Ben Lawers via Beinn Ghlas - 19th Feb 2012

Pronunciation/Translation: ben law-ers (hill of the loud stream), byn glas (green grey hill).


It was well over a year since we'd last been up on Ben Lawers. On that occasion we had fallen victim to a slight navigation malfunction while experimenting with an unorthodox descent in cloud cover. Let's just say... it was our longest ever walk-out. Today there would be no wrong turns, the snow covered range was topped with beautiful bluey grey skies.

The old Ben Lawers visitor centre has been removed and the car parking area is now on the other side of the winding road. We realised this a little too late, so ended up parking just beyond the start point. We quickly got our kit sorted as the dogs frolicked in the snow covered heather, then set off across to the gate that would take us into the Lawers reserve. As we reached the gate, another couple of hikers were approaching from the proper car park. We all had a laugh at Alfie and Bracken desperately trying to beat each other through the deer gate. They were looking rather cute in their doggy waterproof coats.

Following the path up towards the valley, we crossed over the stream as the trail veered to the east slightly and starts to gain altitude on it's way up to Beinn Ghlas. We could no longer see the couple from the gate, so assumed that they were maybe breaking northwest onto the slopes of Meall Corranaich. A path continues north alongside the Edramucky burn, but it's better to stay on the higher track which moves east then northeast up onto the lip of Coire a' Chonnaidh.

The views get much better as you move up along the ridge to the steeper ground before the summit of Beinn Ghlas (1103m). It's only as you near the summit that you are rewarded with clear views of the next target, Ben Lawers. It was touch and go here as to whether we should switch to crampons or wait. We decided that the snow was still a little soft so waited until we were at the bealach between Creag nan Gabhar and Creag Loisgte before strapping on the prongs. It was a good thing too as much of the path up to Lawers summit was now frozen hard snow and ice.

With the skies being nice and clear, there were quite a lot of winter hikers on the Lawers range making the most of the crisp conditions. On Lawers summit (1214m) the trig point and cairn stood frosted and two other climbers were soon to join us coming up from the direction of Creag an Fhithich and An Stuc. Shona and I took a few snaps with our cameras but chose not to hang around for long as temperatures were way too fresh for standing on summits.

Descent was basically back the way we had come. Many people decide to drop off to 900m and walk down from the head of Edramucky burn, but we thought it would be good to climb back up over Beinn Ghlas again, does that count as two ascents in one day? From Beinn Ghlas we strolled down, taking in the amazing views out over the Tarmachan Ridge and Loch Tay. Crampons removed after the steep sections, we enjoyed the sensation of warming up again in the late afternoon sunshine and had fully thawed out by the time we got back to the car.