Ben Lui wild camp in a storm (pics)

After a failed attempt to reach the summit of Ben Lui on Saturday (blizzards, spindrift, 60mph winds, zero visibility, severe windchill and getting that feeling that things just aren’t right), we decided to turn back about 600ft from the summit and wild camp as soon as we got off the mountain to try to sit out the worst of the storm.

Needless to say, it was an interesting night. I love wild camping, but being stuck in a tent for 14 hours when it’s being torn in every direction by gale force winds isn’t great for aiding sleep. The wind was just unreal, quite terrifying at some points (and i’ve camped in some pretty bad weather!).

However, my ever thoughtful girlfriend somehow managed to put a bottle of wine in my pack before we set off, which in turn became the most enjoyable bottle of wine i’ve ever had! 🙂

The views were absolutely unreal in the morning. The storm settled for a few hours to allow us to hike out (although it was still snowing heavily.).

Great spot for a wild camp. I have co-ordinates if anyone wants them.

And, just to confirm, if you are looking for a good winter tent, you can’t beat a Terra Nova Super Quasar 😉

(excuse the iphone quality photos)

Heading up through the glen towards Ben Lui via Cononish.

The surprise of a bottle of wine from an extremely weary, cold and damp climber.

Out for a pee at first light

Looking back down the glen towards where we started from the day before

Looking back up towards Ben Lui and our camp site

Looking across Rannoch Moor on our way for a well deserved hot breakfast at the Clachaig

Still smiling after a relatively tough climb and rougher night….you’ve got to love the ability of the Highlands to breathe life into your soul 🙂

Great write up and pics! Am jealous.

You need to watch that.

A similar storm and a similar tent on a similar trip ended up in Mini Mugsy. 😀

Good for you. Scotland in Winter is one of many great experiences that makes one glad to have a life and resolve not to waste it.

mugsys_m8 – Member

You need to watch that.

A similar storm and a similar tent on a similar trip ended up in Mini Mugsy.

Good for you. Scotland in Winter is one of many great experiences that makes one glad to have a life and resolve not to waste it.

Ha ha, that’s a great story to tell Mini Mugsy in later years though! 🙂

Completely agree about Scotland in winter though. I recently moved back to Scotland after many years in England and I now feel so grateful for what we have on our doorsteps. It truly is one of the most amazing places.

I genuinely feel sorry for the people who will never get to experience the days/nights I spend in the hills, whether it’s climbing, hiking, biking, camping, snowboarding or just sitting in the Clachaig in Glencoe having a few beers and enjoying the inevitable Saturday night party 🙂

FFS!! Stop posting stuff like this!!!

Scotland – and particularly the Highlands – is cold, wet, dark and miserable, over-run by midges and drunks who’ll steal everything you own.

Top post, thanks!

Love it, love it.

Can we have more threads of this nature please?

…being stuck in a tent for 14 hours when it’s being torn in every direction by gale force winds isn’t great for aiding sleep.

Stuck in a tent for 14 hours with your girlfriend and a bottle of wine. Do you seriously expect us to believe that sleep was even attempted?

Lucky bastard.

MWIS was kind of dropping hints it might be like that, or was that part of your evil plan? 😈

I love the way she snuck the bottle of wine into your pack…

God, she’s a minger, you must have hated that night; imagine being stuck in a tent with her! I bet you froze and lay alone in your sleeping bag listening to your iPod all night, wishing the time away. How terrible for you.

…and on a more serious note, all my holidays ever have been climbing or cycling in Scotland, Wales or The Lakes. I’ve had some of the best adventures of my life in mountains. Now Mrs Gti keeps telling me she wants a family holiday somewhere warm and sunny and I haven’t got a ****’ clue how to organise it or where to go. Why would I want to go and lie on a beach, FFS? I’ve never considered it in my life.

jhw, was this the couple you recently were weeping over?

Awe.. look at them… awe it’s like a scene from “From Here to Eternity”

Bless..

Good write up, good pics too..

Most Excellent.

Mrs Gti and I spent our first ever night together in a tent on the small peninsula on Angle tarn just above Patterdale. This was on a hot July night though; I had also packed a bottle of wine, which we chilled in the tarn while skinny-dipping.

Yeah, to be fair we knew the weather was going to be bad.

The problem with Ben Lui is that you’ve got a 5 mile hike from the car just to get to the start of the climb, and it’s almost impossible to tell what the conditions will be like on the mountain until you’re physically on it.

Getting there, reaching the summit and getting all the way back to the car in daylight in winter is a challenge, even in good conditions with limited kit.

It was REALLY hard going on Saturday. I was stuggling to get crampons on because the spindrift just kept covering my feet, and visibility was nil. Eventually, two guys came down past us and said it was getting even worse further up so we all just headed back. They said they needed to hike all the way out because they had no food/sleeping stuff etc.

We took the camping kit on the basis that we could leave it at the start of the climb and if we ended up getting caught out in the predicted snow storm (which we did), we could get off the mountain, pitch the tent and wait out the bad weather, rather than have to hike out 5 miles in cold/dark/blizzard etc. I know 5 miles doesn’t sound like much, but when you are cold, wet and tired after a climb and carrying full winter climbing kit in the dark…..the windchill can eat any strength you have left. I’ve been there and it’s not pleasant at all.

I left an approximate grid reference for where I would be camping (if I had to) with my mum and set a 2pm cut off for sunday, after which to “please phone the nice helicopter men”.

