Its the middle of April and we have a fantastic weather window for calm winter conditions. What I mean by this is we have snow above 600m, its fresh and the winds are calm. Visibility is forecasted to be excellent so we couldn't give up the chance of getting into the mountains in these conditions. The temperature was also starting to rise from a cold spell so it would be too harsh. We also had our alterations complete to the bag to allow us to attach a hood with windows to seal Cameron's body and head within the bag, in essence the rain cover has a sealed hood.
Preparing for this took a while mainly due to taking all the winter gear and planning for different scenarios if they arose. So my Friday night was spent double checking everything I had been planning during the week.
We set off early doors and by now it was quite a slick process getting Cameron into the car whilst he was sleeping, I felt I had turned a corner which made me less anxious worrying if he woke and never went back to sleep. We set off at 5am and arrived at 7am at the Ben Lawers carpark. Its a great wee carpark with a small charge for the day. By using this carpark you start at around 400m so quite a bit of the altitude gain is taken care of in the car lol. Cameron awoke and we had breakfast. Whilst he was munching on his boiled eggs I remember looking up and thinking the snow looked a lot lower than forecast and it felt windier than forecasted as well but nothing to majorly different.
We set off at 7:45am and headed across the road to start the hike. The hike takes you through beautiful forest and climbs up to the bare wilderness of the first Munro Ben Ghlas. Ben Ghlas is a slog but you quickly rise above the forest and its a sight to foresee. Looking down over the Loch towards Ben Vorlich in clear conditions is something I've not often witnessed over the many summits of Ben Lawers I have completed. It was stunning. By now we were in the snow and Cameron's new cover was really making a difference. He was giggling away and by now it was time to get the tunes on. We were still on nursery rhymes so it was his favourite wheels on the bus playing from the speaker, I must add I have become fond of the nursery rhymes as it reminds me of the times I climbed with Faye when she was smaller. Now Faye loves Taylor Swift and Sing as she's outgrown the good old wheel on the bus. I remember quite early on putting my crampons on there seamed to be a few icy bits under the fresh snow so thought it better safe than sorry.
We were around 100 metres from the summit of Ben Ghlas and I looked round and was stopped dead in my tracks, we were witnessing the most amazing inversion. An inversion is where the clouds sit below the mountains and it looks like someone has covered the world in candy floss, probably not the best way to describe it lol, you can make your own description from the photos. I have been in the mountains for over 25 years and I have never seen it like this. The winter conditions added to this majestic display.
We arrived at the summit of Ben Ghlas at around 10:15am. We stood looking out to all the tops, I really hoped that Cameron could see and maybe not understand but feel what I was feeling. We couldn't see below half way on the mountains and we looked right and could see Ben Lawers. The wind had picked up so we headed down to the bealach for a snack stop using our 2 person shelter. We stopped and Cameron had a bottle of milk and some soft biscuit. We only stopped for 20 minutes as I could feel the wind picking up. We started the climb of Ben Lawers and the wind freaked Cameron out a little. We were only 20 minutes to the top but I decided we would turn around. It wasn't the usual little cry he seamed spooked. Again as I always say if they really want to turn around it doesn't matter how close we are to our goal we turn around.
We headed back and by now the mountain was super busy. Lots of hikers, some dressed for the occasion and some not so much. We arrived at the carpark at around midday and the sun was splitting the trees. It was warm enough to be able to play at the side of the car and not be in a rush to change out of our hiking clothes.
All in all it was a great day. Although we hadn't got to the top of Ben Lawers we had witnessed something magical. We even stopped off for ice cream and an ice pole on the way home, April in Scotland isn't usually like this!