General January 2024 Activity: Winter’s Day on Meall na Fearna and the Ascent of St Lucia’s highest peak – Mt Gimie

Under general January activity there were a couple of notable events; IH had a superb frosty winter’s day on Meall na Fearna, NN 65061 18666, and ARob completed an ascent of Mount Gimie.

First up, on 11/01/24, IH started a walk at Ardvorlic, NN 63224 23019, heading south to Meall na Fearna. Photo looks south to the northern rib of Ben Vorlich, passed on the way.

After heading down Glen Vorlich he reached the western flank of Meall na Fearna.

On a hard snow patch below the summit, he looked north and caught the Tarmachan Ridge and the Ben Lawers group on the horizon.

Summit selfie of a very happy man.

Looking to the west from the summit of Meall na Fearna, we see Ben Vorlich on the right and Stuc a Chroin lying behind.

Nearly back at the car, Ardvorlich Burn drains into Loch Earn. Great conditions, fabulous day out.

Next up, on Saturday 20th January ARob ascended St Lucia’s Mount Gimie, 3117ft. He pointed out that the access to this mountain was relatively straightforward: 700km train tide to London, then a 6800km flight to St. Lucia. After a couple of days acclimatisation on the beach the plan was to meet the guides at 0500 (they turned up at 0530). A two hour minivan ride ensued in typical Caribbean style- ear splittingly loud music and a total disregard for the laws of physics on the road. From the kick-off city of Soufriere it was another hour on a tough track to where the mountain ‘path’ starts.

AR had two guides, Julian and Jaison, who took turns to cut trail with machetes and fill with banter the void created after they had left the musical cacophony of the van. Note St. Lucia has no mountain rescue, and helicopters can't get to casualties through the canopy of the all-enveloping tropical forest, so only the guides can get you out.

ARob has had tough climbs before but the combination of scrambling, heat, tropical rain, mud, tree roots and aggressive vegetation was unique.

They summited in 2 hours to a small clearing completely enveloped in cloud. One souvenir of the day were cut hands from the razor grass, but the full body cover protected the rest!

On the descent it was tough going – even for the experts!

Another 1.5hrs of muddy descent, with a detour to a waterfall, got them back to the van and another noisy trip to a local bar for a fantastic fish lunch and quite a lot of beer. St. lucia has motoring laws but no one, including a policeman who dropped into the bar (Jaison's cousin) seems to know what they are. Great day out!