
After driving up through the night from Bristol I decided on a late start and shorter route for today, not least as the forecast was for gale force winds, gusting to 65mph easing after mid dayish. After checking the SAIS website I chose Ben More and Stob Binnein as my walk for today. walking North to South and staying off the North East through to South East face and being aware that the threat was 360 degrees on the chart for today. A wide spur and not to steep seemed to fit the bill.
The low cloud and sleet made for an interesting start but no sign of the gusts. I encountered graupel at 600m going into a thin layer of snow at 800m. At around 900m the ground steepened and the snow lay thicker and was alternatively soft then very firm, with a dash of very hard thrown in. I decided crampons was the way forward, so geared up and made my way up a steeper shortish section of hard snow as the clag came in and it started to snow . Halfway up this section I was hit by strong winds so very carefully made it onto the top The winds increased, gusting to 50 mph or more the cloud was down and the snow blowing off the floor joined the flurries already falling. As I pushed on to Stob Binien the weather cleared somewhat making for a pleasant second summit before making my way back to the col and contouring around Ben More and back for the pick up by My wife.
Area :
Loch Lomond to Strathyre (Ben More)
Ben Lomond (974m) and Ben More (1174m) sit on opposite sides of this area which stretches from Loch Lomond to the western end of Loch Earn. There are two distinct sections, to the north and south of Glen Voil, with the remaining peaks sitting to the south of Loch Katrine. Access to the majority of the hills in this area is commonly from Crianlarich, Aberfoyle or Callander.