Hello old friend - Ben Lomond

It was a no brainer. The weather forecast was too good not to be out on a hill. We went through a few options but in the end it boiled down to what was closest and had a pub at the end with a TV............ there was a rugby match to watch. Decision made when a certain establishment confirmed they were open and the TV would have the rugby on. Ben Lomond it is.

It has been a while since I last summited. We were beaten back by deep snow, artic wind chill and a cold doggy last January. I did wonder if we were going to have similar problems on this outing. The mountain forecast was giving a "feels like" -15C!!!!!

Well that didn't deter us and we were joined by Lorraine, Jean, Karen, Archie and Lottie dug. Route was to be the up and down the main tourist path - details on Walk Highlands. This was mainly due to not knowing what condition Ptarmigan Ridge was in and not everyone being kitted out with crampons etc.

They have much improved the path out the forrest at Rowardennan which makes that initial pull up a tad easier. Before we knew it we were up on the shoulder. It was very atmospheric with the summit in the mist and the sun shining through it. We hit the snow line around 500m. You could avoid most of it up until we got to Coire Fuar when the assortment of pointy footwear accessories were put to use.

It wasn't long until we were on top and doing the usual photo shoot trying to capture the blue sky inbetween the mist rolling over. The wind chill was brutal so it was a very hasty retreat back down, well we did have rugby to watch................ and we won!!!!!!

The forecast said the cloud would clear

Looking back over Loch Lomond

Happy summiteers

Coire a Bhathaich

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