walkhighlands

Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Route: Ben Lui and Beinn a'Chlèibh

Munros: Beinn a' Chlèibh, Beinn Dubhchraig, Ben Lui, Ben Oss

Date walked: 19/04/2014

Time taken: 9.1 hours

Distance: 18.5km

Ascent: 1700m

I've longing to tackle these 4 for some time now and reviewing the forecast Easter weekend 2014 looked like the perfect time to take on this epic day out. GG was signed up too therefore picked him up 630am.

Thanks to bobble_hat_kenny and paula hubens for their inspiration and brilliant walk reports in prep for my attempt.

Arrived at Dalrigh car park and ready to set off (after a mild panic of losing my car keys, fortunately found them) and set off at 825am.

Perfect weather, we knew we were not going to get much better than this.

Excellent progress along the road to Cononish with the initial view of Ben Lui opening up which was stunning and at this point we realised that Lui was holding quite a lot of snow on the summit and that we had not packed ice axes or crampons....hmmm.

We followed the road all the way to Allt an Rund and spoke to a couple who had camped over night, what a perfect spot as the waterfall down from Lui was fresh with snow water and running well. We then made our way up the steep path, faint at times heading for Stob Garbh and upon reaching there the view was just awesome and so clear of Cruachan, Glencoe and the big ben sitting proud. It was just perfection and justified the day. At this point we had hit the snow level however was nice and soft with no overhangs at this point. And so began our snow walk up to the summit of Ben Lui. About 10 minutes in and just under half way to the summit the soft snow turned to ice ! Disaster as mentioned we had not packed out snow kit, however there was one set of icy foot holes so we carefully dug in our toes and walking poles and made slow progress - I must admit there were a few sewing machine leg moments, LOL however it was also a buzz and a real achievement reaching the summit, however lesson learned !

Summit of Ben Lui reached at 1145am and wow the views had just got better with a perfect 360 view and most of the best mountains could be seen. A lovely snow cornice at the summit also. I think this must be one of my best climbs to date.

A quick bite to eat and onto Beinn Chleibh, which turned out to be a nice up and down and not too bad on the legs.

Summit of Beinn Chleibh reached at 1245pm. Stunning views particularly of Cruchan and back to Lui. It also gave us a great view of the route ahead where we would skirt the SE banks of Lui.

We made our way back to the saddle between Lui and Chleibh and decided on a line and stuck to it, no path at this point just instinct. Progress was made however I felt a lot of strain on my left hand side especialoloy the ankle just due to the contour we were following. We started to gain height a little too early for the saddle between Lui and Oss however was not too much to walk back down and again at this stage the view of ben Oss was lovely and also back to Lui. Wonderful range so far!

Pretty steep ascent to Oss on a faint and sometimes disappearing path however this was probably tough due to a bit of fatigue setting in. The weather was still perfect sun and a little breeze probably around 14-16 degrees.

Ben Oss summit reached at 250pm. Spoke with a lovely family we had briefly seen earlier in the day and soaked up the views again. This time Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond and Arrocher Alps view was stunning. The best I have seen looking back south.

Route ahead to Beinn Dubhchraig was simple therefore we made our way and again hit some lovely snow, initially along a ridge which was superb fun and epic and thereafter down a nice gradient so we had a bit of fun and skied down using boot heel and walking poles. It was so effective and so much fun and also helped our progress.The sky was pure blue and snow pure white it was just the perfect setting.

On dry ground again made our way up to summit, legs really tired at this stage however the terrain was perfect.

Beinn Dubhchraig summit reached at 410pm.

Ben More and its neighbours dominated the view and we made our plans of descent. direct route was the plan! NE down the back towards the Caledonian Pines.

Again we encountered a load of perfect snow probably about 300m worth so again we were skiing wi nae ski's. Fun fun fun and excellent progress. Then we hit the path out which was extremely boggy in places, made our way through the pines which were superb and eventually back to the road at the railway and to the car park at 605pm.

An epic day, 4 brilliant munro's, stunning views and perfect weather.

Sun burnt heads and neck and hands. No blisters !

Two happy dudes....here's some pics. Enjoy!

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mr_ash_37


User avatar
Location: East Ayrshire
Activity: Munro compleatist
Mountain: so far.....
Place: Glencoe
Gear: Montane terra pants
Camera: Olympus OMD EM10
Ideal day out: Epic ridge walk....

Munros: 66
Corbetts: 3



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Statistics

2014

Trips: 3
Distance: 18.5 km
Ascent: 3099m
Munros: 5

2013

Trips: 6
Ascent: 6750m
Munros: 12

2012

Trips: 6
Ascent: 2686m
Munros: 5
Corbetts: 2

2011

Trips: 2
Ascent: 1937m
Munros: 2

2010

Trips: 1
Ascent: 1174m
Munros: 1

2009

Trips: 6
Ascent: 5633m
Munros: 5
Corbetts: 1


Joined: Jan 20, 2012
Last visited: Mar 26, 2024
Total posts: 175 | Search posts