The walk up beside the River Cononish
with the slopes of Beinn Chuirn
looming ahead in the murk

The forecast was not at all good today with heavy rain forecast to arrive by the afternoon. The morning was to be better so I quickly got ready to leave and start my walk. By now the compressed snow in the youth hostel car park had turned it into an ice rink - ideal place to practise crampon technique!

The track upto Cononish farm was equally icy and seemed to take an age to walk the approach. Upto now the rain had been drizzly. Beyond the farm, the rain turned more persistent as I ascended the south slopes of the Corbett to reach the snowy flatter ground mid way up. The snow was much more consolidated but still heavy going - surprisingly for a Corbett there was a snow trail upto the top - I met the culprit later in the youth hostel.

The grass up here was now starting to show through the snow - which was just as well for otherwise I would have had whiteout conditions to deal with. The wind upto now was just chilly but just as I reached the summit ridge, the wind suddenly increased to gale force while I was up on the summit before dropping back to normal when I reversed my route. The descending slope was none the less in the windward direction - there was probably a cushion of air between the prevailing wind and the slope - an effect I've noticed before.

Upon descending to the farm, the track was still icy and the river was now very swollen. It was a slippery journey back to the road where I hitched back to the Youth Hostel.

The rest of the evening was one of classic hiking club sillyness at the Rod and Reel with all memory after midnight 'a bit of a blur'!

Phil Endecott discussing the more detailed aspects of millenium bugs

Steve hartley and Phil Dyer

Dave Henley (oh scarey!)

Catherine joins in with playing the music

Vocal Locals

Before drinking

Amanda Berry

Well into the drinking with considerable camera shake!

Me

Celebrations at midnight

Everything becomes a blur!

Next day was a rest day - believe me I needed it!

Views through the summit mist of
Beinn Dorain to Beinn Bhreac Liath

The forecast today was for increasing sunny spells in the afternoon with showers dying out. The summits remained wreathed in mist all day long! Still it remained dry. I did these summits back in July 1998under very similar cloud conditions. My bonus this time round was in having snow - which by now was firming up.

The summit ridge of Beinn Dorain

The walk to Beinn Dorain was considerably slower compared with last time taking 2 1/2 hours to get to the summit rather than 2 hours before. The bogs leading up to Coire an Dothaidh were dryer though. I met another group ahead of me who were taking their two dogs for a walk. The winds on the summit were chilly but not strong. The cloud briefly cleared on Beinn Dorains summit ridge but not enough for good pictures.

The latter summit was completely clouded over but did provide opportunities to practice compass and crampon work on its broad shallow southern facing slopes. Time to walk back to Bridge of Orchy. Upon appearing below the clouds, it was then I noticed that more bad weather was set to move in with it looking very grey towards the west. All went well until slipped and fell in a bog! Urgh yuck!

Beinn Heasgarnish

Beinn Mhanach seen from the north ridge of Beinn Dorain

Tonight was quite stormy and tomorrow remained so - another rest day. This time browsing the shelves of Nevisport and West Coast leisure in Fort Bill to find good gloves to replace the ones nicked in the drying room yesterday. Time to move on to Glen Coe Youth Hostel.