Sgaith Chuil seen from the South

I was up at the late time of 8am for an easy stroll up the Munro I missed on Tuesday. I say late but actually it’s quite early for new years day. Two hitches and I was on schedule at my starting point for the hike. The first hour of the walk was dry and bright though cloudy. This was a surprise for ‘wet and windy’ was the forecast for the whole day though I did hear that from one of the members.

The rain / sleet set in for an hour while on the summit. It was time for snow goggles I decided, the conditions were painful up there and I needed some comfort. The goggles made the day seem brighter suddenly and served as a morale booster for the brisk stroll back down to the road. After some brief dry interludes I was back on the road though I waited for twenty minutes for a hitch. When the hitch arrived it was the best one so far for I was fed crackers and christmas cake and lemonade. How many hitch hikers can boast that eh?

My most ambitious trip so far this trip, it was also the wettest day so far with seemingly never ending precipitation. I was again off before anyone else was up and stomped up to the head of Glen Lochay. I had two Munros to ‘mop up’ before I was completely finished with the area and that served as motivation enough to get me up and going.

The wind was light at all levels to begin with and remained light when I reached the first Munro top before Creag Mhor. New snow was forming and I was now above the freezing level. But alas my trousers were already soaked through, the winds were progressively picking up on the summit ridge and picking up lots of spin drift with it. After bagging the top I quickly backtracked for a while and then took a less steep way down to the connecting bealach with the second summit.

The snow had turned back to sleet and this made for a cold lunch stop. I was in need of refreshment but I had to ration the water for I still had a long way to go. The ascent up the west ridge was steep and not helped by having strong gale force gusts. I was relieved to be on the level plateaux but it now proved to be a route finding exercise of matching the terrain with the map features. With periodic snow drifts, thick spin drift and verglassed rock topped up with severe gales the walk to the final summit felt like quite an epic.

I reached the summit with it’s pathetic cairn praising myself for having good route finding skills and not needing my compass. It was time for snow goggles again for I now had to face the spin drift and walk back for a small while. My next task was to navigate a route down on to the high moorland, this was difficult for the snow was hard and thus wanted my crampons but didn’t want to take off my rucksac to put them on; that risked seeing my sack slide off into the abyss. I slipped and slid a small distance, my knee broke through the surface and I felt relieved.

The rest of the descent proved easier with soft snow and descent anywhere off the mountain seemed quite possible through occasional broken crags. The scary part was over and now all I had was a trudge down and out. I got down to the glen at 3.30pm but realised the road was not motorable for normal vehicles. I thus had a long walk out. It was quite empty and so I was very lucky to be given a lift by the only car in the glen. Anyway if I didn’t get a lift I’m sure someone would come to look for me. Someone did look for me while I was way back. Phil Dyer didn’t mind looking for me for he likes any excuse to go for a drive these days!

I arrived back to the wigwams only to find they’d all gone back home, they didn’t like the weather which was a bit pathetic really. Anyway they left me a poster of Glen Coe and the Mamores and a dictionary to help me out of those conversational difficulties!

The next day was a rest day for I too had had enough of the wet weather, though the weather turned nice during the morning and I cursed myself for making such a decision.

Monday was storm bound; 120mph summit winds and 70mph winds in Glen Coe made for an interesting though short day up the hidden valley in Glen Coe.

The most unpronouncable Munro in
Glen Coe

The winds had died and the wet weather for today was brief, contradictory to the forecast. The ascent was stiff though levelled out to easier ground higher up and I caught the precipitation in the form of light snow so I managed to stay dry all day.

My descent off was made more interesting by having to negotiate a 45 degree slope through broken crag made all the more interesting by having thin wet snow on top of grass and rock. This called for a few careful moves and consumed quite a bit of time to manage the 25m section. An inspection of the slope from below showed that I could have made an easy diversion the other direction. Time was pressing so I omitted the ascent of another Corbett and simply headed back down the glen to the Glen Coe Youth Hostel.

Bidean nan Bian and Buchaille Etive Beag from Buchaille Etive Mor

Buchaille Etive Beag on the right and ..... Mor on the left

Murky Mamores

The day was much better than yesterday and proved to be an enjoyable ascent and traverse. I took the ridge to the west of Coire an Tulaich owing to a grade three avalanche warning. It was far more photogenic than last time and the snow was a lot better than the slush of two months ago. Mist eventually engulfed the southern end of the ridge and so I had no view of Loch Etive which apparently looks particularly fine from the final Munro. I climbed the Munro I omitted last time and then went back along the much drier Larig Gartain. A good day.

People on the ridge west of Coire nan Tulaich

Stob na Broige

Down the Larig Gartain to the Glen Creran wilderness

Stob na Broige as seen from Stob na Doire

Winter Magic