Vorlich (Earn) – North

The climb up Ben Vorlich on the standard path follows the north ridge in a steady climb to the summit. It is a pretty direct path and gets you up surprisingly quickly with ever expanding views of Loch Earn and then Ben Lawers to the North.  Once on the summit ridge you realise that you are on the edge of the highlands as the views to the south extend over towards Stirling and the Forth estuary and on a clear day you can see the Pentlands near Edinburgh. Nearby Stuc a Chroin provides a rocky aspect to entice you on to a second Munro

A land rover track takes you past Ardvorlich house through open and wooded land up to a header dam for a line of river hydro scheme. From here a new path (2017) crosses an open wet heathland towards the main ridge. This machine built path features wide landscaped ditches with a raised central path designed to keep the water off the path; water destroyed the original path constructed in 2000. Once you reach the bottom of the ridge the path becomes hand built and is being upgraded (Apr/May 2018) by a small team. It eventually climbs steeply up to the ridge. This is the current end of the man made path although there is a plan to continue up another 100m or so with a new hand built path.  Currently the path becomes a broad route mainly up scree created solely by the hillwalking traffic. It rises in two reasonably steep sections with occasional path braiding swinging left to the summit cairn. In winter these upper sections are often completely covered in snow and the route of the path is lost so you make your own route up. This is a steep hillside and crampons and axe are a must in my opinion as I have had to “rescue” summer equipped hill walkers in winter.

Hill routes continue to Stuc a Chroin which features a nice scramble to its summit. The return from Stuc a Chroin can make use of a steep gully but this path is becoming worn, loose and there is a potential for slipping on gravel. Once down the gully a path traverses the coire to a bealach on the Ben Our ridge and then a further traverse back to the machine path to Ardvorlich. This traverse is usually wet and boggy but is the route the landowner has asked us to use to avoid disturbance in the lower coire.