KYQ4: Ben Vorlich (Loch Lomond)

Ben Vorlich Trig Point, not the summit

Thursday 9 December 2021

Ascent:      1037 metres
Distance:   18 kilometres
Time:         5 hours 54 minutes

Ben Vorlich 943m 3 hrs 10 mins

Winter conditions had arrived and John had come to stay for a few days. We planned to walk on Friday but high winds, poor visibility and snow showers are not high on our wish list any longer. There would be a few hours of dry clear weather on Thursday so we decided to take advantage of this weather window. It would be claggy until 11am so there was no need to start early. We parked at the Sloy Power Station at Inveruglas, the car park was being gritted and it was a bit icy underfoot. It is about a kilometre walk south alongside the main road on a gravel path before the track to the Sloy dam takes you through a gate and under the railway line. A truck adapted to run on the rails raced past as we began the steady climb towards the significant engineering works being carried out on the Sloy power station transformer replacement project to build a new substation, replace the transformers, and upgrade or remove sections of overhead lines (OHL).

We veered off to the Sloy dam at the junction with the track that continues up the Glen that leads to the steep path up Ben Vane. It was just over 4 kilometres to the start of the very steep path alongside a burn that spirals upwards to Ben Vorlich. In its lower reaches, the path is a well-constructed staircase made from large rocks. The views over the Sloy dam were impressive but this would be the best of the weather for the day. We reached the snow level at 400 metres and it became increasingly deep as the path disappeared from view.

There were some day-old footprints that might or might not have followed the path. Walking poles were needed to judge the depth of the snow as we occasionally fell into pockets of recent snow. By the time we reached 600 metres, it became harder as rock bands covered in snow had to be negotiated. I fell down a cleft in the rocks and it took me 5 minutes to dig myself out. By 750 metres, the gradient lessened and the ridge to the summit became apparent. The winds had blown away some of the snow so we could move more quickly on shallower snow or occasional icy patches.

A young woman walker caught up with us and thanked us for kicking steps for her to follow and asked if she could tag along with us. We discovered later that we both had thoughts of calling it a day as we were behind our hoped-for schedule of reaching the summit by 1:00pm. The brief interlude of sunshine had given way to cloud and limited visibility ahead and there was no discernable path. Typically, neither of us had expressed any doubts about turning back, it has never been in our nature, and now we had a determined young walker to lead to the summit as well.

We had broken the most difficult section and we chatted as we progressed to the trig point and explained to our new walking colleague, Kirsty, that the real summit was another 150 metres along the ridge. It was not visible in the cloud but took no time to find. We stopped for some food, drink and photos and it was well after 2:00pm when we began the descent. There was a brief respite as the clouds dispersed as we reached the trig point on the return and we managed some photos before beginning the long descent through the snow. I suggested a more direct route down by dropping to Coire nan Baintighearna and then finessing our way through the crags to the southeast. The ground looked less tricky and it was less distance.

However, Kirsty had a bike at the foot of the path so we decided to return by the ascent route following our foot holes. It proved to be a reasonable decision after we bypassed a couple of the difficult snow-covered rocky sections from our ascent. Kirsty shared her quest to climb all the Munros, she had become smitten as Covid had changed lifestyles, socialising was difficult and her time off as a pharmacist had been diverted to enthusiasm for hill walking. She intended to climb the Munros in ten years and had managed 64 this year. Watching her progress today, I doubt it would take that long to finish, she has the determination, energy and fitness for it to be just the starter for a lifetime of adventures in the great outdoors.

We were down to the track by 3:40pm, it was already dark and the promised rain had started. Kirsty collected her bike and disappeared down the track under the influence of gravity. It took us over an hour to walk out to the car. Two walkers who had been ahead of us stopped about halfway down and were looking at their map and seemed perplexed. They wanted to get to Arrochar but had missed the turning and would have to climb back up the track for a mile or so before following the Cowal Way down Glen Loin to Arrochar, it would be a long slog, a couple of hours in the heavy rain and sleet

As we approached the railway a freight train of oil tankers rattled through on its way to Fort William or Oban. It was a long final kilometre back to the car park opposite the Sloy Power Station. It usually has the look of a drab industrial relic but was ablaze with light and looked inviting in the dark although it was only 4:30pm. Certainly, the power station was a more comforting image than the fossil fuel freight train that had just reminded us that the COP 26 decision to phase down fossil fuels needed to start biting soon.