A stellar Scottish winter day. With my wife Marion, and friends Sean and Andy. I had led Sean and Andy previously on summer walks, but they both wanted guidance to climb a Munro in winter conditions. Andy had just bought winter boots and crampons a few days earlier so this was their first outing. I had sent them the link to a Mountaineering Scotland video on basic crampon techniques as an introduction.
Conditions were perfect for the purpose: all terrain was frozen from roadside level, with water ice on the path and in scattered sheets below the snow line at around 500m. 15cm of snow was typical above, frequently ablated to a hard frozen surface, with smaller areas of deeper drifts.
We followed the standard summer route on to Sron Gharbh and Twistin Hill, stopping to fit crampons just above the snow line. Inevitably, Andy’s crampons hadn’t been adjusted correctly in the shop - too long (!) and I got very cold fingers effecting a running repair. Luckily the heel binding was very firm and I judged it sufficiently safe to continue. I demonstrated a few basic techniques for ascent and descent before we continued. The gap in the ridge before An Caisteal was spectacular, but easy in the firm snow conditions, likewise the Castle itself, and we all enjoyed the brief feeling of introductory mountaineering. At the summit I decided extending the day to include Beinn a’ Chroin might risk a descent in darkness on very icy terrain, and we were happy to have a relaxed lunch break in a lovely sheltered south-facing hollow: truly a luxury on a January day. We were ensconced below a beautiful outcrop of Dalradian mica-schist (BGS Geology Viewer tells me its proper name is the Ben Ledi Grit Formation), so I told a little bit of the story about its formation and pointed out the sparkling mica crystals which were very prominent today.
I advised keeping the crampons on below the snow in descent; this proved a sound choice as we traversed the glassy stretches of water ice en route to the glen.
A fantastic introductory winter experience for Andy and Sean, and great for me to build additional confidence for them in basic winter techniques.
Area :
Inveraray to Crianlarich (Ben Lui)
From the Arrochar Alps to Ben Lui, this area is home to nine Munros. Half of the peaks in the area are within the boundaries of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, while the others lie to the west. The three summits of The Cobbler (884m) contain some of the best climbing in the Southern Highlands while Ben Lui in winter looks positively Alpine. Access is relatively straightforward from the A83, A82 or A85.
