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My plan was to begin
doing longer routes again as the coldest of the winter seemed to be
over. The preceding days had seen endless sun and blue skies but school
and other commitments left me unable to do any walking. Saturday would
be my first chance, so I planned a fairly large day: An Caisteal, Beinn
Chabhair, Beinn a' Chroin, Beinn Tulaichean and Cruach Ardrain. It was a
tall order but I knew I could do it for sure. The key would be to be
prepared mentally. I knew that with adequate resting time I could cut it
physically but it was the mental challenge of taking in such a large
route that may cause problems. With so much to climb, it would be easy
to simply give up which I'd hoped not to do.
An Caisteal
All was looking up: sunny skies were
forecast for this day and I had travel sorted so on Saturday morning, a
5.45am start and a lift up to Crianlarich brought me to the foot of An
Caisteal at 8.10am. I followed the track from the A82 car park up to the
upper reaches of Glen Falloch and turned off fairly quickly, bound for
Sron Garbh and Twistin' Hill. The weather was hazy with visibility of no
more than a couple of miles but there was little actual cloud. It would
be a slog to Sron Garbh, but I bared it and slogged upwards. I was
feeling well and positive about the day ahead.
At Sron Garbh, the terrain levelled out and I picked up a path on
Twistin Hill. Ahead of me, sunlight illuminated the haze which, because
we'd had a high pressure for the past week, had almost turned to fog
itself. The ridge snaking off to the upper reaches of An Caisteal was
terribly atmospheric. Through the haze I see tell that the cloud was
definitely down on the summit but I'd hoped it would clear later.
Twistin' Hill offered an entertaining route of ascent, one which I found
preferable to the ascent from Derrydarroch Farm which I'd climbed with
Alex in May '08. I continued upwards and into the cloud and from here
onwards the climb up An Caisteal began to feel to me to be a little
'intense'.
Arriving at snowfields, I lost the path and headed over the snow. It
became clear that I'd lost the path which may lead me to lose the ridge
itself, but I was also alone and in thick fog. Exhilarating or what? So
I traversed around the hillside and picked up the path again. This led
me up to some scrambling above and with snow and wind blowing, I knew
that I had to keep on my guard. Still, I only felt a little out of my
comfort zone and could proceed knowing that all was going to plan.
I arrived at the summit of An Caisteal at 10.05. Visibility was right
down, a wind blew and I can't say it was the most inspiring place to be.
I felt a little alone, given the slightly problematic ascent and
although it wasn't loneliness as such, it was a place without
inspiration, views or company. I met the first person of the day at the
summit although he didn't say a lot, just walked up to summit and on
past. However I had a schedule and after ten minutes on top I headed
onwards.
Beinn a' Chroin and east top
Next on the list was Beinn Chabhair and as can be seen now, I didn't
visit. It seemed as if it would be a navigational nightmare. As I
descended An Caisteal, cloud was down and I was behind the schedule I'd
set myself. By continuing straight onto Beinn a' Chroin I'd get myself
ahead and give myself time for the rest of the route. An Caisteal
offered a couple of hands-on moments and the hairiest section I'd
remembered from May '08 could be bypassed which I'd have been relieved
at had I known at the time. I arrived at Bealach Buidhe where I made the
final decision to omit Beinn Chabhair and so I headed past the boulder
field, past the loch and up the side of Beinn a' Chroin.
I was aware that Beinn a' Chroin has one break in the cliffs but I
needed to find it in 5m visibility. I climbed up to the base of the
cliffs and looked around from my vantage point, aware that it was off to
the left hand side. I was probably around the centre of the cliffs so I
traversed the snow fields to the left and spotted the break fairly
quickly. It was, like in May, a fun ascent and I emerged on the top of
Beinn a' Chroin, slogging the final paces to the top. I came across one
cairn and took a photo, but when I came upon a second, it was familiar
and I knew well that this was the summit. There were still no views but
I felt good about going onto Beinn Tulaichean afterwards.
From Beinn a' Chroins summit, I headed over to the east top and stopped
for a break here. After five minutes another guy came along and I got
talking with him. From the Czech Republic (non-UK accent...), he was
also doing a circuit of An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin, but in opposite
direction to myself. I had a little chuckle at our conversation:
Him: "You going alone?"
Me: "Yes.."
Him: "Being your age, is that not quite dangerous?"
Me: "Well, I know the hills okay, been here before...
<a moment after> You know that this isn't the summit of Beinn a' Chroin,
yeah?"
Him: "... Oh?"
