Thursday, September 07, 2017

186. Ben Klibreck (194) (P600 37). 09/08/2017

For Elodie's fifth Munro, we were joined by her uncle Oliver. Staying in Lochinver, this was a slightly long drive away, but that gave the dodgy weather a chance to lift a bit. It was still drizzling when we started and for the first hour or so, but it did improve and become quite good towards the end.

We started off with a river crossing, which can always be a bit treacherous in the rain, but once the correct crossing point was found it wasn't too bad. Then we had a boggy but quite easy walk across moorland to the foot of the climb. From here we went straight up the side on a small path, but in hindsight we should probably have continued a bit further SE to where the slopes eased off because the route we took was pretty steep. Not only was it tiring, I was also a bit worried about my balance with the pack. Anyway, with due care we got to the ridge and found the path along it to the summit. 

It was much nicer on the ridge, particularly since the mist was just starting to lift and we were beginning to be able to see some of our surroundings. The final pull up to the summit was quite windy and cold, but instead of this bothering Elodie, she promptly fell asleep - obviously quite snug enough dressed in her sheepskin.

Halfway back down to the ridge, the cloud lifted completely and we were able to see our way down more gentle slopes from the ridge and back across the bog to the river crossing (which was now dry). Elodie was a little less happy with this section of bog and made her opinions heard, but all in all she had done pretty well. Back to the car in 5 hours.

 A variety of reactions displayed at the summit

 The clouds lifting off the ridge as we start our descent

Looking back to the summit

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