Over The Hill

This was to be our first major walk of the year, having spent the earlier part of January on less demanding walks to shake off the Christmas excesses. We arrived at Lawers early enough to get our cars in the small parking area just up the road from the Horn Shop, which saved us the walk along the road from the Lawers Hotel parking area.

We set off past the Horn Shop and by-passed Machuim farm on the designated route and then followed the well defined path through the bracken and trees to the nature reserve, negotiating the high styles and fences en route. It's always a very pleasant walk up this part of Lawers Burn, and height is easily gained with the view back over Loch Tay opening up as we climbed.

Once over the final style and out of the nature reserve, we continued on the main path for a few hundred metres till we were at the edge of the old shielings and then simply took a northerly heading directly over the open, heather clad hillside aiming for the nose of Sron Mhor. The going was good, the recent frosts having hardened the ground underfoot, and we topped Sron Mhor in just over an hour and 30 min's. We were now above the snow line, walking in a covering of semi-hard snow, making it good going, and no need for crampons.

Dropping slightly off the top of Sron Mhor, it's a relatively short haul up the final ascent to the broad flat top of Meall Greigh, which we reached in just on 2 hours. By this point, the views all around were quite extensive, with Loch Tay like a millpond below and our next objective, Meall Garbh, looking daunting with much more snow around then we were encountering on Meall Greigh.

We departed the summit of Meall Greigh heading northwest and then swinging west down the slopes towards the bealach at Lairig Innein. Here the snow was considerably deeper, and we had to pick our way around some fairly deep troughs as we approached the bealach. We then began the long climb to the upper levels of Meall Garbh our route paralleling the fenceline which was completely covered in frozen snow, making an unusual sight as the sun shone on the fence posts and wires.

Four hours from Lawers we topped Meall Garbh and joined 6 or so other walkers as we crowded the summit cairn, I think the size of our group may have hastened their departure onwards! From the summit we watched two ice climbers, looking like little ants, on the slopes of the steep northwest ridge of An Stuc, I guess they were ascending the ridge directly from the floor of Fin Glen.

Before departing the summit we decided to don our crampons for the descent as we had come through some rather icy sections on the ascent. Crampons on, we set off to retrace out route to the bealach at Lairig Innein. En route, we found a lovely slope that was just iced over enough for some of the more energetic members of the group to get in a little arrest practice, so we had a bit of fun and a laugh at the antics as some necessary winter skills were practiced.

From the Lairig Innein, we dropped south, heading for the small dam at the head of the Lawers Burn. The snow was quite deep here, and the small burns were covered in a layer of ice, requiring care to ensure we didn't end up waist deep in a burn. Reaching the dam, we picked up the good track which contours around the hillside and followed this for a short distance before we dropped off on the lesser path leading to a steep descent towards the footbridge across the Lawers Burn. Once over the bridge, it was a short ascent to regain the path on the east bank for our return to the old shielings and the nature reserve trail. As a reminder of how quickly daylight is lost on winter days, the final stages from the nature reserve down were completed in darkness, necessitating us dipping into our rucksacks and getting the head-torches out.

This was a brilliant winter walk in perfect conditions, with great winter views all around. - Thanks Alan