I was back in Scotland this weekend on unfinished business.
Along with Mark C (Champo) we were looking at doing Ben Vane (915m). The SMC's guide to the Munros says that the south face is a continuous slope of 45 degrees for around 600m.
Only complete fools would attempt this route.
Naturally the weather was worse than last week and it was piddling down straight from the car park. But fortified with his Tilly hat, Champo was well up for the challenge, so we got going.
We followed the Land Rover track to around 250m and tried to find signs of the 'path'. Of course, the path is virtually non existent and appears on maps merely to attract English and German tourists to the area.
This left us with the Harvey Wallbanger option:
....Straight up, with a twist.....
I don't mean to contradict the experts at the SMC, but the slope was nearer 48 degrees and very slippy. However, Champo had his hat, I had my Mars Bars and we were on target to find the path at about the 500m mark.
30 minutes later and bingo! a path. Sorted!
The rest, as they say, was 'easy'. Visibility stayed poor all day, it rained all day and photo shoot chances were limited.
But as always, a great day out on a great mountain.
...and Ben Vorlich sat there behind a wall of grey murk, smirking in the knowledge that the weather was going to get worse and that a second Munro was going to be out of reach.
Next time though.
Full time result - Davie 3 - Alps 1.
Davie
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