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Two events had
led up to this walk: camping on Dumgoyne's summit and climbing Ben Lomond
by night. I did both with Steve. Now I felt it was time to take things
further and try camping myself. From Ben Lomond, Steve and I had watched
the sun rise over low cloud in the valleys, and that low cloud was
forecast to recur on the morning of the 26th. I hoped to repeat such a
sunrise again - it was so breathtaking the first time that I reckoned I
should chance my luck and go again. Then the next day, I'd descend to
Crianlarich, meet Dave of Up A Mountain MC who I regularly go away with,
and then head on to Glen Coe.
So here was the plan: start out from Crianlarich mid-afternoon on the 25th,
camp on, or near the summit of Cruach Ardrain overnight, and wake up at 4am, hopefully for
another sunrise over a cloud inversion. Camping high would keep me above
the top of the clouds (estimated to be 700m-1000m) and once sunset was
done with, I'd get a few hours sleep then pack up and head down to
Crianlarich for midday. For the most part, my plan went smoothly and I
even had a few unexpected delights.
Why did I choose Cruach Ardrain? For starters, the "Crianlarich Hills"
to the south of the village are the most easily accessible high
mountains. I wanted to go above 1000m, so Ben More, Stob Binnein and
Cruach Ardrain were remaining possibilities. Ben More and Stob Binnein
require a long walk out of Crianlarich to get to the bottom while Cruach
Ardrain could be climbed directly, without an approach. Additionally, I
didn't want to slog Ben More's unrelenting 1000m face with camping gear.
Ben More and Stob Binnein would give me the least restricted views east,
but I'd hoped that Cruach Ardrain would have good enough views. Given
the pros and cons of each mountain summit, Ardrain seemed to give the
best balance.
And one more point before I get started: unlike before, it is possible now to climb Cruach
Ardrain from Crianlarich, should you know the route through the forest.
This offers a more direct ascent than the route from the A82 car park
beside the River Falloch.
An obscure path leads out of Crianlarich at the park beside the
Youth Hostel. Follow it and take the right hand fork into the forest.
When you meet up with the forestry tracks, follow the switchbacks until
a cairn marks the turn-off point up the felled forests. From here it is
an easy climb to Grey Height, although becomes substantially boggy towards the
top. This seems to be an increasingly well walked route - a path has
been established and I've met other walkers here. If it's use continues,
expect a mud bath on wetter days.
* * *
Cruach Ardrain
Steve dropped me off in Crianlarich midday. The sky was substantially
clouded over but it was rather warm too. Having learned about a route
from Crianlarich to Grey Height (a shoulder of Cruach Ardrain) I decided
to follow it and see if I could find my way without getting lost. After
spending
five minutes at a bench just above Crianlarich, I was on my way and
headed up the forestry tracks. Google Earth gave me good coverage of
these forests and was vital in allowing me to find my way. Ordnance
Survey 1:50000 maps give no indication of forestry tracks and the
1:25000 map doesn't fare much better, although shows a few. I took the correct turns in the
correct places, and even when I was slightly unsure of where to go, my
guesswork turned out to be correct.
Above the forests, I slogged my way to Grey Height. Cruach Ardrain was
somewhere above but I couldn't comprehend the distances right now. With
such a heavy rucksack, distance seemed amplified. When I arrived on Grey Height,
Meall Dhamh was the next goal, but Ardrain was still too far away to
comprehend. This was down to the weight of gear on my back, which slowed
me down considerably. Sometimes I felt like I was being pulled back,
often I became frustrated with the weight even when I'd been minimal in
my packing.
A little hard work allowed me to reach Meall Dhamh, and it arrived after
a spell of 'automatic' walking, where the motions of walking left the
conscious mind completely and other thoughts poured in. I also noticed that the cairn was
missing. I was sure that there had been one before and guessed that the
cairn-kickers had come along and destroyed it.
