Ben Ledi, 16th January 2010

Heavy weather was predicted for the weekend so the trip that Steg and I had planned for two munros at Corrour was revised on the Friday night. It was due to be very wet and the snow hadn’t properly thawed out yet so we aimed for something closer. I’d always ignored the Trossachs but since working in Stirling, I’ve had a hankering for climbing Ben Ledi. It didn’t seem too rocky on the map so seemed like a decent idea for a winter ascent, especially since I don’t have crampons.

I picked up Speccy at 0845 and we headed up the A80 bound for Callander and on to the foot of Ben Ledi. The track to the car park was ridiculously icy and barely walkable, but the Megane fared well on the ice.

By the time we had faffed sufficiently to get all our wet weather gear and warm stuff on it was 1045 and we made a start.

You can see the route here, http://bit.ly/4q3jP8

Initially I had problems getting GPS reception on the Blackberry but it got there in the end, and, as you can see I didn’t manage to get it kicked off until 100m up the hill.

The climb uphill wasn’t too bad, a bit slippy in places. We came across an odd thing in the forest however; there is a large rock on the path with “Jock Thomson” engraved roughly in it. Next to it, on the path was a passport photo of a young man with a shaven head in his early twenties with the words “Steven Thomson” on the back and a long number. Speccy and I weren’t sure what that number meant  – could it be a prisoner number or perhaps he was a soldier?

Anyway, as we climbed, conidtions became steadily worse. It was apparent that the eastern side of the hill was sheltered from the rain, but as we came round the long slow bend the winds started to get quite ridiculous and the rain was hurting our faces. Speccy put his crampons on, but ice wasn’t really the problem it was slippy slush and mud that kept us sliding around. The climb to the summit was arduous and we were in thick mist from around 650m. At points all we could see was white, there was no horizon and the only thing visible was the odd rock. We followed the footprints of the team that were on the hill before us and found a large iron cross – a memorial just short of the summit. Built-up ice was clinging to it, windswept and petrified. We made the summit at 1405, took some photos and then returned to the shelter of the rocks below the iron cross for a quick lunch.

By this time my old Mountain Hardware gloves had started letting in and my hands were very cold. I started losing the feeling in the tips of the fingers of my left hand so held my hands in my armpits until the water in the gloves warmed up sufficiently to bring some life back into my hands.

The descent was difficult at times; the slush was very slippy and sometimes we would drop into a hole of snowdrift that went up to the top of one thigh. The thaw was in full swing.

We made it back to the car at 1605, got warmed up and dried off and headed back to Glasgow.

All in, the walk took over 5 hours, but I reckon I could do it in 4 if conditions were better and it’s definitely an option for an after-work hill once the lighter nights come in.