Unsafe? I don't know if he thought he was at the summit or whether he
was using the OS 1:50 000 map. This map suggests that the east top
(940m) is the summit but this is wrong. It doesn't mention that the
central summit is higher at 942m but perhaps this wasn't known at the
time of printing. I showed him my 1:25 000 with the spot heights marked
just to be sure with him. He'd be none too pleased to get home to
discover he hadn't been on the top.
Though all this asides, and to be fair, he was a nice guy. I'm not
taking the piss out of him either, just the irony... I just left him
know that to get to the actual summit he needed continue on the path
westwards to another cairn which sat beside a lochan. My opinion was
that I was carrying out the route safely but I suppose if you meet
someone that isn't even 18, alone on a Munro in the middle of cloud and
in the middle of March, you may want to make sure they really
know what they're doing
Descent
But I wasn't so clever myself. I intended to head down the northern arm
of Beinn a' Chroin and then go onto Beinn Tulaichean and still under the
mist, I headed in a seemingly north direction. Two minutes off the top,
I met the third and last person I'd see all day. Thinking I was going
north to Coire Earb, I asked him just to make sure (because things
weren't feeling 100% right) "So you came up from Glen Falloch?". His
reply was "Aye, I came over from An Caisteal. If you keep following this
path it'll take you over there." Doh!
How easy it is to lose the way in mist! I was in fact heading westwards,
the way I'd come because I simply didn't check the map and compass. Even
without this conversation I would have reached familiar ground and then
realised things weren't as I'd thought they were. But now knowing my
mistake I contoured around Beinn a' Chroin's east top and then met up
with a path on the northern arm. I was extremely careful with the map
and compass.
I descended, now back on course, and feeling okay about going onto Beinn
Tulaichean. But I knew that to do so, I'd want good visibility. So I
kept to the ridge and didn't come out of cloud until around 600m. The
weather was dull. I took a rest and watched the conditions. The
hills north of Glen Falloch were in sunlight, but it seemed that cloud
built up as they hit the Munros on my side of the valley. The clouds
wouldn't leave. Beinn Tulaichean was a long way off through a glen that
would be tedious and then I would be spending another couple of hours in
the cloud. I accepted that the sun wasn't coming, that the clouds
weren't moving and so I turned down in the direction of Glen Falloch.
So much for five Munros! I have to say that I felt up to the task
physically, but I'd hoped for a clear day. A clear day, partly because
I'm new to the game of long hard days out and because I simply didn't
want to walk over another two Munros in mist. I don't want to walk up
another bit of similar ground that you only know is the summit, I want
to feel it and see the ground falling away. Walking in mist always feels
like an intimate experience with the mountain requiring concentration
and constant attention to the terrain but therefore the summit becomes a
slightly redundant concept. To me it becomes just another piece of
ground then, without significance minus the cairn you walked upon.
I descended the ridge and wound up at the floor of the valley. To add
salt to the wound, as I arrived down, the cloud cleared spectacularly
and I couldn't go back up - partly due to having travel already sorted
out and partly because climbing anything would mean I'd need to regain
most of the mountains height in vertical metres. I didn't regret turning
my back on Tulaichean but my timing couldn't have been worse. The sun
was out, the murk of the morning had gone and the skies were beautiful
blue. With plenty of time to get back, I rambled down the valley and
enjoyed views of Beinn a' Chroin appearing from the mists. After May
'08, I decided I'd never want return to this valley but here I was
again. My memories were of a boggy, tedious valley that never appeared
to end but here now, I was enjoying it and I took it slow. The remainder
of the journey was just one of enjoyment, and around about the peaks
were in sunlight. Still, I didn't have a problem with descending. The
peaks will be here next time.
I picked up the track back to Glen Falloch and followed it to the car
park. The views were wonderful now, but if only I was up high! Ben Oss
and Beinn Dubhchraig to my left were spectacular, radiating a nearly
'alpine' feel which my pictures simply did not capture. The walk back
was pure joy but there was the lingering thought about my decision to
turn around. In another mindset, I knew that the peaks will always be
there and I'm happy to accept this.
I was back at 2.20pm and got a lift 20 minutes later. The journey back
to Glasgow was broken up by some photography and a cup of tea at
Inveruglas, a nice ending to the day. In the coming months I'll give
these five Munros another go but with that plan asides, I have to say
that the day turned out positive itself. I probably boosted my
navigational skills another notch and I was also just happy to be out in
the mountains again. The winters been quiet for me in the hills, but
I've just had a lot on in life, I guess. This I hope to change soon.
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