Day gig in Lochearnhead

At some point in the 1990s, I ran out of new Munros that were achievable on a day trip …I am enjoying the current spate of day raids on the Corbetts !

Through the road works on the A80 (there always seems to be something happening here), off towards Callander and over to Lochearnhead. Dumped the Berlingo in the town car park and headed back towards Glen Kendrum. Briefly chatted with some guys who had parked in the small church car park …we reckoned nobody would be inconvenienced since it was a Sunday !!!

Found the track heading north over the old railway which I had previously passed along whilst cycling from Inverness to Glasgow back in 2003 with John Queen and Gerry Henderson. Started up the track with some music ...had a wee sing to myself but got all self aware and stopped ! Climbing higher and the snow got harder - perfect. Picked a line up through the crags on Creag Mac Ranaich stopping only to fit my shiny new Kahtoola microspikes ...a very lightweight "kinda" crampon. Whilst being far from proper mountain crampons, the easy of fitting makes them perfect for use on that marginal ground that would ususally mean not bothering. With careful route choice and sensible application they are ideal for a fast and light winter trip.

The summit gave seriously great views over towards the Ben Lawyers group which were plastered in snow - looked like ideal ski mountaineering conditions !

I made my way down to the bealach where I had a bit of food and a hot drink before starting up the second summit of the day Meall an Seallaidh. Again the microspikes gave enough traction to pick a nice line. I decided to test exactly what ground they could cope with and can confirm that Grade 1 snow ice is beyond the limit ....opps ! Not a huge issue but back to cutting steps (something I have not "had" to do for a long time). Topped out onto the ridge and headed to the summit before a cracking run back down to the glen.

If only ma wee legs were this long ...hills would be easy !