BENMORE BURN

We did this with some snow-melt. Suprisingly I'd never noticed it before, despite climbing past it up Ben More twice! First descent April 2006?

Just south-east of Crianlarich, next to Ben More. Park where the footpath sign points up Ben More, and shoulder your boat up the steep track. Ignore the funny looks from the legions of hillwalkers! After a few hundred yards a gate on the right allows access to the field. Walk up as far as you want. The further up you get the less attractive the drops appear. Please be discreet: the lower section of the burn is in full view of the farm. We had no problems, but I don't know whether they are friendly or not........ 

A fair bit. Don't leave it too long after rain to do, as it drops very quickly. Snow melt might help. Between checking it and running it it had dropped by four or five inches! The best thing is to wander up to the last drop and have a look.

4/5/gnarly! Some of the drops are hard

  • DESCRIPTION/REPORT

This is a rocky ditch, but has some lovely drops too. The further up the burn we went, the more difficult/suicidal the drops looked. However, scouting is easy along either bank. We eventually got on just below a rocky-looking drop at the top of a VERY long rapid. This consists of a set of small drops with a tricky boof onto a rock on the right. There are no eddies and no let-up as a high tricky drop approaches: keep right if you value your ankles. This is the first pool!

The next drop is a double drop split by a rock. Make sure you boof, and don't get pinned across the narrow exit. This looks incredibly nasty from the comfort of the bank. After this a flatter section leads down to a forested section and a great drop. A flaring boof off the left ensures that you don't get pinned in the jumble of rocks.

A triple fall beckons, with a powerful hole in the middle and a nasty undercut at the bottom. Avioding the undercut looks simple, but is anything but! Make sure you scout the next section, as there are a lot of trees. Narrow slides and rocky drops keep the gradient steep, and you are glad you've scouted this! A narrow drop requiring a good boof is the next major drop, with a micro eddy on the left. A slabby drop approaches next, with a line down the middle. The horizon line looks very scary!

Getting off is probably the most difficult bit: we didn't want to traipse across the farmyard, but the road on the left has lots of "No Public Access" signs. Whatever you do, be discreet and don't damage anything. It's a short walk along the road back to the car.

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