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Weather: It was a hazy
day - there was a lot of cloud in the valleys as the sun rose, creating a very
striking sunrise. When the cloud moved in, the light was flat and there was
nothing to photograph. Stronger wind up top but otherwise nice day, and a
chilly, start, that cold crisp air you get on winter mornings.
Accompanying: Dink |
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Sunrise
and the approach to Ben Vane
This was the first time I'd climbed anything with Dink in a long time, not since November and December 07. He had
since learned to drive, which made this trip very enjoyable - there was no waiting around
for a lift back. We simply took his car up and it's easy as hell. Far preferable
to waiting around for a lift or a train. We left the house
around about 6.20am after a 5.30 get-up. When we left the house, the sky was
glowing dull blue and the sun had a while to go until it was up but driving up
Loch Lomond in the dark, I spotted the first golden clouds on the horizon. There
was a lot of low mist about, but the sky was mainly clear and it seemed we may witness the
sunrise.
When we arrived by the Inveruglas Power Station an hour after leaving, the sun
was still beneath the hills, although things were brightening up. By the time we
were walking along the road and onto the track to Ben Vane, we saw the
sun rising. And it was an amazing one. Blankets of low cloud were lying around,
creating some kind of inversion and the sun rose behind the haze. It was
striking, and things were about to brighten up.
Ascent of Ben Vane
Beyond the bridge at Coiregrogain, locating the beginning of the path was easier
than I'd expected. A distinct and boggy path (although not as bad as some seem
to make out), we held a good pace up the hillside, Ben Vane now under soft, bright sunlight. The sunrise
improved
as we gained height. We stopped and started several times but headed upwards,
eventually setting our sights on the sort of cave half way up. The slope was
fairly steep,
with good views to Ben Vorlich, Loch Sloy and A' Chrois (a more angular peak
from this side) and soon enough we'd ended up at the "cave". It wasn't so much a
cave but a huge overhang where we took out first long stop. With a rising sun,
mist in valleys, sunlight, plenty of food to eat and on top of all that, someone
to make great conversation with, I was loving it. We spent a lot of time there.
Moving on, the going was steep but the scrambling sections were good fun. Ben
Vane, a rugged mountain, was my last peak in the local area but somehow I'd not
climbed it, partly due to lack of access from Arrochar or by train and also for
the more "desirable" mountains around about it. Now I was climbing it, I loved
it. It's a fantastic hill...
As the sun moved upwards, things clouded over a bit. The scrambling became more
frequent, even if the gradient began to flatten out. The day was too hazy to see
much and most other mountains were capped in cloud anyhow. There were no views
but it didn't bother me. It was inevitable we'd hit cloud, and soon enough, we
headed into it. From the path below, the upper reaches of Ben Vane almost looked
pinnacled, but above, what looked pretty dangerous didn't need approached. The
going was easy even if the path was sometimes pretty steep. There were the false summits everyone had
spoke of (in mist it was harder to identify them...) but with each one, we
descended one hump and had a scramble up the next, each with their own hard or
characteristic sections. It was all great fun, and we were soon enough at the
top.
There was the cairn, the odd looking lochan beside it but also the wind.
It was biting stuff, and the jumper went on. We took several middle-of-cloud
pics and got shelter on the path beside the cairn. We stayed for 20 minutes but
with no views, we descended. I ate the most of the food I brought along and we headed
down, out of the cloud. The day was overcast now and it was a good thing we
started so early.
Descent
We headed downwards and came to the boggy sections at the bottom where I
managed to shatter two of my right hand fingernails against a rock, but
they weren't too bad. Nowhere near as sore as on Beinn Narnain on March '08.
That was sore.
We got back to the track and steadily walked back to Inveruglas. It took a while, even though we were feeling a bit worn. It was just
a case of following the track back to the road and walking the few hundred
metres to the car. When we arrived back, the car was so nice to have. I got a
cup of tea from the coffee shop as well as finishing off most of what I'd brought to
eat. We headed off back to Glasgow. It was yet another brilliant day in the
mountains - I've had a lot of superb days recently. Ever since (and including)
Ben Donich everything's been absolutely top notch and lets hope it stays that way.
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