Ronnie's Mountain Walks 2015
During the 2015 summer holidays Ronnie managed to walk to the summits of 4 different mountains in the space of 8 days.
SCAFELL PIKE - 3,209ft or 978m
On Saturday 25th July Ronnie woke up at 5.40am for the drive from our campsite at Coniston to the National Trust car park at Wasdale so that he could have a go at climbing Scafell Pike!
We finally started our walk at around 7.45am while the mountain path was still fairly quiet, but to Ronnie's surprise we did come across a number of walkers who were coming down as we were going up.
After a couple of hours of walking in very good weather Ronnie found himself at the summit of England's highest mountain, and due to our early start there were only about a dozen others there with us which meant we got to enjoy our packed lunch in relative peace, although we did have to put on some extra layers as it was a bit chilly up there!
Here are 2 videos from our walk, the first shows a montage of photos that I took during the walk, the 2nd shows a selection of video clips from our walk:
And finally for Scafell Pike here is the photo of Ronnie and I at the summit:
BEINN GHLAS - 3,619ft or 1,103m
On Wednesday 29th July Ronnie again woke up early, this time for the drive from our campsite in Perth to a car park just outside Killin, for our attempt at two summits - Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers. The plan was to climb up and over Beinn Ghlas, and then along a ridge to climb the final few hundred feet to the summit of Ben Lawers which is Britains 10th highest mountain summit.
The walk up Beinn Ghlas was tough going on a steep path on a steep well maintained surface to start, but then on to a very steep and rough/rocky path for the 2nd half of the climb. As we went higher the wind got up, the temperature dropped, and the cloud started coming in.
After a couple of hours of hard walking we found ourself at the summit of Beinn Ghlas, unfortunately as we reached the summit the cloud quickly came in and our visibility was down to about 20 yards. Ronnie and I had our photos taken by a couple of walkers who we had done the 2nd half of the walk with, Ronnie seemed confident enough to walk ahead with them at times while maintaining a conversation with them about mountain walks :-) Having had our photos taken Ronnie and I then sat at the summit to eat our packed lunch as no one was going anywhere in this visibility!
The cloud then lifted and we set off down the other side of Beinn Ghlas to drop a few metres on to a wide grassy ridge to walk approximately 1/4 of a mile before the final climb to the summit of Ben Lawers, or that was the plan!
The grassy ridge is reasonably wide, but it is also very exposed and unfortunately this meant Ronnie was in trouble. The wind up here was now quite severe and he was being buffeted all over the place, and the temperature was now very low. Ronnie gave it a good go, but as we went along the ridge he saw Ben Lawers, the climb up the side to the summit was a rough looking climb that was also very exposed, and the summit was covered in low lying cloud. Ronnie now turned to me and in a very grown up matter of fact style stated that he felt it was not safe for him to continue the climb in these conditions and that we should head back down. I agreed with Ronnie, feeling very proud of the fact that he'd managed to climb Beinn Ghlas (higher than Scafell Pike) in such bad conditions but also feeling bad for him that he was about 30 minutes from reaching the summit of one of Britains highest mountains.
We walked a few more yards along the ridge to where another path came up that bypassed Beinn Ghlas, and we dropped down the side of the mountains, and took a leisurely walk back down to the car.
Here is a video clip of our walk on Beinn Ghlas:
Here are some photos from the walk up Beinn Ghlas:
Ronnie at the summit - notice how little cloud has come in yet?
Ronnie and I at the summit a minute later - notice the cloud?
The path we had come up just 2 or 3 minutes earlier:
Ronnie heading off for the ridge across to Ben Lawers which is the summit shrouded in cloud just ahead:
SCHIEHALLION - 3,553ft or 1,083m
On Thursday 30th July Ronnie and I set off from Perth at 6am to drive to a remote car park to walk up Schihallion. Schiehallion stands at 3,553ft which while being 62ft lower than Beinn Ghlas which we'd done the day before, it was still 344ft taller than Scafell Pike, making it another large mountain to conquer.
The first 2/3rd's of the walk are on a steep but very well maintained path and we made excellent going on this surface. But then, the final 3rd is on a boulder field, a massive rocky wilderness with no obvious path and no cairns to guide the way - it's up to the walkers to choose their own route across here. It was in this boulder field that I could feel my anxiety building for the first time during our holiday as all I could see were places where Ronnie could have a serious accident on the rocks or fall down the sides as we reached the top.
