Meall Ghaordaidh

In January 2006, Shaz and I decided to tick a few Munro's off in Winter and test out the ice axes etc, purchased at Christmas. Meall Ghaordaidh, wasn't far from Killin and we presumed it would be quite a gentle hill in Winter - while there was no snow at road level, we were soon to meet quite a bit halfway up the peak. For the last 1/3 of the hill, we were trudging through thigh-deep snow and it was quite arduous though very enjoyable. Before we reached the summit, a returning walker warned us that it was quite windy at the top. He wisnae wrang. We walked into a South-blowing arctic blast and stood getting photos for all of 10 seconds before about turning and getting back below the summit. A very unusual ice formation had formed on the OS trigpoint and it was quite beautiful - is there a German word for this, I had been told about it before but couldn't remember - Rheinmeis or the likes? We made our way back down, me testing my ice axe and generally faffing aboot. Back to the car, a wee pint on the way back to Dunblane and then hame. Another grand day.