Ptarmigan March Meet (Arrochar)

(6.3.2016) Beinn a'Choin, Beinn Ime & Beinn Narnain 12km. 7hrs,30mins, 1350m ascent.

We were dropped off from the Ptarmigan bus on the A83 2km South of the Rest & be Thankfull & a group of us headed East up Beinn Luibhean’s south west spur. The sun was shining and with no breeze, within the first 50 metres of ascent, we were stopping to shed some layers. The group split in half, leaving six of us to head up the Corbett. The snow was soft at first before firming up as we neared the summit. Took just over an hour for us to reach the summit, The snow was much firmer on the summit with some icy patches. We descended pretty much directly east to the bealach between Luibhean and Ime. The snow was nice and crisp so we got the spikes on. Nothing untoward heading up Beinn Ime, we avoided the main route for as long as possible until picking it up 30 metres below the summit. Had lunch then descended Nearly 400 metres south east arriving at Bealach a’Mhaim. A quick break before the last climb of the day. Got to the summit of Beinn Narnain & hummed and hawed about our choice of descent. We were going to retrace our steps back but when two couples came up from the Spearhead gully within minutes of each other we thought about the alternative. They touched the trig and went back down the same way. They didn’t have axes or crampons so we decided we’d be fine. The right hand side of the Spearhead looked a bit daunting with the scrambly bits covered in snow. So we opted for the easier left hand side. Steep, but nothing too tricky. After the Spearhead gully, there was still a bit of easy route finding going down steep rocky sections before reaching more benign ground. Here we finally took the crampons off, we had them on for most of the day. The snow was getting a bit heavier. We followed the path down to what looked like an old pipeline, eventually meeting the track. We couldn’t be bothered backtracking to the path down to Succoth, so we took a shortcut down to the road through the dead bracken and trees before walking around to the hotel, where the bus and everybody else was waiting for us. (Words by Robin Wallace)