Beinn Ghlas — Knowing When to Turn Back

After completing An Caisteal and Beinn a’ Chròin on Saturday, the plan for Sunday was to climb Beinn Ghlas and continue to Ben Lawers. Instead, the weekend brought two different lessons: choosing the ground for my first wild camp, and knowing when to leave a summit for another day.

My first wild camp

On Saturday evening, I pitched my tent on the north side of Lawers Dam. It was my first wild camping experience, and the weather made it an eventful introduction. Strong wind and rain continued throughout the night, while the hard, rocky ground made it difficult to drive the tent pegs in properly.

In the middle of the night, one of the pegs came loose. The wind pushed part of the tent inward, and I had to get up and secure it again. Despite that interruption and the weather, I enjoyed the experience. Spending the night outside was another new part of the journey, although it showed me how much the choice of pitching ground matters.

I had been aware of the difficulty of camping on boggy ground, but this was the other extreme. A surface that looks firm is not necessarily a good pitch if the pegs cannot be secured.

A wet climb to Beinn Ghlas

It was raining from the start of Sunday’s hike, and the rain stayed with us throughout the day. The trail, however, was clear, established and easy to follow. Navigation was straightforward on our walk; finding the way was not the challenge. The wind was.

We climbed to Beinn Ghlas, the first summit of the planned outing. From there, we had intended to continue to Ben Lawers, but the strong wind changed the decision. We abandoned the second summit and turned back, completing Beinn Ghlas alone.

Ben Lawers remained unfinished, but it was not a summit we needed to force into that day. This was an early reminder that a plan made before a hike is not a commitment to continue regardless of the conditions.

Returning through the valley

On the descent, we moved west into the valley rather than following the exposed ridge back down. We took that line to get into the shelter of the mountain and away from the wind on the higher ground.

The rain continued, but the day had already given me something valuable. I had reached another Munro, experienced a very different set of conditions from Saturday, and been part of a decision to stop before completing the original plan. The outing was shorter than intended, but it still belonged in the story.

What I learned

The first lesson was knowing when to abandon a plan and come back. Completing all 282 Munros is a long-term journey, and Ben Lawers can wait for another outing. On this day, we reached Beinn Ghlas and decided that was enough.

The second lesson began the night before: the ground beneath a tent matters as much as the place around it. Boggy ground presents difficulties, but hard, rocky ground can also make it difficult to secure a pitch. Next time, I will pay closer attention to whether the ground can hold the pegs before settling on a camping spot.

My first wild camp and the climb to Beinn Ghlas were not the weekend I would have designed around ideal weather. They were, however, experiences worth having—and lessons worth carrying into the next outing.