Ben Lomond – Not all routes are equal
Twenty two of the Kilimanjaro (and support families!) expedition met up on a sunny Sunday morning at Loch Lomond to be greeted by Graham from Cameron House with ample bacon and sausage butties washed down with a juice or two.
We then started off, forgetting to look at the signpost and ended up doing the much more strenuous West route up to the top, firstly the top of Ptarmigan and then traversing onto the peak of Ben Lomond.
The last few metres were scary, scrambling up a steep rock face with the wind blowing all around! The views from the top were spectacular and as there were so many of us, some other climbers thought a bus party had arrived! A quicker descent followed down the route we should have taken, and I think all agreed, we had done the climb the right way as going down the steep side would have been pretty tricky!
After a quick look, back at base camp, at the Catering in Scotland magazine with its excellent article, some people headed off, and others went to the Boathouse at Cameron House for a fantastic informal bite to eat. Everyone had a story or two about their thoughts on Kilimanjaro….all very positive!
I bet everyone slept well on the Sunday night….ready to take on Ben Nevis next month!