As for suggestions of “hanky panky”. Would have been rude not to 😉

Is it too early to ask about a “mini file”? 😉

Cool thread.

Good effort Mr and Mrs File.

Cool thread.

Good effort Mr and Mrs File.
+1

Done Lui a few times. 1st time in heavy cloud with deep snow.

Moment not to forget as we crested the summit ridge to find we had poked our heads out the top of the clouds ! Really made the day.

Did Lui, Oss and Dubh Craig in another day. Lucked out by getting a lift on the way in from one of the gold miners (honest). Long walk even so.

Never done it with such pleasant company though !

Well, maybe hill walking was not ‘the plan’, but Connonish is a fab place to be. 8)

Last time I was up there was with the family in the summer for a picnic and pottering in the river on a hot sunny day. Spent ages finding loads of flowers with the lads as we walked right up past the mine..

Ben Lui has more rescues than any other hill for the Killin MRT boys area. They were there this Sunday checking out access and the detail of the ridge for future knowledge. 🙁

You wanna see how much snow there is tonight 8)

Ben Lui is a good one to bike into. Either that or use trail shoes for the walk in then change to boots for the ascent and descent. Plenty time to walk in and back in daylight in winter though.

Either that or use trail shoes for the walk in then change to boots for the ascent and descent.

That’s how we normally do it, but the weather was so bad and the packs were heavier than normal, so I just wanted the winter boots on for stability. My pack weighs a freaking ton in winter (super quasar alone is about 5kg, provided its dry), add on all the stuff I have to carry for Mrs File (the woman stuffed a bottle of wine in my already bulging rucksack for goodness sake!!!)….I need all the support I can get! 🙂

*has no sympathy*

“FFS!! Stop posting stuff like this!!!

Scotland – and particularly the Highlands – is cold, wet, dark and miserable, over-run by midges and drunks who’ll steal everything you own.”

Can I second that, Scotland really is a dark miserable place, not worth the drive, I really couldn’t recommend it, absolutely not, have you ever met a drunk highland midge – on a dark stormy night? And there’s no where to ride…

Serious questions have to be raised with regard your hat choice

nice photos. your gf is very photogenic

Serious questions have to be raised with regard your hat choice

ha ha, i was wondering when someone would bring that up……it’s hers…..mine was sodding wet 🙂

your gf is very photogenic

Believe it or not, she isn’t! She hates having her photograph taken and they never really do her justice (although perhaps i’m biased!).

I actually took a little Canon Ixus with me, but ended up just using the iPhone 4S because it took nicer photos. Had to take the gloves off to take a pic though 🙁

Anyone fancy selling me a decent starter DSLR body?

The problem with Ben Lui is that you’ve got a 5 mile hike from the car just to get to the start of the climb

Nah there’s a sneaky way up by crossing the railway line and heading up to the bealach between Lui and Chleibh. That’s how I bagged ’em. Not as good as the ridges though.

Top camping story. My experience of the mountains is you learn to listen to those “inner voices” telling you to back down and come back another day. I fancy your tent BTW.

I love sitting at my desk in London after a weekend battling in a Scottish whiteout. The contrast gets me every time 🙂

Nice one

You could only manage 14 hrs with that woman!

I suggest you go and find another blizzard and propose to her.

Ben Lui is great hill. Had one of my best winter days there. It looks like the bloody Eiger when you’re walking in from Cononish in winter.

is she always at that wild camping spot or did you taker her in with you?

get back to me on this would you?

5 kgs for a tent? That’s deluxe accomodation! My Saunders Jetpacker Plus, veteran of many Polaris events and wild nights out (including the aforementioned Angle Tarn night) weighs only 1.7 kgs but once you’re in there isn’t much room for cooking, dressing or Egyptian PT; the floor area is about the same as a single bed in a Blackpool B&B.

very good scene ! 🙂

is she always at that wild camping spot or did you taker her in with you?

get back to me on this would you?

Ha ha, I might be able to arrange that.

I can just imagine her face “hey look, there’s other people camping here this time!”

“yeah, don’t worry sweetie, it’s just some guys who I showed your picture to on the internet”

😆

Most Excellent story and pic’s.

I showed this thread to MrsBouy last night and she’s now looking into That There Scotlandshire for some sort of walking holibobs.

So thanks for that.

I’m sure the postioning of the wine bottle in said photo is just coincidental.

Most Excellent story and pic’s.

I showed this thread to MrsBouy last night and she’s now looking into That There Scotlandshire for some sort of walking holibobs.

So thanks for that.

Ah excellent!

If you don’t fancy camping, there are loads of places with Wigwams, which still give you the wilderness type feeling, but a comfier bed, heating and lighting. They will normally set you back about £30 a night, but are worth it if the weather is bad and you need to dry kit for the next day. I can recommend good ones if you’re interested.

This thread has actually got me thinking. I opened a blogger account ages ago, but found I didn’t have the time to write. I’ve got so many pictures of our adventures that just sit on my laptop, the memories of some trips often just superseded by more recent trips. Tempted to start up loading stuff to the blog with trip reports and reviews of all the kit i’ve used/destroyed over the years.

Most of the good kit I’ve bought or places I’ve found have been inspired in some way by stuff i’ve read on the interweb written by other people.

Could be theraputic and a nice way to relive the adventures in my mind 🙂 And if someone reads it, sees the pictures and is inspired to find their own adventure, then that will make me a very happy man 🙂

Provided their adventure doesn’t involve Mrs File! 😉

Would welcome wigwam advice.

Woo-hoo.

Still my post of the year!