nevis and the Mamores it doesn't get any better
After a break to take some pics I dropped off from the summit heading down to the bealach
the first thing I noticed was that the snow here was a lot softer and powdery
So was up to the knees at some points ,but quickly we reached the bealach and here I took
my first sit down for a nice cup of apple and cinnamon tea
and a bite to eat for us bothfrom here looking up I noticed another walker heading onto the summit of Sgorr Dhonuill
I never saw another walker in front of me and I had set out early
- Looking up from the bealach to Sgorr Dhonuill
Tea break over it was onwards and upwards to the last target of the day Sgorr Dhonuill
here the snow situation was similar to the decent from Sgorr Dhearg to the bealach
so it was a bit of a trudge
,on nearing the summit I met to walker I had seen earlierand he informed me he had come up and along the Dragons Tooth and was now heading down
as he had work to go to
fair play to him doing this before work 
after a short chat we both went our separate ways and in no time I popped onto the summit
and had nice views over to Mull and Ardnamurchan over that way the sky looked quite heavy
- Out over Lismore and Mull
- jake taking pride of place on the Summit
After the customary Summit pics it was time to descend back down to the bealach
halfway down I noticed another few people coming along the Dragons tooth
Soon I was at the bealach and time to head down toward the forrest
- Looking down from the bealach
The descent down from here was straight forward soon back on level ground
I sat down to remove my crampons and have another cuppa
I heard voice from where I was sitting ,looking up I noticed 2 climbers making their
ascent up the gully on the Dragoons tooth it looked a great winter scramble
- Climbers in the gully
Soon I was into the trees and no boggy ground to contend with BLISS
I made a slight detour towards the end to have a look at where the old railway station used to be
where the train on the Callander to Oban line used to stop to let passengers off
to catch the ferry over Loch Leven and get a horse and cart to take them toward Fort William
aren't we lucky we dont have to deal with this now
- The old Ballachullish Railway station closed in the 60s
Walk nearly over all that remained was to walk the tarmac pavement back to Ballachullish
All in all it was just another GREAT day to be out in the Mountains
That's 82 down and ONLY another 200 to go
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