We also climbed Ben More (Crianlarich)
We had lovely weather, with fantastic West Highland views. The true summit block was "sporting", with ice and wet snow on wrong-sloping strata above big drop. Only I and one other idiot chanced it while we were there. Is The Cobbler's the second hardest mountain summit in Britain (after the Inaccessible Pinnacle)? The only deep snow left was in gullies and a bit on North side, just about worth having crampons for the descent.
Neil, Steve C and Steve P at the Narnain Boulders, Ben Arthur in the background. What a contrast to yesterday's weather on Ben More!
The remarkable overhangs of the Northeast summit, which is in fact the easiest of the three to reach
Heading up into the corrie, Ben Lomond on the far skyline
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| Steve P on the summit of The Cobbler Photo by Steve Carr |
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| The spectacularly exposed central (and highest) summit of The Cobbler. Getting to the true top involved a scramble through an icy "window" onto the snowy, tilted ledge you can see on the right, climbing up the icy ramp, and then bridge and mantel moves onto the summit block. In the dry, it would be easy, though you'd only get it wrong once. Descent, reversing the sequence, was extra scary | |
Neil and Steve C with the Northeast summit behind
Steve C and Neil on the Northeast summit, and the view back to the central peak, with Loch Long and the sea at far left. You can just see the two "windows" on either side of the summit block; I used the right-hand one to reach the top, passing behind the central pillar and eventually stepping onto the lintel of the left-hand one. According to legend, passing through both windows was a test of manhood for clan chiefs
The descent route, looking across the heads of Loch Long and Loch Lomond to Ben Lomond. After dropping steeply off the summit to the col towards Beinn Narnain, there's a long and soggy slog down the burn. What you can't see is the bone-crunching 300m descent through the woods to the seashore
The other page from this trip: Ben More (Crianlarich)
There are some more pictures of The Cobbler on Richard Webb's site
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