Ronnie however was in his element, slowly but carefully making his was ever onwards towards the summit. The final few yards involved some very light climbing over a few boulders, and we were there!
We then made our way back over the boulder field before having our packed lunch and enjoying the view, before heading down with another mountain summit in the bag!
Here is a montage of video clips from our walk, the 1st two clips are of Ronnie going up and the rest are of our descent:
Here are a coupe of photos:
Ronnie at the summit of Schiehallion:
BEN VRACKIE - 2,759ft or 841m
On Saturday 1st August we set off for what would be our final mountain walk of the summer holidays - Ben Vrackie.
Height wise this was to be the smallest mountain that we would climb, but this was no easy walk. The 1st 2/3rds were on good well maintained paths, and we made good time on our way up, but then we reached the final 3rd! This was a rocky and steep climb of about half a mile, and the weather was changing. When we left the car the weather was blue skies and sun, as we started the final rocky ascent the cloud was being blown in and the temperature was dropping. This final climb seemed to take forever, and we were both commenting on how much our legs were hurting but were not sure if this was down to this climb or tha fact it was our 4th climb in 8 days?
We finally reached the summit but it was now enveloped by cloud, and it was so cold we had full winter gear on! Having taken our photos, we headed back down, as we did so the cloud lifted a bit to allow us to enjoy some fantastic views which helped lift our spirits. Once down I took Ronnie to a local pub for a celebratory drink :-)
Here is a video montage of clips from our wlak on Ben Vrackie:
Some photos from our walk on Ben Vrackie:
7.20am and Ronnie is already well into this mornings walk and is above the low lying cloud which can be seen in the back ground:
So, that was our mountain walking done for the summer. We had planned to do Ben NEvis while in Scotland, but the week we were there the weather at Ben Nevis was pretty poor with a mix of high winds, low visibility, rain, and snow so we chose not to try it. We had also intended to do Snowdon towards the end of August, but the weekend we had allocated for this the weather at Snowdon was heavy rain and high winds, so we had a family weekend in Whitby where both children enjoyed a trip to the abbey and Ronnie enjoyed a walk to the roof of the central tower of York Minster :-)
SCAFELL PIKE - 3,209ft or 978m
On Saturday 25th July Ronnie woke up at 5.40am for the drive from our campsite at Coniston to the National Trust car park at Wasdale so that he could have a go at climbing Scafell Pike!
We finally started our walk at around 7.45am while the mountain path was still fairly quiet, but to Ronnie's surprise we did come across a number of walkers who were coming down as we were going up.
After a couple of hours of walking in very good weather Ronnie found himself at the summit of England's highest mountain, and due to our early start there were only about a dozen others there with us which meant we got to enjoy our packed lunch in relative peace, although we did have to put on some extra layers as it was a bit chilly up there!
Here are 2 videos from our walk, the first shows a montage of photos that I took during the walk, the 2nd shows a selection of video clips from our walk:
And finally for Scafell Pike here is the photo of Ronnie and I at the summit:
BEINN GHLAS - 3,619ft or 1,103m
On Wednesday 29th July Ronnie again woke up early, this time for the drive from our campsite in Perth to a car park just outside Killin, for our attempt at two summits - Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers. The plan was to climb up and over Beinn Ghlas, and then along a ridge to climb the final few hundred feet to the summit of Ben Lawers which is Britains 10th highest mountain summit.
The walk up Beinn Ghlas was tough going on a steep path on a steep well maintained surface to start, but then on to a very steep and rough/rocky path for the 2nd half of the climb. As we went higher the wind got up, the temperature dropped, and the cloud started coming in.
After a couple of hours of hard walking we found ourself at the summit of Beinn Ghlas, unfortunately as we reached the summit the cloud quickly came in and our visibility was down to about 20 yards. Ronnie and I had our photos taken by a couple of walkers who we had done the 2nd half of the walk with, Ronnie seemed confident enough to walk ahead with them at times while maintaining a conversation with them about mountain walks :-) Having had our photos taken Ronnie and I then sat at the summit to eat our packed lunch as no one was going anywhere in this visibility!
The cloud then lifted and we set off down the other side of Beinn Ghlas to drop a few metres on to a wide grassy ridge to walk approximately 1/4 of a mile before the final climb to the summit of Ben Lawers, or that was the plan!
