Ben Vorlich & Stuc a Chroin  - Loch Earn Hills - July 05

Ben Vorlich & Stuc a Chroin Information

Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin although extremely southern offer a good challenging climb especially Stuc a Chroin which defiantly does not fit the Southern Highland grassy summit specification offering a full scramble up to the summit ridge.  Ben Vorlich Again offers a steep climb with its huge corrie and scree slops prominent features as you ascend.  A great panoramic of the Lawers Range is on offer as well as a whole selection of Lochs, Loch Tay, Loch Lyon and of course Loch Earn, even Loch Lomond in the distance.  To get to the hills you need to drive up the South Loch road at Glen Ample ( 2 miles before the start of the walk) the bridge has been destroyed in flash floods last year so you can either park at Glen Ample and walk the 2 miles or drive right round the Loch and come at the road from the opposite end, i decided just to walk it, there is space for about 10 cars or so beside the ruined bridge at Glen Ample.  overall a good walk is on offer especially the climb/scramble up Stuc a Chroin which for me was defiantly peak of the day.    

Ben Vorlich & Stuc a Chroin Route

As i said before i parked beside the ruined bridge at Glen Ample and continue the walk along the road for 2 miles to the official start of the walk, this wasn't a bad thing since the views of Loch Earn were nice.  Once you reach Ardvorlich ( just a big fancy house) you can take the path to the hills, it looks like the houses drive way but its ok to walk it, there's even signs saying "walkers this way" a couple of styles later takes you along the Land Rover track into a small forest.  This lasts for around about 20 minutes before you reach the open hill side of Ben Vorlich, its a steep hill !  Continue up the track following the crest of the corrie as you gain height extremely quickly.  Continue this path right past the last scree slope and right to the first summit, this may be the real summit as there is one along the summit ridge with an equally fancy cairn, I'm not sure which one it was but just visit them both.  Looking to your right Stuc a Chroin opens up with its rocky ridge up very daunting indeed.  Loch Earn and Lawers hills lie to your right another excellent site.  drop down to the col between Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin were there is an excellent spot to get some munchies, i did anyway.  Suck up your strength and start the tricky climb up to Stuc a Chroin.  The path disappears at points when it becomes extremely rocky, a small boulder field has to be clambered over and continue the best way you can upwards ( i lost the path at this point) near the summit the walk turns into a gentle stroll over lots of scree to reach the summit perched on top of a small crag.  You get good views of Loch Lyon from here.  to get back to the start of the walk continue back down to the col and skirt round Ben Vorlich follwing the pathBen Vorlich and Ben Our.  This was not the route i took however due to me parking at Glen Ample, my decent was muchhhhh more fun !  Continue off the west ridge of Stuc a Chroin into the left one of the two Valleys leading down to Glen Ample.  The decent is easy to start with , where its just a casual stoll down by the river but near the end you need to cross a forrest to reach a Land Rover track at the other side, i pulled out all my bush whacking skills and made it through all be it at points on my hands in knees and hacking my way through fern bushes, this was good fun.  On the other side of the forrest you pick up a Lan Rover track were heading right takes you right back to the car at Glen Ample , a lengthy walk but good fun.  This was defientley a good wlak and a lot better than i expected from such a southern set of Munros.

Ben Vorlich & Stuc a Chroin Pictures / Photos / Images

                Ben Vorlich as seen from Ardvorlich                    The southern facing slops of Ben Vorlich from Stuc a Chroin

 The summit of Ben Vorlich with the Lawers Hills behind             The scramble up Stuc a c Chroin as seen from the Col