Woke up to a steady snowfall and decided not to run, had breakfast and thought why not, the road was difficult until Luss then it cleared maybe because its close to the Loch. Started running about an hour later than usual, not a lot of wind, mixture of cloud, sun and blue skies.
Followed three sets of footprints for the run up Glen Loin, walking the steepest parts of the hills, a bit too icy to run in places. Alpenglow on the mountain tops but the contrast with the trees too much for the phone camera. The lower glen was quiet with little wind, breath and footsteps the only sound. Caught a glimpse of the 3 in front as I came out the trees on the approach to Corriegrogan.
The upper glen always a bit different and the wind strengthened as the track climbed, caught Santa and a couple of his elves just before the last steep climb up to the dissapearing river, walked up and had a blether and a wee slip or two in the snow before pushing on, they couldn't be tempted with a run up the Bealach.
Steady run up to the end of the track, hard work in the snow, blue skies tempting a run up Ben Ime, paused at the end of the track and lucky to look back towards a bright Ben Vane.
The climb up to the Bealach is trackless over ditches and tussocks but the ground is frozen today which helps keep my feet dry, just had to keep knocking the snow off before it melted and chilled.
Stop for a drink and a breath in the lee of the hill near the top. Didn't fancy the swamp so took a left over the fence, feet still fine and as warm as could be expected. The Cobbler grows as you approach the top.
Thankfully the cloud has closed in on the tops putting paid to any thought of a quick visit. A walker or two visible just below the cloud line on each of the three surrounding slopes.
Traverse over the Bealach trying to keep to any track that I can find, my right foot sinks in up to the knee followed by the obligatory freezing sensation. Run on nice and easy with no more freezing. Stop for a quick picture with the sun appearing behind the Cobbler.
One good aspect of the man made path is that it's well drained, still not the best conditions for a fall and take it nice and easy as the path snakes its way down past the Narnain Boulders.
The lower tracks zig zag to reduce the gradient, ok apart from some black ice, spotted the first with only minor evasive break dancing, the second takes me out, luckily no lasting damage or witness to my ungainly sprackle.
Finished what turned out to be a cracking run in 2 hours 48 and seconds, some pics in the Galleria.
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