
An early rise meant I was parked up just after 8am, the temperature showing -9

Ben More is pretty relentless from the off, becoming very steep near its summit. Ascending its North Face meant the forecasted sunshine wouldn't be experienced until reaching the summit, a nice pay off for all the hard work. Walking past 30 sheep we started the ascent, an orange glow bouncing of the hills North with the views opening up nicely

Winter Wonderland


June coming up the rear...her first time wielding an axe, aye right





We took a steady pace, Sandy catching us with 300m to the summit. We had a quick chat and he moved ahead. Coming to the crags he took a left, I took a right when reaching them. The path was covered in snow which made some of the moves through the steep rocky face difficult, as was solidly planting the ice axe.
It took over 2 hours to reach the summit, rewarded with the sun firmly planted over Stob Binnien



Summit

June - reaching her 5th Munro, and first winter summit


Sandy was having lunch in a nice sheltered spot, so we joined him. Good chat was had, especially his story of hitching a lift in Yosemite with Alex Honnold




So the 3 amigos headed down the Southern slopes of Ben More, the sun shining brightly and providing some heat from the bitter cold. Views ahead simply stunning



More impressive looking North, clearly visible the CMD Arete & Ben Nevis - what a view


The descent to the bealach was great fun in the knee deep snow. Sandy and I started the ascent of SB and never stopped till reaching its summit, a good wee physical workout. June kept to her own pace and soon was standing on the summit with us. We dropped down its West face out of the biting wind for some sunshine & Irn Bru

Nice spot for relaxing


Before making our descent we posed for some photos





The descent was also good fun as the snow was pretty deep. On lower ground we followed a landrover track back to the start. The sun was setting, providing a nice backdrop for the end of our walk



We got back to our cars just as darkness fell. What a great day out the 3 of us had





A great start to winter with two cracking walks done already, long may it continue
