free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Parked just before 9am at the Ben More sign on the A85 at the start of the walk, right next to Darren's car, he'd been asking about parking in the general forum this week. So he made it and nice and early too. Bumped into him on my ascent of Stob Binnein as he was coming down.
The weather was supposed to be reasonable so I was hoping for lots of good photo ops...typical though...beautiful at first then nearing Ben More's summit the cloud came down and there was a horrendous, bitterly cold wind.
The cloud remained most of the time and the wind wasn't much kinder.
A couple of people were coming up about half an hour behind me but I wouldn't bump into them until my descent of Stob Binnein...nobody was stopping for very long as it remained bitterly cold near the summits.
Pleasantly surprised that there were no difficult bits on either hill although crampons were a necessity due to the hard snow and ice.
2 hours got me to Ben More's summit and that was the hardest part of the day as the ascent of Stob Binnein was relatively easy after fighting the wind previously. After chatting to Darren for a bit I reached the second summit to see 2 more people coming up from the opposite side.
Had a good chat with them, took their photo, then headed down into the valley.
6 hours total although I do faf about a lot taking photos, even in this weather..always optimistic
Jogged a fair bit of the 3 km along the track to the car.
The start
Ben More ahead.
Looking back - River Fillan into Loch Dochart.
Ben More Summit. Extremely windy. Extremely cold
Looking back at Ben More from Stob Binnein.
A few pics on the summit of Stob Binnein.
The 2 gents who came up from the other side...at last...a bit of colour
Back down in the valley.
...and a wee waterfall to finish
Poor visibilty but great day all the same!
David