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Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark


Postby Stretch » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:51 pm

Route description: Ben Lomond

Munros included on this walk: Ben Lomond

Date walked: 21/11/2010

Time taken: 4.2 hours

Distance: 11.4 km

Ascent: 990m

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By the looks of my Scrapa's I've done a fair bit of walking this year :lol: . I started the year off on March 16th on Mayar and Driesh and aside from nearly taking all of June and July off I've been steadily creeping toward 100 all year. Back in March I thought getting 50 under my belt would be a good target number, so getting up 67 new summits this year was somewhat surprising. I had been considering saving Ben Lomond for 100 and I am glad I did. I know it's a touristy hill, and I saw tons of unprepared, unequiped walkers on the path today, but it is a fine hill and I really enjoyed my day out.

I set off from the car park around 8:45 and fifteen minutes later I was shedding layers. The sun was coming out - thankfully the weather man was wrong today. I had the hillside to myself for about half of the way until 2 guys passed me and soon after a guy and his dog breezed by. The views back over Loch Lomond had me turning around to take a peek about ever 10 minutes, great stuff. Higher up as I made the turn up the final shoulder to the summit I had to put the layers back on as the windchill had picked up. There was plenty of ice on the tourist path the final 1/4 of the way up, but the going was fairly easy. I got a little break from the wind as the path curved around and within minutes I was snapping pics of the fine jagged eastern corrie. Minutes later I was at the trig point taking in the views. I toasted the hill with a bit of Glenmorangie and then got back to my camera work. A couple came up a few minutes later - it was the girl's first munro - she seemed to be enjoying the day as much as I was. If it hadn't of been so cold in the wind I would have had some lunch at the top, but I dropped back down out of the wind for a quick snack. At that point I raced off the hill (Monty style) and sped past loads of people coming up. It was a good decision to get an earlish start today. I was back down to the car park in no time, at which point I had a seat on the bench looking out over Loch Lomond and toasted the hill one more time.

After struggling up 98 & 99 on the previous day I was well pleased to have 100 finished and to have such great weather to walk in. I considered dropping down the Ptarmigan ridge, but my legs were telling me to get myself down and head home to sit on the couch, my mind agreed. So, for the rest of 2010 I'll probably keep the boots in the closet, but I can't wait to see what next year brings. I probably won't stay in Scotland for all of 2011, but I do hope to get 40-50 hills in before I have to leave. As Kinley and a few others have observed, there is a big blank on my munro map for the northwest, so with any luck I'll visit that area quite a bit.

Anyways, it's been an awesome year and it was really good to meet some of you guys and girls in the past couple of months. Looking forward to more meet-ups, more banter, more pictures of dead trees, and those unexpected fire alarms. :lol: :lol:

Stretch

Ben Lomond to the right.jpg


Late autumn glow.jpg


Footbridge.jpg


Looking back over Loch Lomond.jpg


Onwards and upwards.jpg


The Cobbler in the distance.jpg


Looking east from the path.jpg


The eastern corrie of Ben Lomond.jpg


The last icy stretch to the summit.jpg


Above the eastern corrie.jpg


Crows on a perch.jpg


Ben Lomond Summit with the Arrochar Alps.jpg


The Arrochar Alps.jpg


100!.jpg


A toast of Glenmorangie.jpg


And one for the HDR folder . . .

Ben Lomond from Loch Lomond.jpg
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby mountain thyme » Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:20 am

Well done Stretch.. :D
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby mountain coward » Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:49 am

Yeah well done Stretch - is that 100 in one year? Starting in March?? :o If so, extremely well done! :D
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby Stretch » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:00 am

Cheers MT and MC. I did 67 this year, 31 in 09, and 2 in 08 (in jeans and trainers :? )
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby Merry-walker » Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:11 am

Great set of pictures and cracking views whole way, good choice on your 100th, :thumbup:
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby Jockstar » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:55 am

Excellant ! Well done and fine photos. But no scrambling ??? :lol:
Sorry we couldn't be with you but by the sound of it you were'nt short on company! :D
Glenmorangie? Is that a southern US influence? :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby Alastair S » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:07 am

Congrats on the 100 :D

Looks like the weather was miles better in the west than the east - pretty driech all weekend here - I had to resort to a bit of DIY :( (aka Don't Involve Yourself)
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby Stretch » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:11 am

Cheers everyone. For the first time that I can remember in a while the weather was better out west than it was in St Andrews when I got back home!
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby monty » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:31 am

Well done big man, :D
Getting out in the forecast weather conditions this weekend took guts and with Saturdays walk you proved you have them in abundance. The gods were challenging you on Saturday and your reward was fine weather on Sunday. What a nice walk to do to reach your 100 on Scotlands most southern munro. 67 munros is a great achievement for this year so you should be proud. You have certainly shown dedication and determination this year as Saturdays walk has proved. Once again well done. :clap:

And as ever nice pictures. :D

p.s.
Less of that running now, I don't want any competition :lol:
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby mountainstar » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:41 am

Congratulations, it's a good feeling, isn't it? Hope you manage to bag them all before time is called on your time in the UK.
Any plans for some bothy or wild-camping for some of the remote Munro's?
PS If you ever want an early Alarm call...... :lol:
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby malky_c » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:44 am

I'll transfer my congratulations from your other report to this one :D

Looks like the best of the weather was down that way anyway.

If you're not going to get around all of them, then I'd definitely recommend sampling a bit of the Northwest - Beinn Eighe, Liathach, Ben Alligin or An Teallach would be my recommendations (or Suilven, Ben Damph or Beinn Dearg Mor if you can tear yourself away from the Munros :lol: ). Being close to that lot was a major contributing factor to me moving to Inverness!
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby Stretch » Mon Nov 22, 2010 11:00 am

Cheers guys, yes it is a great feeling, although today my legs would argue otherwise. I would at least like to get halfway through the munros by the time I leave, which very well could be June 30th at this point. Hillwalking and all that goes with it will be the thing I will certainly miss the most when I have to head back stateside.

My plans for getting up to the more remote areas will definetely see me staying in a few more bothies Alan. As long as I bring mouse traps and check to see that there are no fire alarms I should have a good night's sleep :lol: Suilven is on the to do list Malky, it's too impressive to ignore. As for Liathach, I'll be looking to have some company along for that one. I'll try to plan a meet up for May in the Torridon area so hopefully more of us can experience the joys of the north.
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby suhowfar » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:18 pm

Well done Stretch, congratulations on your 100th. As Jockstar said, shame we could not be with you, but it looks like you raised a glass on the fine 100th occasion of the good stuff!! Hope you enjoyed both...Great photos too :D
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby nathan79 » Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:52 pm

Well done Stretch.

I was over by Loch Earn, up Ben Vorlich at virtually the same time. Failing to get number 20 due to conditions. The summit was seemingly do-able but i didn't want to chance it.
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Re: Ben Lomond - Hittin' the century mark

Postby gammy leg walker » Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:56 pm

Once again big man well done on hitting 100,looks like we are going out this Sunday on Beinn Budhie as planned
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