Ben Ime One out of three aint bad..Saturday April 14th

Ben Ime

Ascent 1011m

Time 5.5hrs

This was the final training walk for The Slackers before heading off on the

West Highland Way on the 22^nd April, so we decided to try and make it a good one.

The initial plan was to walk up Ben Narnain, cross over to Ben Ime, and then if time allowed head up The cobbler, however this was always an ambitious plan, one which ultimately did not materialise, we climbed Ben Ime which proved to be a good enough challenge.

                                                                      Starting point

                                                    

The Weather en-route was changeable, initially we had a fine clear morning (though  cold) followed by periods being overcast with a cold cutting wind and some small snow flurries from time to time, we did however get a great view of the cobbler summit on the way up.

                                                        Rocky Mountain High

We decided to stop for lunch half way up Ben Ime as we had been advised by walkers on the way down that it was freezing and blowing a gale  on the Summit, turns out this was not the case as the weather on the summit was superb.

We managed to find a small cavity in the hillside which allowed Charlie to finally fire up his Trangia  gas stove to boil water for his tea and vacuum packed dinner, although in the cold wind it seem to take forever for the water to boil (really is was 10 minutes).

Whilst here we met Michael and David, who where on there way down from their second summit of the day (must have been up early guys)the guys where really impressed with our base camp, though in reality they could not believe Charlie was daft enough to be boiling water on a freezing hillside.

Michael had found an Antler which was quite impressive as its not the kind of thing you find lying around every day, after mercilessly winding Charlie up re: his vacuum packed lunch and gas stove, we said goodbye and the guys made their way home.

                                                                 The Early Birds

Michael,s six point antler (nice one)

After lunch we continued our ascent into the snow covered hill  and we met Duncan.

                                                                        Duncan (the Medic)

Duncan proved walk with us for most of the trip and proved a handy travel companion (being a medic in the Royal Navy, with a bag full of medical supplies) this gave us some renewed vigour when it came to talking the more icy tricky parts of the walk. We were in good hands in the event of a man down situation.

Duncan also has a keen interest in photography and geology and he was able to keep us informed about the different rocks formations and associated minerals, however he forgot his gin for his summit toast (really should be Malt whiskey Duncan), but he did remember the Fig rolls..

The following Panorama View has been sent by Duncan... WOW...

                                                Charlie and Duncan on approach to Summit

BLT and 90Rocks 100m from Summit

We cracked on through some marshy ground until we reached the snow, by now we were getting close to the summit and the snow was getting deeper and slippery in places, eventually after around 3hrs form Arrochar we made the snowy summit, and every step was worth taking.

As we set foot on the summit the sun exploded through the clouds giving us the opportunity for some great views and amazing pictures.

                                      Snowy Summit  Ben Lomond in Distance(spectacular)

Great Views West

BLT and 90Rocks at Cairn

On the summit we met up again with Peter again (he had passed us earlier) he had come over to Arrochar from Dunlop on his first Munro trip of the season.

                                                                    Peter

On the summit we also met Jules (pictured in shorts and straw hat) and his walking buddies from Tillicoultry (a really nice friendly group) , the girls had thought they were going for a nice walk and some lunch but they fell victim to Jules Wanderlust, he was on a mission to claim Ben Ime as munro number 165 and I do believe (after he galloped past us on the way down  the hillside that Ben Narnain may also have become number 166 ..great achievement.

                                                          Jules and the crew

                                                           

After saying good –bye to the folks gathered on the summit we started back to Arrochar , the weather by now was lovely and sunny and made for a pleasurable descent.

                                                    Charlie (narnain Boulders)

We stopped at the Narnain boulders where we met Audrey who was having a rest on her way down from the Cobbler, we would meet her for a second time in Ben Arthurs Bothy were we had a beer and watched the Grand National but no winners.

                                                         Audrey in the Bothy

So alas not a lot we can do now , the boots are well worn in and the kit all tested so it is all systems go for next Sunday and I personally feel our prep has been good.

We have had a magnificent time readying ourselves for this walk, and have met some great folks on the way that we would hope to meet again…

BLT (The Slackers)