Winter Hillwalking - Scotland 2008

Sun 10 Feb 2008

 

 

Start on the A832 Ullapool road north of Loch a'Bhraoin (NH162761). A short walk to the ruined house and then cross the footbridge over the stream at the eastern end of Loch a'Bhraoin. Ascend the ridge of Druim Reidh to the Munro Top of Toman Coinnich (935m). Weather windy & cloudy. A few spots of rain, but any wetness was essentially just condensate from the clouds. Very tough ascent; we did not stop enough to take on fluid and food. Ascend east to the summit of Sgurr Breac (999m). Descend back to Toman Coinnich, contouring around to avoid unnecessary height gain  until we picked up the path descending to the col before A'Chailleach. Ascend this, my 34th Munro.

Descend north over the ridge of Sron na Goibhre. Turn right at the end of this ridge as we reached the cliffs at the end. Very steep, grassy descent that took ages. Vern attempted  to "glissade" on the grass. Further down a large landslide had left the surface very muddy.

 

The walk back to the bus from the ruin seemed much longer on the way back (we actually used the new path through the woods). Started today's walk at 10.20, got back to the bus in near darkness at 18.00. Very hard day, did not stop enough for drink & food.

 

 

 

Summit	Height (m)	Status
Toman Coinnich	935	Munro Top
Sgurr Breac	999	Munro
A’Chailleach	997	Munro

 

Mon 11 Feb 2008

Start at the dam at the eastern end of Loch Mullardoch (NH211316). Head west, initially on a path by the loch,  then climb towards Mullach na Maoile, after fording the Allt Mullardoch. Lunch stop at the summit of this with fantastic views of the Sgurr nan Clachan Geala - Sgurr na Lapaich ridge.

 

Ascend the broad ridge to Carn nan Gobhar. There are two summits to Carn nan Gobhar - the north one is the true summit, but the southern one has the grander cairn. Descend west to the Bealach na Cloiche Duibhe.  Chris left us at this point to descend back down to the loch. Vince, Bryn, Sandy and I continued up the east ridge of Sgurr na Lapaich. Nice ascent with some snow fields to cross and a small amount of simple scrambling as we reached the rocky summit. Clear blue skies  and great views.

 

Descend south to Sgurr nan Clachan Geala (a Munro Top) then south-east over grassy slopes, eventually crossing the Allt Taige. It had been a fairly easy day up to this point, but it was a long walk back down to the north shore of Loch Mullardoch, and the walk along the loch back to the  start was muddy and seemed to go on forever. Felt knackered by the time we got back to the bus (in the dark).

 

Summit	Height (m)	Status
Carn nan Gobhar	992	Munro
Sgurr na Lapaich	1,150	Munro
Sgurr nan Clachan Geala	1,095	Munro Top

 

Tues 12 Feb 2008

 

Start in Achnasheen near the station. Walk 1 km east along the road and then across a field towards the woods. There did not appear to be any crossing point in the fence surrounding the woods, so we walked around the east end of the trees and then cut back north-west to pick up the track ascending the hillside. A small flock of golden plover seen here. Continue up to about 530m, where at a wall we stopped for an elevenses break. Continue upwards, leaving the track and now following the wall up the ridge of Sail an Tuim Bhain.  The wall eventually ended, but we continued following the ridge to the summit of Fionn Bheinn. Magnificent weather again today, with great views of the Fannichs and Liatach/Beinn Eighe.

 

 

 

 

Descend south-east over Creagan nan Laogh back to Achnasheen. At another rest stop above Achnasheen a large bird of prey was observed in the far distance for sometime – possibly an eagle, as it seemed much too big for a buzzard.

 

Summit	Height (m)	Status
Fionn Bheinn	933	Munro

 

Wed 13 Feb 2008

A day off from walking. Spent the morning looking around Inverness with Vince, then met up with Bryn, Chris and Vern in Wetherspoons to sample some Scottish real ales.

 

Thurs 14 Feb 2008

Breakfast an hour early (at 7.00am) to give us a head start for the long journey to Creag Meagaidh. No sign of Vern at 7.00, I think it was about 7.15 before he got down for breakfast (after being woken by Margaret). Began the drive to Aberarder (NN483874) at 8.00am, but five minutes into the journey Vern announced that he had forgotten his boots! Return to Dunhallin in silence to pick them up. Poor Vern – he must have felt incredibly embarrassed.

 

Start the walk at about 9.45 from the car park at Aberarder, following the path leading to Coire Ardair.  Leave the path after the woods and head up the hillside to  Na Cnapanan. A short elevenses stop here, admiring the view to The Window.

 

Continue to Carn Liath, reaching the summit just before noon. Hardly a breath of wind and no cloud. Distant valleys were full of cloud (temperature inversion). Continue along the ridge visiting four "summits" before the next Munro of Stob Poite Coire Ardair. A raven was sitting on the summit cairn of this Munro as Sandy arrived there. Another food/drink break here.

 

Descend to the Window, where there were several groups digging snow holes. The summit plateau of Creag Meagaidh was   covered in hard icy snow, but as it was a fairly flat surface crampons were not necessary. Another break on Creag Meagaidh's summit, with great views all around.

 

Descend to Puist Coire Ardair (Munro Top) and continue down Sron a'Choire. A large area of hard snow on a steep slope necessitated use of crampons. Five ptarmigan seen as we continued our descent. Arrive back at bus in darkness again.

 

 

Summit	Height (m)	Status
Carn Liath	1,006	Munro
Meall an-t-Snaim	969	Munro Top
Sron Coire a'Chriochairein	991	Munro Top
Stob Poite Coire Ardair East Top [Crom Leathad]	1,051	Deleted Munro Top
Stob Poite Coire Ardair	1,053	Munro
Creag Meagaidh	1,130	Munro
Puist Coire Ardair	1,070	Munro Top
Sron a'Choire	1,001	Munro Top

 

Fri 15 Feb 2008

Back to normal breakfast time today (8.00). No sign of Vern, Margaret knocked on his bedroom door at 8.30 (still asleep). He decided not to come today.

Start beside Loch Cluanie (NH127105), a couple of kilometres west of Lundie. Start out in fog on a path beside Allt Coire Lair, which we soon left to head uphill to An Cruachan. As we  ascended we soon broke out of the fog into bright sunshine, with great views of the mountains poking up through the fog. Picked up a stalker's path, which we followed to the summit of Carn Ghluasaid where we stopped for food & drink. A glorious day with great views. Ptarmigan seen as we approached the summit.

Continued west over Creag a'Chaorainn (Munro Top) and followed the snowy ridge to Sgurr nan Conbhairean. Another short refreshment break after visiting the large cairn on this summit.

 

Continue north on the ridge to Sail Chaorainn, the third Munro of the day. After another short break, retraced our steps back to Sgurr nan Conbhairean, but did not go back to the summit, contoured round the west side to get onto the south-west ridge. Put crampons on here to traverse some snow, but were not really necessary as the snow was soft enough to make good steps. Vince and I continued up to the Top of Drochaid an Tuill Easaich before descending and catching up with Sandy, Chris and Bryn. Continue descent over Meall Breac back to the bus, which we actually got back to with some daylight still available.

Summit	Height (m)	Status
Carn Ghluasaid	957	Munro
Creag a'Chaorainn	998	Munro Top
Sgurr nan Conbhairean	1,109	Munro
Sail Chaorainn	1,002	Munro
Drochaid an Tuill Easaich	1,001	Munro Top

Walking Companions

Vince Beaney, Sandy Murray, Bryn Rees, Chris Litherland, Vern

More photos here