Ben Vorlich (Loch Lomond)

[EuanWardrop]

After last week's debacle in Glencoe I was keen to get back on the horse and thought that Ben Vorlich would be hopefully straightforward enough. The weather forecast looked ok so I set off early and arrived at the car park for just before 8.

Hydro Power Station at Inveruglas

Setting off along the road we came to the turning to the road for the dam quickly enough. Starting to climb we came across a herd of cows on the road. I was a bit apprehensive as I'd seen the walker in the Pentlands being attacked by a cow earlier in the week! We managed to get through ok and headed on up the road.

Cows!

More Cows!

Ben Vane ahead

The dam quickly came into view and we got our first sight of the path upwards, looked pretty steep! It was pretty hard going to begin with as the path at this section is basically steps up at a very steep angle. There were a few very boggy sections due to the recent rainfall but apart from these the path was in good condition.

Start of the Path up

We reached the top of the first section and the path mercifully evened out slightly. Stopping for a quick rest we were treated to some great views of Ben Vane and the Loch Sloy Dam.

Posing

We pushed on over the flatter section, now heading more North. The path again kicks up steeply and just before the ridge is reached there is one section which could be described as a scramble. Very steep but plenty of holds. It was actually a bit harder coming down than up.

Views back down Loch Lomond

Reaching the ridge was a relief and we had some great views down over Loch Lomond. This section seemed to drag a little with a few false summits before the trig point and slightly further on the true summit was reached. The wind had picked up so we didn't hang about too long on the summit. A more sheltered perch was found slightly off the summit and we stopped for some food.

Summit!

On the return there was a lot more people coming up, quite a popular climb!

Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond

We made it back to the car for about 12.30, 4.5 hours was a good time I felt. Nice to get back in the hills without any dramas! This was a good hill, pretty hard work but worth it for the views!

[gaffr]

Hello.. Good to see that you are out and about again. Have you got yourself a Compass now.?:-)

[EuanWardrop]

Hi gaffr, yes compass and GPS were taken along today!

[gaffr]

Good....you can't have too many of these aids to navigating around in the Scottish hills in poor weather conditions.
Smartphone carried?.....with Ordnance Survey maps loaded up for he entire country....around £20 per annum.
As well as pinpointing your location using the 'OS Locate' feature...six figure reference and the two alphas to fix the 100 Kl. that you are in. Along with the ability to send a 'share' of this data to an e mail address, if a problem is encountered, with just the minimum of reception.