The grassy ridge is reasonably wide, but it is also very exposed and unfortunately this meant Ronnie was in trouble. The wind up here was now quite severe and he was being buffeted all over the place, and the temperature was now very low. Ronnie gave it a good go, but as we went along the ridge he saw Ben Lawers, the climb up the side to the summit was a rough looking climb that was also very exposed, and the summit was covered in low lying cloud. Ronnie now turned to me and in a very grown up matter of fact style stated that he felt it was not safe for him to continue the climb in these conditions and that we should head back down. I agreed with Ronnie, feeling very proud of the fact that he'd managed to climb Beinn Ghlas (higher than Scafell Pike) in such bad conditions but also feeling bad for him that he was about 30 minutes from reaching the summit of one of Britains highest mountains.
We walked a few more yards along the ridge to where another path came up that bypassed Beinn Ghlas, and we dropped down the side of the mountains, and took a leisurely walk back down to the car.
Here is a video clip of our walk on Beinn Ghlas:
Here are some photos from the walk up Beinn Ghlas:
Ronnie at the summit - notice how little cloud has come in yet?
Ronnie and I at the summit a minute later - notice the cloud?
The path we had come up just 2 or 3 minutes earlier:
Ronnie heading off for the ridge across to Ben Lawers which is the summit shrouded in cloud just ahead:
SCHIEHALLION - 3,553ft or 1,083m
On Thursday 30th July Ronnie and I set off from Perth at 6am to drive to a remote car park to walk up Schihallion. Schiehallion stands at 3,553ft which while being 62ft lower than Beinn Ghlas which we'd done the day before, it was still 344ft taller than Scafell Pike, making it another large mountain to conquer.
The first 2/3rd's of the walk are on a steep but very well maintained path and we made excellent going on this surface. But then, the final 3rd is on a boulder field, a massive rocky wilderness with no obvious path and no cairns to guide the way - it's up to the walkers to choose their own route across here. It was in this boulder field that I could feel my anxiety building for the first time during our holiday as all I could see were places where Ronnie could have a serious accident on the rocks or fall down the sides as we reached the top.
Ronnie however was in his element, slowly but carefully making his was ever onwards towards the summit. The final few yards involved some very light climbing over a few boulders, and we were there!
We then made our way back over the boulder field before having our packed lunch and enjoying the view, before heading down with another mountain summit in the bag!
Here is a montage of video clips from our walk, the 1st two clips are of Ronnie going up and the rest are of our descent:
Here are a coupe of photos:
Ronnie at the summit of Schiehallion:
Ronnie on his way down out of the boulder field:
BEN VRACKIE - 2,759ft or 841m
On Saturday 1st August we set off for what would be our final mountain walk of the summer holidays - Ben Vrackie.
Height wise this was to be the smallest mountain that we would climb, but this was no easy walk. The 1st 2/3rds were on good well maintained paths, and we made good time on our way up, but then we reached the final 3rd! This was a rocky and steep climb of about half a mile, and the weather was changing. When we left the car the weather was blue skies and sun, as we started the final rocky ascent the cloud was being blown in and the temperature was dropping. This final climb seemed to take forever, and we were both commenting on how much our legs were hurting but were not sure if this was down to this climb or tha fact it was our 4th climb in 8 days?
We finally reached the summit but it was now enveloped by cloud, and it was so cold we had full winter gear on! Having taken our photos, we headed back down, as we did so the cloud lifted a bit to allow us to enjoy some fantastic views which helped lift our spirits. Once down I took Ronnie to a local pub for a celebratory drink :-)
Here is a video montage of clips from our wlak on Ben Vrackie:
7.20am and Ronnie is already well into this mornings walk and is above the low lying cloud which can be seen in the back ground:
Ronnie at the summit of Ben Vrackie, but unable to enjoy the view due to the cloud:
Ronnie heading down the rocky path and out of the cloud:
So, that was our mountain walking done for the summer. We had planned to do Ben NEvis while in Scotland, but the week we were there the weather at Ben Nevis was pretty poor with a mix of high winds, low visibility, rain, and snow so we chose not to try it. We had also intended to do Snowdon towards the end of August, but the weekend we had allocated for this the weather at Snowdon was heavy rain and high winds, so we had a family weekend in Whitby where both children enjoyed a trip to the abbey and Ronnie enjoyed a walk to the roof of the central tower of York Minster :-)
posted by Leighton at 10:14 AM
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