I climbed Meall Ghaordaich as part of a Meetup group outing arranged by another organiser – however after we took the wrong path, the organiser walked off in a huff. This was mainly because there were several very fit walkers in the group, and the organiser felt humiliated at not being able to keep up when we had to cross a patch of pathless terrain that was very difficult to walk in.
Once we were back on the right path, the others asked me to lead the group, although by now I also was having difficulty keeping up with most of the others, so I didn`t do much leading! The rest of the way to the summit was quite straightforward, but the weather conditions were very challenging. The first high-level snows of the winter had recently fallen, and the winds were very strong. I had become very tired crossing the pathless terrain, and I was near the back of the group. There was a woman behind me who was finding it even more of a struggle, and I waited for her as there were some rocky bits that were tough to climb in the high winds. When we got within about 50m of the summit we met some of the others coming down, and they told us that the wind at the summit was so high that we`d have to be very careful and maybe go on all fours.
Around this point I started to feel really tired and a bit dizzy, and I wondered if I should turn and go back. We had already met a couple of women (not part of our group) who had decided to go back because they were concerned about the weather. I`d bought two small chocolate bars that morning, and I stopped to eat one of them and gave the other to the woman who was also struggling. After that we felt much better and managed to push on to the summit.
The summit was incredibly windy - I managed to get a short film of it before we turned back. We chose a slightly different point to return from the summit as we didn`t want to get blown over the edge by the high winds. But as a result we were unable to find the right path back down, and the thick snow didn`t help. We found a sheltered spot, and I took out my map and compass and worked out that we should be going much further east. My friend also helped by pointing out that we`d been able to see the top of Ben Lawers all the way up, but that it was no longer visible. By walking round the mountain in an easterly direction we were able to find our way back to the path, and we almost caught up with the others, except that I fell into a bog and got a bad attack of cramp, which I managed to ease by drinking some water and eating a packet of salty crisps.
Despite all the mishaps, we all enjoyed the day and felt a sense of achievement, given the challenging conditions.
Area :
Glen Lyon to Glen Dochart & Loch Tay (Ben Lawers)
This area covers the peaks to the north and east of Crianlarich. Glen Lyon forms the northern boundary while the road from Crianlarich to Aberfeldy is the southern boundary. The Ben Lawers group in the east of this area includes seven separate peaks, all Munros, which are part of an impressive 12km ridge line. The western side of this area is generally lower and not as steep but does still home some a number of Munros. All major peaks above 600m are included in the mountains list. The area to the north is Loch Rannoch to Glen Lyon.