From Meall Dhamh, I had another 200m of climbing to Cruach Ardrain's
summit. I initially
miscalculated it to be 300m and felt a little better about the climb
ahead when I realised my mistake. It was just hard slogging, there was
nothing more to it. I reached Ardrain with
some relief, just as the sun began dipping to the north west.
Beinn Tulaichean
Now I was on top of Ardrain, what to do now? It still wasn't too late, so Beinn Tulaichean was on the
agenda. I put on a jacket to see to the wind, ditched the rucksack and
weighed it down with rocks, just in case. I headed off with some
chocolate in camera in hand, although I was fairly tired by now, much
more so than I'd hoped I'd be.
I never felt totally relaxed on the way to or from Beinn Tulaichean, so
I didn't stay long at the summit. I could picture someone finding my
abandoned rucksack on Cruach Ardrain, or could imagine the wind blowing it away. The
wind had been persistent all day, and at times it had make me abandon the idea
of camping on the summit. When I arrived back on Cruach Ardrain, I
picked up the rucksack, and with the sun lowering in the sky, I began to thinking about
finding camp.
Camping and sunset
Having been concerned about the wind beforehand, I was pleased to find that I could camp right beside the summit
cairn. The wind blew from the south east, and on the north west side of
the summit was a flat patch of ground. It was mossy underfoot which
although in retrospect may have been too fragile to camp on, was
otherwise an ideal location. It was sheltered, just about flat and would
allow me to pitch with my door facing north, allowing me to lie and watch the sunset and
subsequent sunrise.
When the tent was pitched, conditions couldn't have been closer to
perfect. It did feel a little odd camping on such high ground, but I
pushed the thoughts from my head. Ten metres from my tent door was a
long drop into Coire Ardrain but I figured that because conditions were
calm, I would be fine. It took a while to get accustomed to settling
down in a place I'd normally only climb to and descend from. I spent the
rest of the night watching the Sun set. I hadn't seen intense reds and
glowing oranges like them in a long, long time. And what a way to
introduce myself to camping - alone on a wonderfully calm night at over
1000 metres.
After the sun set, I gradually dropped off to sleep. I only got broken
sleep throughout the night either because the wind against the tent
caused a racket, or because it never got dark. I slept with the tent
door open though and when I would wake up, I'd be greeted by the band of
orange on the horizon that never left. It was a wonderful experience,
one that I won't forget.
When the sun first rose over the horizon after 4am, I was surprised to
see that there was no cloud beneath me. The sun was almost hidden by
Stob Binnein, so given my fractured sleep, I rolled over and fell asleep
having taken one picture. I hadn't woken up above the clouds which was
the reason for the high camp, but the experience in itself had easily
paid off the effort of climbing up. When morning came and it was time to
get up, it was a wonderfully sunny day. I packed up early to descend to
Crianlarich and to give myself time to be in the village itself. I
certainly wouldn't want a rush.
Sunset from Cruach Ardrain
Descent from Cruach Ardrain
I descended only with a moderate pace, meeting other walkers on the way up. I'd
arranged to meet Dave at midday at the Crianlarich car park and public
toilets so I had plenty of time. After a wrong turn at Grey Height (I
accidentally descended to the top of cliffs, requiring me to reascend
and go the correct way), I headed over the stile and down into the
forest. Here, I met about three people ascending, and I was surprised. I
wouldn't have thought that a route through the forests was so popular
and before 4th June I didn't even know one existed.
An easy walk led me down the forestry tracks into Crianlarich, where I
waited for perhaps 20 minutes before Dave pulled up at 11.40am. After a
roll and sausage and hot chocolate from the train station tea room, we
were on our way north, first to Tyndrum to book into the evenings
bunkhouse, and then to Glen Coe. I climbed the tops of the
Buachaille Etive
Mor while James, Dave and Dougie attempted Curved Ridge.
Panorama
360˚ from summit of Cruach Ardrain
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