Over The Hill

Ptarmigan Ridge is a popular alternative approach to Ben Lomond for those who want a more challenging route than the "tourist path", and Lawrie has been keen to explore the continuation of the ridge beyond Bealach Buidhe, the turn-off point for those climbing Ben Lomond, to the minor top of Cruinn a'Bheinn before making a descent to the loch shore via the Cailness Burn.

And so, on yet another glorious morning, with clear blue skies, but with quite a cool wind in the air, we set off from the loch side car park at Rowardennan and headed north along the route of the West Highland Way to the cottages at Rowchnock before leaving the WHW and taking the very narrow but distinct path leading to Ptarmigan Ridge. This path climbs very steeply through open woodlands and grassy slopes in a never-ending series of zigzags as it twists and turns up the west side of the ridge.

Height is gained very quickly, and the views soon open up over the southern islands of Loch Lomond, and beyond to the Clyde valley and the Renfrewshire hills. Around the 400m height, the going gets slightly easier as the path levels for a short distance as it contours the hillside before steepening and zigzagging once again as you make the final haul towards the two tops marking the highest points of the ridge.

There are a number of small lochans scattered around the higher tops of the ridge, which, with the long cold period we have been going through, remained completely frozen over and glistened in the bright mid-day sun. To our right, Ben Lomond was entirely snow-covered, as was Bealach Buidhe, which we were about to cross. The snow, like the lochans was frozen solid and so it was on with the crampons which made light work of negotiating the bealach and the initial stages of our descent of the north ridge from the 768m minor top, until we were once again below the snow line and onto the pathless grassy slopes.

Any thoughts that the hard work was over now that we were on the "downhill" section of the ridge were soon dispelled as we first had to work our way around some small, but steep, crags; and, then, as we descended towards Bealach Cruinn a'Bheinn we could clearly see the task ahead in the climb from the bealach to our final summit, Cruinn a'Bheinn. The only option open to us was directly up the centre of the steep hillside, as both the western and eastern slopes were bounded by some awkward looking craggy outcrops.

Twenty minutes of hard work and we were on the un-inspiring summit of Cruinn a'Bheinn, marked by an equally un-inspiring cairn consisting of a handful of rocks. The bonus was that we had a great view of the northern face of Ben Lomond from an angle and perspective unseen by those who climb this Munro from a southern approach and which showed the impressive coire's and north east ridge in all their magnificence. In order to miss the crags to the west, we departed the summit northwest, following the line of a very large deer fence, and made our way down slopes that mirrored the steep uphill pull we had just completed to bring us into the summit.

Once clear of the crags, we headed west across the broad bowl through which the Cailness Burn flows and found a suitable crossing point before contouring around the hillside high above the steep sides of the burn and then descending towards the old woodlands lining the loch side to join the footpath just south of the ruins of the Cailness settlement. We then had the easy, but somewhat long, walk back along the loch side on the well maintained WHW footpath, arriving back at Rowardennan just as the sun was setting on, what for us, was another glorious day for the hills.

Thanks to Jim and Lawrie for their company and another great day.