Cap nan Gobbar
Today was my last day on Mull and, after several days of truly awful weather, I decided to go out with a bang by tackling a relatively big hill. I settled on Ben Buie GM/SI-029. With a ferry to catch later, an early start was unavoidable.
Full on weather over the weekend resulting in full on mast bend
After some planning, and with welcome advice from Fraser @MM0EFI and Ben @GW4BML I set off around 7.45. With the winter solstice approaching and sunrise at 9 am, it was still dark, so it was head-torch territory as I walked down the road.
No signs of dawn, as I set off
I soon turned off and began ascending the lower slopes of Ben Buie. At around an altitude of 350 m, the previously clear morning took a sharp turn for the worse. The sky darkened rapidly and, within ten minutes, it began hailing, proper pea-sized hail. At this point my sanity check and risk assessor, also known as Shadow, arrived to say this was not right.
He was correct. A couple of minutes later there was a sharp flash in the twilight, followed by thunder less than five seconds later. I realised that a gap of five seconds meant I was in the storm or very close to it, and the situation is high risk. I was now inside a thunderstorm, which is never listed as desirable in my General Mountain Rules. I have been in this position before when I was much younger and considerably more optimistic about my own judgement, and I had no desire to repeat the experience.
I had two options, retreat across exposed ground or stay put. I chose to stay put, deployed the shelter, and made myself as low profile as possible while the hail continued, accompanied by more lightning and thunder. Not ideal, but definitely the best option at the time.
After about ten minutes the storm cleared. I reassessed, strongly considering a descent. However, as the cloud lifted, Ben More appeared behind me. I climbed a little higher for a better view and was rewarded with a dramatic sight, a huge cumulonimbus cloud dominating the landscape ahead.
Cumulus nimbus, just passing the adjacent Summit, thankfully downwind
At that point it was clear I had been caught in a cumulonimbus cell, and had made the right decision by lying low and pretending to be a very small rock.
Ben More
With improving conditions I continued upwards, enjoying some of the finest views I have had in a long time. The peaks of Rum, the Outer Hebrides, Ben More, and the mainland all made appearances, while a towering cumulonimbus to the north added real atmosphere. With clear views to the south and no risk of thunder, I pressed on.
Gabbro ahead
Higher up, the mountain opened out onto its gabbro summit, a fine top indeed. The summit was cold, with a thin layer of hail still underfoot. I set up quickly on Ben Buie GM/SI-029, deploying my 10.9 m inverse L vertical, and headed straight for 10 m.
Amazingly, 10 m was open. I could hear ZS6/M0KZN @m0kz. calling CQ from South Africa. What followed was an entertaining and slightly stressful five minutes trying to get my callsign across. We did exchange reports, but to be safe I shifted 100 kHz higher, spotted myself, and ZS6/M0KZN also retuned. I am really hoping he copied my report correctly, it was a superb QSO and one I am very happy to log.
The struggle to complete on 10m took longer than expected and the cold was starting to bite, so I moved over to 40m. Don @GW0PLP kindly spotted me, and immediately Fraser @MM0EFI appeared to give him the complete on Ben Buie. I worked a few more stations on 40 m, but my fingers were rapidly shutting down and I still had a ferry to catch.
The descent was straightforward. Later, while waiting at Craignure, I managed to work GM5ALX on Fraser’s final Cairngorms national Park summit, a massive congratulations to him.
CalMac means my time on emphasised textMull is coming to an end
This is not an experience I ever wish to repeat, twice is more than emphasised textenough. it was a shock to experience this prior to Dawn, without temperature and heat involved.
Ben Buie GM/SI-029 is a cracking mountain. It may not quite reach Corbett or Munro status, but it punches well above its weight in character. I am hoping to read more about it in GW4BML’s book, which should be appearing in my Christmas stocking, although there is a high risk it may quietly become a mast 
.
Thank you, Mull, for an excellent five days. The weather was awful, but you still delivered.
