Weather/Conditions: Very hot at the beginning. The sun was out with some cumulus and we were feeling like idiots for not bringing sun cream - time to get burnt. Things turned out to be not too bad, and it clouded over more. Then there were showers in the distance which slowly advanced and before long there were rain showers on both sides of the mountain but we were in sunlight.
At the summit it began to rain, and not having anticipated what was to come, I only had jeans but they didn't end up too wet at all. It rained all the way down to 1500 feet and it was overcast the rest of the time.
Accompanying: Dad

Ascent

The day before, dad and I had plans to do a hillwalk. On the morning of the 16th, (leaving 9.15am) dad had decided the Munro we'd do but decided to drive there without telling and kept me guessing - I eventually worked it out as we passed through Killin and liked the idea of doing Schiehallion. The weather was excellent - sun, warmth, and barely a breath of wind, so when we had arrived at the car park (11.30am) I had decided I wouldn't need the gaiters, the waterproof trousers, leave the walking poles just because... After keeping things to a minimum I had a light pack but underneath the mid-day sun it was very warm and having no sun cream, we wondered about the prospect of walking off the hill burnt. Nevertheless we began walking (11.45am) and although hot, I was drinking plenty of fluids, going at a slow and very comfortable, easy pace.



From this point we followed the path up as you do, and I often turned around to begin identifying the Cairngorm peaks - it's new scenery for me. Then through the haze, I realised that to the east a distant rain shower was coming our way. We still carried on, to the first cairn (where we stopped for five minutes), then to the huge windbreak and up over the quartzite boulder fields above.



The first rain shower passed to the north side of the mountain and there was also rain in the south too. There was barely a breath of wind to carry them, but they still advanced slowly - however we were still in sun or under light cumulus. A few final pulls up the boulders (while sighting a broken spectre in the sky) took us top at 2.15am. It took two and a half hours to get up. Not too bad.

Concerning the weather, there were showers passing all about but we were still under some light cloud. It seemed we couldn't not get hit by one, but we only had descending to do now anyway so it wouldn't matter what happened. After some pictures and lunch at the top, we began descending. Just as the rain came on.

Descent

The back of my legs got a little soaked but it was nothing too major. The route ahead was still clear, and soon enough we joined up with the main path, descending with moderate speed to the car park. The rain was off by the time we reached the path now so it was all easy (but fairly featureless) walking back to the car. We arrived back at 4.20pm, and took the A82 back to Glasgow, going via' Crianlarich.

An enjoyable, easy day out. And one more Munro. :-)

360° Panorama

Schiehallion