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Weather/Conditions: Morning
climb, so we started in the dark. Climbed into cloud at around 3-400m as
it got light, and then came out of cloud at the summit where we saw the
sun rise. Beautiful place to be, although the wind was rather cold.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 6.4km / 920m / 3h 25m
Accompanying: Michael C., Martin,
Michael K. (from MunroMagic.com forums) |
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I did this
memorable trip to the Northern Highlands with Michael Coffield, Martin
Forbes and Michael Kerrigan. Ben Hope is well known as the most
northerly Munro, and to get there from Glasgow was quite a long journey
in itself.
I took the train to Edinburgh on the 7th where I met Michael Coffield.
The ticket was just £1.80, which I could only take advantage of by
boarding the 9am Penzance train from Glasgow Central. Once at Edinburgh,
we took the A9 north and picked up two hitch hikers who we dropped off
beneath the Cairngorms. We travelled up through Inverness and Lairg,
finally following the single track road that took us to the north
coast. Some showers passed as we passed Ben Loyal, but had cleared by
the time we arrived in Tongue.
The schedule was to meet Michael K. and Martin at the foot of Ben Hope
where we'd establish a campsite for the night. Michael C. and I had
plenty of time before nightfall so we drove as Durness in time for
dinner
before backtracking to Ben Hope where we arrived in darkness.
We met Michael K. first and Martin pulled up some time later. When he
suggested we go for a night climb, we essentially all agreed on the
spot. It had been on all our minds. We put the tents up for the night,
but the alarms were set for 3am.
Having caught a few hours sleep, we packed away and headed south down
Strath More to Ben Hope's starting point.
The planned route was up the southern flank, although we might had opted
for the steeper north ridge had it not been dark. Getting to the start was
problematic in itself, because a van parked half way off a single track
road did not want to move without a fight. Michael C. and I spent at least twenty
minutes trying to get it going again. By the time we were moving, we'd
lost a substantial amount of tyre to the road and carried out a seven point
turn (Or more...). The joys!
Ben Hope
When we finally arrived at the car park and got walking, we followed path up
alongside a river with waterfalls tumbling to our left. It was quite a steep climb at
this point, but only while we had to get onto the southern flank of the
hill. In the valleys around about, the cloud spilled over the surrounding
mountains, hinting that we could have the kind of conditions for a cloud
inversion. Equally, this could be thicker cloud moving in and we may not see
anything at all.
The darkness of night disappeared to morning as we ascended, and by the time we arrived
on the south flank, we were in a sort of half light with cloud
shifting around about. The wind came from the south east, so at this
point the mountain blocked any views in that direction. We couldn't tell
if any thicker cloud was to come, but we'd heard that the weather would
not be good today and guessed that the prospects were not looking up. We
were so wrong...
We began to climb northwards in the direction of the summit, but it
would be a long, gradual ascent. We went into cloud and climbed onwards
with the summit in mind. It was hardly the most inspiring climb, but I
was into the way of plodding onwards, doing this until just beneath the summit where the cloud began to
clear. First of all we only had a brief glimpse westwards, but it cleared
completely just as the summit trig point came into view. Beyond, the sun
was rising and to be caught in this unexpected moment was very
beautiful indeed.
I had anticipated some kind of reward for getting up early - there
always is payment for getting of your arse and doing something. But this
sunrise was absolutely astonishing, and as the wind blasted the clouds around about us as
well as beneath in the valleys, the sun illuminated everything in a
golden glow, with hints of blue where something was in shadow. The sun
reflected off the sea and silhouetted the land in front of it. I've seen a few inversions
and sunrises now, but they never fail to impress just the same as the
first time I saw them. Such things are always wonderful to sit and
take in...
Michael C. and I had arrived first, but Michael K. and Martin joined us
soon after. We had an extended picture taking session before deciding it
best now to go down. The wind was very cold and the windbreaker wasn't
big enough to shelter four people. Having been up for half an hour, we
headed back to the cars.
Descent
The descent took a while and with the sun now up, there was less to
capture interest. We followed the path south for a long time, before it
turned right and dipped down into the valley. A final steep ascent
brought us back to the car, where we arrived 1 hour 20 minutes after
leaving the top.
We then drove south to
Ben Klibreck
(click to see report), which was next on today's agenda.
On the way, we stopped at Dun Dornaigil, and as we went on, the
weather continued to look good. Instead of having the
expected low cloud, it would turn into a very nice day.
Panorama
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