Meall Garbh - An Stuc - Ben Lawers

Craggantoul hills

Saturday 17th March

Our 'boys' bounded up the grassy slopes of Meall Garbh. 
 Blue skies and sun putting a spring in their steps.

Andy striding out purposefully

Despite the strong sunshine we needed warm clothes,

it was a chilly wind.

It was at this point the girls waved us on - 

they would do their own thing and see us back at the house.

a breather before the final slopes

We looked east to Meall Greigh - very different conditions today 

from our last visit to these hills.

easy high level walking - the eastern hills in this range are rounder and less craggy

 A feature of hill walking in recent years is the explosion of wind farms, 

and they are not exclusive to upland areas.

These turbines are above Aberfeldy - completed in early 2012, 

Griffin is located within a boundary area similar in size to the nearby city of Perth. 

Its 68 turbines are built on land which is a mixture of 
upland heather moorland, grassland and commercial forestry.

Griffin Forest wind farm above Aberfeldy

The summit path gave stunning views of the north ridge from An Stuc

'good winter walking'

An Stuc was, as always, intimidating!

...cant' avoid going over it...

It was at this point that we had a rather odd encounter.

Ron, forging a way up the steep southern side, 

appeared ahead of us at the dip on the ridge, 

he must have run up the slope.

Disbelieving David questioning Ron!

Grub stop on An Stac

....more Jelly babies please...

Ben Lawers had cleared of cloud

 and it looked like we would have the ridge to ourselves. 

Although we could see figures on the summit -

It's not a place for those seeking solitude.

'a light dusting of icing sugar'

Views south over the wee coire lochan to Loch Tay

our descent route was on the far side
of the snow covered slope

Looking back along our route - watching cloud 

being blown north east

'where is Ron-will he pop up in front of us again?'

We made fast progress off Lawers running down the hard sugary snow

our fast descent to Loch Tay

See what happens when you eat too much, you fall through holes!

a hidden stream

It was a deep one and we had a good laugh at

Andy struggling, of course he would ham it up..

Gonny gie's a haund?

A pretty good day out - now ready for dinner!