Over The Hill

As we left Balloch in the morning in the drizzle and with low cloud obscuring the hillsides around Loch Lomond our expectations were of a wet and windy day with the probability of another turn around at the summit of Ptarmigan if the weather remained as forecast. Nevertheless, we headed off for Rowardennan, donned full waterproofs and started to walk along the shore path to Rowchnock more in hope than in anticipation.

Up through the woodland and onto the open hillside, passed the tumbling waters of Sput Ban and suddenly the drizzle stopped, the wind disappeared and off came the waterproofs; we were still in cloud, but visibility was good, and there were even a few breaks in the cloud to give us the odd glimpse of Loch Lomond below as we rapidly gained height on this beautiful grassy ridge.

The snow line was crossed just beyond the 499m top of Tom Fithich with ever increasing amounts lying around as we crossed the flat tops of Ptarmigan itself and found ourselves a nice spot alongside the almost frozen lochan for a well earned break and to assess our next steps. The snow was soft and deep in places but was not presenting any problems and, visibility in the grey murky cloud was surprisingly good; and so we decided to continue onto the north west ridge and head for Ben Lomond.

As we crossed Bealach Buidhe and reached the point at which we would start the ascent, we stopped to chat with the only two other walkers we had seen since leaving the lower slopes; a Londoner and a Mancunian, who, very casually asked us if we would mind them "following in our footsteps" as we trod through the deeper snow towards the rocky summit section, where, thankfully, the rocks were almost clear of snow, making the final, short scramble to the summit a relatively easy affair.

The summit was deserted, just Lawrie and myself, shortly joined by our "followers" as Lawrie called out a few "go left" or "to your right" commands as he guided them around the last few rocky outcrops before they joined us on the top, and, give them their due, they did thank us for leading the way - I guess just one more reason why we are "Better Together", otherwise they, the English, may just never achieve the heights we Scots do!

We did not stay too long on the on the summit, it was cold, and misty, so we all set off descending the gentle slopes of the south east ridge, taking the "tourist path", a phrase that suddenly justified itself as we broke below the cloud base approaching the 850m shoulder above Coire Fuar to be greeted with the sight of dozens of walkers making their way up the grassier slopes of the south ridge. Our deserted summit was in danger of becoming very overcrowded. That is if they all managed to go the distance - we had descended through quite a bit of snow, and for long stretches, the "tourist path" was boot-deep in cold, wet slush, not at all suitable to some of the footwear we saw as we passed the ascending groups who posed the usual questions of "is that the top up there", "how much further", "is there much snow on the top". At least the weather was breaking in their favour, as the last of the cloud dispersed and blue skies appeared above a clear summit as we enjoyed a leisurely return to Rowardennan.

A day much exceeding our initial expectations, once again Ptarmigan turns on the charm.