My first (and second!) Munro!

So I may have told some of you that I was going to make climbing mountains my "thing" over here in Scotland. Turns out, I am well on my way to making that happen! More on that later, though.

Last week went very quickly, but was a ton of fun. I had my Accounting exam on Wednesday morning. It went okay, but still no grade yet. Fingers crossed! To celebrate our accomplishment, I grabbed a pint with a few cohorts from my exam group. Later Wednesday night, I went to see Phantom of the Opera at the Edinburgh Playhouse. It was great! I went with about ten friends total. We were up in the cheap seats, but it was only 15 pounds. The acting and music were very good.

I spent all of Thursday writing my paper for Operations Management. That was the last assignment to finish this week. I still have an Organisational Behaviour paper to write before Monday, but I am planning on tackling that this weekend. It only needs to be 2000 words, so it should go fairly quickly. It is kind of stressful when thinking about assessments for my courses since for the most part, our grade is decided on only one thing. I suppose it is better than having to do multiple assignments, though!

Friday evening, I left for Firbush, which is a facility owned by the University's Centre for Sport and Exercise up in the highlands. I almost forgot my camera but went back for it, so I actually have some great photos from the trip. It is an amazing place! They have all the gear needed to do all sorts of awesome activities. It is a cabin-style set up on the shore of Loch Tay. It was absolutely beautiful. Friday night we just had dinner and played some Pictionary, and all the action started on Saturday.

After breakfast on Saturday, we got equipped to climb some mountains! They have all of the specialist equipment needed available to borrow. I got gators, a waterproof suit, hat, mittens and a rucksack. I had brought my long underwear and hiking boots from home. I had absolutely everything I needed. It was really great.

In Scotland, mountains over 3000 feet high are called Munros after the guy who first catalogued them. There are 282 in Scotland, and climbing one is known as "bagging a Munro". The record is some guy who did it in 40 days! Pretty darn impressive!

The first Munro we climbed was Beinn Ghlas. It was 3600 feet high. The first part was pretty easy, but the second leg was really tough. That was the majority of the elevation we had to cover. It was a great feeling to be on top, and really felt like an accomplishment after working so hard. From the summit, we stopped for a bag lunch, and debated our next move.

Dennis, our main guide for the climb, gave us the option of heading back down, or trying to do one more. He said since we were already up there, we may as well. Everyone in our group decided to do it. This one, Ben Lawers, was 3900 feet tall and it was right next to Beinn Ghlas. It actually only took about 25-30 minutes to get to the top from where we were. It was an incredibly difficult 25 minutes, though! The weather was notably worse, and there was much more snow on the ground. There were a few times where it felt more like actual climbing than just hiking up a hill. We all made it though, and I am proud to say I was more in the first half to make it than the second. I was very foggy, so sadly no great views were to be had. From there, we walked back down, which took about another 2 hours. Overall, we were on the mountains for about 5.5 hours. We were quite exhausted. In fact, I went to bed right after dinner at 8:00!

On Sunday, we had our choice of activities to fill the morning. We could choose from kayaking, canoeing, mountain biking, road biking or hiking. Since I had no desire to use my legs for anything, I chose kayaking. I had never been before, so I didn't know what to expect. Turns out, it is an absolute blast! Flora, our guide, spent about an hour showing us the ropes and getting us all properly outfitted. For this adventure, I borrowed a wetsuit, life jacket, a waterproof jacket and a sweet water hat. I wasn't sure how likely I was to actually tip over, so I didn't bring my camera. I should get a  waterproof floating case for next time.

After learning how to paddle, we took an adventure to a small set of islands in the lake. We only had about ten minutes to explore them once arriving, but there wasn't much to see anyway. On the way back, we ran across the canoe team and Flora challenged us to race them back. I, of course, needed to win, so I pulled ahead from the group. This was actually a great idea, because it really let me enjoy the lake and scenery without any distractions. The sun also popped up about halfway home, and it was absolutely glorious. There is really nothing like sitting in the middle of a lake, sun shining on your face, and having nothing to look at but forest and mountains. It was the highlight of my trip. I also really liked kayaking because, unlike hiking, you don't have to stare at your feet to make sure you don't fall. You can just paddle and enjoy everything around you. After lunch we did some team-building exercises.

We were incredibly lucky to have had nice weather all weekend. It was a little stormy on the drive up Friday, but even on the mountains, it only rained (and snowed!) a very small amount. A bunch of MBAs dropped out at the last minute because their papers weren't done, but I am so glad I went. I truly don't think I will forget it. I mean, I climbed two mountains! To be honest, I was not expecting it to be so hardcore going in.

This week we are doing a leadership program through Thursday and then semester 1B will start on Monday. My friend Fife will also be in town this week, so it will be nice to see a face from home.

Here are some of my photos. Warning, if you were on the fence about visiting Scotland, this very well may change your mind!

 The park had a really cool area with carved stone describing the park.

 A view from the botton. This is Beinn Ghlas.

 Starting down the path!

 Inching forward. The three peaks to the left are where we were heading.

 There are several other mountains in this park as well. I'm not sure which this one is, but the part time MBA group climbed it instead because some of them had already climbed Ghlas on a previous trip.

 This moss supposedly tastes like mushrooms. It doesn't. In fact, I quite regret trying it.

Loch Tay

 Part of the park was fenced off to prevent grazing by deer and sheep. It has very fertile soil, so many plants were able to grow. It was really beautiful.

 A little stream.

 Almost there?!

We had some great views from here, which was our final resting point before the summit.

I did it!

Cassie and I by the cairn.

Adding my rock to the pile!

A view of Ben Lawers from Ghlas. No biggie.

At the top! As you can see, there was no view at all to celebrate. The climb down was just as treacherous as the climb up because of the snow. Shallow snow was very slippery if stepped on. Luckily, I only slipped once, and there were no injuries in the group.

Outside my bedroom window.

The kayak crew all suited up and ready to go!

The rest of these are pictures from around the cabin just before we left. Loch Tay was so calm it completely mirrored the surroundings. It was just amazing.