Beinn a'Chleibh

On Sunday, Ralph and I set out to climb Beinn a'Chleibh, having missed doing it earlier in the year with the club, after doing Ben Lui. When we left Oban, the weather was dull, but OK. Towards Taynuilt, we could see what I thought was cloud, but when we got nearer, it turned out to be snow. However, the roads were clear, so we carried on.

Not wanting to get our feet wet on such a cold day, we decided to use the foot-bridge to cross the River Lochy. The snow was several centimetres deep and was still coming down. After an unplanned tour of the forest, and an awkward burn crossing, we emerged on to the hill and headed up Fionn Choirein to the col between Beinn a'Chleibh and Ben Lui. Although the snow was soft, there were patches of ice, so we donned crampons. Going up the coire, we could see what looked like sand storms swirling around, but of course were snow not sand. It was impossible to avoid them, and when in them it was not very nice. The snow was coming and going, but the wind was getting stronger.

After the col, we just made a bee-line for the summit, from where we could only see snow. Coming back the same way, the wind was ferocious and nearly blew us off our feet at one point. And together with the snow made for intermittent white-outs.

But apart from snow stinging our eyes, the descent was uneventful.

Back at the car, the snow had added about five centimetres to the roof and road-side. So a very slow start to the return journey was made, but as we came nearer to Oban, the snow eased and the roads became completely clear.

John

Thank You Nevis HWC

I eventually made it to the summit of my last Munro Top in the company of Andrew, Gerry, Alan, and Gavin who kindly took the picture. As you can see conditions were challenging.

I would like to say thank you to everyone from the Club who has accompanied me to any of these 227 Tops, many of which are off the normal Munro-baggers routes.

For those who like statistics, I had climbed 97 Tops during my ascent of the Munros in the years up to 2008. To climb the remaining 130 meant 68 days on the hills, walking 1329k in 460 hours. I couldn't even think of calculating what mileage my car has done to get to these hills !

As I've said here before, some of the Tops are a bit boring, but others, particularly in Skye and Torridon give you a real sense of achievement.

I'm grateful to those who have sent good wishes in recent days. In some ways it's sad to get to the end of a journey. Next year I'm hoping to climb "The Furth", the term which the SMC use to describe the 34 mountains over 3000 feet in Ireland, Wales and England. That should be a small enough list for someone of my age to tackle !

I'm looking forward to walking with the Club again next year, and I wish all my fellow members success in their individual challenges.

A Day in Arrochar

I had planned to meet the club last Sunday but had a cold all weekend. yesterday Wednesday I felt better and drove up to the car park at Succoth in Arrochar to walk up Beinn Narnain. Have forgotten how many times I have done this hill, though I do enjoy it as it has a couple of short scrambles on route to the summit.

Arrived at the car park in glorious sunshine and before long the jacket and top layer was off. Took the route straight up from the car park passing the concrete slabs then through the crags. Views from the summit were great as you could see Arran and Ailsa Craig to the south and all the mountain tops to the north with snow on the upper tops. The two photos show Ben Lomond and The Cobbler.

From the summit headed north west down to the bealach and was surprised at the depth of the snow on this slope, then south past The Cobbler, the Narnain Boulders then through the forest on the zig zag path to the car.

Spoke to several people who had taken the day off work to do the hills since the weather was so good.

Alternative Walk

Ralph was not able to make the club walk on Saturday, 29 Nov., so we decided to do Beinn Sgulaird, one of our local hills, instead. As it happens, the weather on Saturday was pretty terrible, but on Sunday it was good. As Ralph had not done this hill before, we decided to do it by the usual route, from Druimavuic. Starting up the first ridge, we met a guy coming down, who told us he had been up to see the sunrise! Unfortunately, there was a bit of cloud around and it was not as good as he would have liked.
There was still cloud up ahead on the tops, but we were hopeful. On the way up we were lucky enough to see a small flock of fieldfares (identified by Ralph). However, when we arrived at Meall Garbh, we missed the cairn because of the mist. A few minutes later, we were joined by another guy who had missed the small cairn to turn off the track at the start of the walk. He had carried on to the col at the head of Coire Buidhe, and then climbed up to join the path where he met us.
On one of the rockier bits, there was the burping sound of Ptarmigan, and then we saw them. They were nearly in their full winter coats, and were wonderfully camoflaged. The three of us carried on to the summit with the cloud coming and going. When it cleared, there were wonderful views in all directions, with the lochs like mirrors, and the sound of the rutting stags echoing up from the glens below. As usual, Ralph reached the summit before me and was lucky enough to see a Brocken Spectre, but by the time I got there, the mist had cleared. I missed the Brocken Spectre, but got the views.
We met various people who had different ideas to complete their walks, but given the short day, some were a little ambitious.
We returned the same way, with all its ups and downs, (this hill may be only 936 m high, but with the lumps and bumps, the climb is about 1500m) . On the descent, we saw two more ptarmigan that just carried on feeding, although we were only a few metres from them. All in all, this was a very successful walk.
John

Mullach nan Coirean diversion

The forecast was better for Sunday this weekend, so I headed for Glen Nevis with Fern. At the bottom of the track to Mullach nan Corean were forestry signs asking walkers to follow a diversion. My book says "a footpath winds pleasantly" from the track to the NE ridge by coire riabhach. But the diversion takes the walker up a peaty, boggy, rough forestry path by the Allt Coire a Mhusgain burn instead. This brings you out at the SE corner of the forest and leaves a steep climb up to the ridge to join the path. The diversion, in place until Jan 2011, makes a very difficult start to the walk and may be worth avoiding.

However, I continued on the ridge to the summit, and had a very pleasant walk. I think this hill may often be overlooked for it's close neighbour Stob Ban. But it is a nice hill, and a pleasant ridge walk to the summit. Forecast was for 80% cloud free munros, and I was on the summit in the other 20%. Not to worry, I had left my camera in the car anyway.