Kilchurn Castle Wild Camp & Hills

(14.5.16) Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich: 7hrs, 15min, 17km.

Forecast looked good for Saturday & had my eye on these 2 for a while. I thought it would be good to take in a wild camp for an early start. Forecast was to be cold so a high camp was out of the question (With ma bulky gear) Set off 5sh from the Burgh & after the madness of Queen Street Station I was on the Oban train. Left the train at 8.45 & took a wander around to the castle.

Set up the tent just behind the castle to block the cold North Easterly breeze. Cooked ma tea, had a wander taking a few pics & enjoyed a cheeky wee can of Guinness. Up after 6 with frost on the tent. It was a cold but comfortable night. Made breakfast & packed up before chatting to a couple of fishermen that had set up around the castle & headed on. Ditched most of my camping gear at the corner of the B8077 road then I set off for the hills. Took the track North up and around before striking uphill to the bealach then onto the summit of Beinn a’Chochuill. Ended up chatting with a guy from Cumbernauld, Bryan & ended up walking around together. Got to the summit & chilled for a while taking a few pics. Headed East back to the bealach and then onto Beinn Eunaich. After Beinn Eunaich, we descended South & on steep ground down to the track & back to Bryan’s van. Instead of waiting for the train back to Glasgow & then onto Edinburgh, Bryan gave me a lift to Sloy station which was near his house. It meant I got home pretty quick. He also had an old postie van which he converted & had a fridge so a couple of cold beers was welcome. Cheers Bryan.  

Ptarmigan May Meet (Creag Meagaidh Circuit)

(8.5.2016) Creag Meagaidh Circuit:  6hrs 36min. 21km

Myself, Tim & Rory were dropped off at the car park and headed NE up the path en route for Creag Meagaidh. We missed the cairn and the path uphill so headed up the steep, rough ground West of Na Cnapanan. Met up with the path & headed NW up to the summit of Carn Liath 1006m & a new way up this hill for Tim. The SE breeze picked up but luckily we were heading W along the broad slope to Meall an t- Snaim 970m. From here we headed SW along the ridge following the rusty fence posts to point 963 then a short descent & reascent by the trench like dip of Min Choire to Sron Coire a'Chriochairein 991m. We then headed W along the broad ridge to the second Munro of the day Stob Poite a'Choire Ardair 1053m. We got here in good timing just over an hour from the first Munro. Descended SW near the window, had lunch & took in the views. From the window we followed the path up SE onto the plateau & West to ‘Mad Meg’s Cairn before the defined ridge to the summit of Creag Meagaidh at 1130m. There was a fair amount of snow leading up to the summit, a foot deep at times but it was soft. The original plan was to head back via the window but Tim suggested he prefers to stay high up thus taking the high level route back. This turned out to be a great plan with stunning views into the corries.  At the summit we took a bearing to make sure we were heading in the right direction. Descended SE off Creag Meagaidh down to the 1026m mark. An advantage of doing this route anti clockwise meant we had enough time & therefore could wander around the corrie rim. We happily plodded over to peer into Moy Corrie/Lochan Coire Choille-rais then over to Puist Coire Ardair 1071m. We headed E & NE over to Sron a’ Ghoire 1000m with impressive views to Coire Ardair & Coire nan Gamhna. The Munros may be over the other side but the tops & Corries this side are by no means inferior. We descended by the Belach a’ Ghoire & followed the Allt Bealach a’ Ghoire SE back to Aberarder. A great day & the weather breezy wit ha 20-30mph SE breeze.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIddtck_YM4

Highways April Meet Glen Feshie

(10.4.16) Sgor Gaoith (Glen Feshie) 16. 7km, 5hrs,26 mins

Returned from the weekend in the hills Sat evening and quickly sorted my gear out for Highways April Meet to beautiful Glen Feshie. I was pretty tired and thought about taking it easy as the forecast did not look good, 20% chance of cloud free Munros with showers, snow higher up. In the end I went for Sgor Gaoith & as sometimes happens, the forecast was wrong. Started from Achlean and took the good path up Carn Ban Mor. Got to the snow line and just like yesterday, there was a faint track but alot of fresh snow, deep in places. Not a fast walker but I beasted on ahead as I thought the summit would be obscured by the clag. The summit cleared and we were treated to amazing views towards Braeriech and Loch Einich. We had lunch at the summit and the sun even made an appearance. We returned the same way due to the heavy snow.

A link to a wee summit panorama. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTX4WK7RnUE

The Wee Bookil (Winter)

(9.4.16) Stob Coire Raineach (Buachaille Etive Beag) 8km, 5hrs, 35mins

Woke up early with a crap sleep at the Red Squirrel Campsite. Heavy rain all night & snow to lower levels which we were to find out later as we broke the trail. We headed back to the bealach then on to Stob Dubh. We got to about 900 metres near the summit & decided to turn back. There was a lot of fresh snow/ overhanging cornices & we didn't feel safe. I had done Stob Dubh last year so wasn't too fussed. We returned the same way then headed back to Edinburgh.

Loch Lochy Munros

(8.4.2016) Loch Lochy Munros: 7hrs,32mins. 21km. 1258m ascent

Ma pal got in touch and asked if I fancied a couple of days walking. He wanted something easy (ish) since he hadn't been up a Munro in 2 and a half years after the birth of his 3rd child. I put in for a wee holiday from work and we were off Friday morning 6am. We started at the usual approach at Kilfinnan & had the Great Glen to break us in, before heading up the Cam Bealach path. There were cornices below Meall na Teanga 918m so we had to skirt around the slope carefully. We got the axes out for a tricky snow slope. Nothing too technical but the grass and snow was slippy & a fall would mean sliding all the way down. This would of course add more ascent climbing back up again & we couldnae be having that. Got back to the bealach then headed up Sron a' Choire Ghaibh 937m before returning back to the bealach just as a snow shower approached then a walk back to Kilfinnan. Headed South for an overnight camp at the Red Squirrel Campsite with beers & scran at the Clachaig Inn.