BEN REOCH (2168')

Log book entry from 70th R & I Expedition Log - Everest Challenge

Sunday 4th November                     Ben Reoch (2168’)

Leaders: Glip, Ian Black, Rhona

Scouts: Robbie Mochrie, Robert Wright, Graeme Wright and Kevin Byng

Weather: Rain and gales on the Rest and be Thankful. Dull and cloudy with occasional sunny periods on Ben Reoch. Mild low down. Biting cold strong SW wind on summit.

Report

We left Greenock about 8:30 AM in a minibus which had been kindly lent to us by Kevin’s dad. Mr Ian Black followed on in his car to make sure that we did not break down.

We stopped at Tarbet for the shop, and then carried on up to the Rest and be Thankful. The weather was atrocious – rain and howling gales. We decided, therefore, to lower our sights and climb Ben Reoch from Arrochar. The weather was much kinder in this area. It was dry with occasional sunny periods. It was mild when out of the wind. In the wind, though, it was very cold and the wind was extremely strong (from Southwest) at the top.

We set off up to the railway, which we crossed without incident. At about 1700 feet, Kevin and Graeme, who were leading, found a shrew, but, unfortunately, Colin wasn’t with us and so couldn’t be slagged.

Once we reached 2000 feet, we were no longer protected from the wind and it was immediately very cold. We battled over to Ben Reoch and fought against the wind to touch the cairn. Lunch was eaten in the shelter of a steep slope on the north-east side of the hill. The view was very good both up and down Loch Lomond and we appeared much higher than we were. During lunch, there was a debate as to whether an object in the distance was a boulder or a man. The odds were that it was a boulder since it never moved.

The descent was rather crazy. Kevin, Graham and Robert slid most of the way, risking collisions with boulders etc. The sun was out when we got back to the bus and we were very happy at getting up and down without getting any rain.