11.00 before Graeme and I got started at Tyndrum station. Up along track through forest to meet the main track and on past the farm. A long walk though we expected it and good views of Ben Lui ahead. A wee bit disconcerting as it
looked to be covered in snow and certainly rather alpine. The track eventually ends at a burn and then it's uphill past various waterfalls to a high corrie, no hassle. With all the snow around us we were not too sure which way to go but we noticed some people going off to the right and followed them. Behind us three people (Canadians) went left, up a very steep snow slope. They had sticks but it didn't look easy. Then two others went straight up the middle, crampons and ice-axes and all. I doubt they could have climbed here in summer, right up the middle of the corrie but they had no problem and we eventually saw them at the top. The route we took went across snow patches but nothing serious. After a steep climb we made our way across a green patch onto the ridge, where we got a good view of the guys going up the middle. Unlike many ridges which are easy once you reach them this one was very rough and bouldery. At one point we had to go up a snow patch which worried me as the patch was clearly melting and holes, with 3/4 feet drops beneath were beginning to appear. I kept expecting it to collapse but it didn't. Then came a very dicey steep climb up a path winding in and out of the rocks. It was very eroded and at one point, for about three feet, was a six inch path over a vertical face. Easy for some but not for me. However it's amazing what you will do when you have no choice. The top came reasonably quickly after this.
Leaving the summit we decided to go down by the other ridge, much to my delight as I did not fancy the ridge we had climbed. Very quickly we realised that, if the other ridge had seemed awkward, this side was doubly so. Very steep and rocky and quite terrifying in many ways as the path was very slippery with loose stones. At one point it went over an almost vertical gulley and was very slippy. I took it ever so slowly and fortunately most of the rock holds were easy, if not always entirely secure. Eventually,and with thanks, we reached the flatter ridge over the snow field the Canadians had climbed. Graeme suggested we go down that way but I was not happy with the beginning of the snow field that looked dicey and declined. We therefore took the easy way down the ridge path, though this soon disappeared. The way down was on steep grass much of which had been flattened by the melted snow. I decided to slide down on my backside using my heels as a brake. This worked for some time until my speed at one place got too fast and I ended up banging my elbow. I was lucky that was all I banged as the slide could easily have gotten out of control. Graeme wisely came down the normal way. Eventually we reached a path which then led down to the track. The walk back was horribly long, seemingly much longer than on the way out, and by the time we reached Tyndrum we were really knackered. A rough day.
Standing on the summit of Ben Lui, the question on eveyone's lips was "Where is it?" There just wasn't any mountain nearby. Then came the realisation that the hump to our right was in fact Beinn a'Chleibh. It looked just like a bump on the way up to Ben Lui. I gather it's quite steep on the other side but it is a real disappointment from Ben Lui. Anyway down we went, down a steep,slippery slope about 1000 feet to a col where Beinn a'Chleibh at last began to look like a mountain. Having said that the walk up the hill was pretty routine and as it is so much smaller than Ben Lui you are soon at the edge of the summit plateau. A short walk across the plateau takes you to the obvious summit cairn where you can then have your photo taken and say you have gained another Munro. It has to be, however, the dullest Munro we have climbed. At the summit the big debate was which way to return. Neither of us fancied the climb back
to Ben Lui but the map indicated a very long walk around it. We spotted what looked like a path going round the mountain which might have been useful but it turned out to be an illusion and rapidly petered out. We had no choice then but to make our way back up the steep slope to Ben Lui. Graeme was moaning that we should have picked an easier walk for the first day and was suffering. I wasn't a great deal better.
