D and I went munro bagging on Sunday up to Ben Chonzie. Just the one hill today as RB was doing kayaking skills and we had to pick her up early so didn't have time for a jaunt further afield. But as D reminded me, I still had to do Chonzie at some point so it may as well be this weekend and it might be nicer under snow.
Hmmm, sure it is nicer under snow, however it was horrible verglass and ice all the way up to around 500m and if there's anything I hate as much as boulder fields then it's icy paths! It's nice when you're hillwalking to be able to just switch off and enjoy the walk and surroundings, but when it's so icy underfoot then concentration is required and it just makes me grumpy if I slide around too much and can't switch off. Thankfully, once we were higher and there was deeper snow, the going was better and crossing round to the SE spur was nice with firm snow.
There wasn't really any snow to speak of on the top and it's amazing to think how burried the country was just a week before. It was a stunning day out though, not a breath of wind, clear, crisp and icy blue sky all around with a distant mist and haze obscuring the peaks to the far North. It was freezing on top though and I was getting cold, must have sweated too much in my Merino top as I was still cold after putting on another 3 layers! We didn't hang around for too long and by the time we were going down, the sun had melted the snow and ice somewhat and the going down was loads better than going up, with the snow nice and soft and just a little ice nearer the bottom.
That's munro number 127, so nearly half way there now.
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