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Weather/Conditions: Very
cold, somewhere way below 0˚C. Sunny to start out with, then cloudy. Got
dark on descent and arrived back at the cars in darkness.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 8.5km / 930m / 6h 40m
Accompanying: Michael Coffield,
Kevin McKeown |
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It was a cold
start to day and especially cold when trying to sleep in the back of a
van when outside it's -15˚C. I was already awake when my alarm went
at 8am so, Michael and I got up and fired up the stoves in the back of
the van. You shouldn't operate stoves in enclosed spaces but
we're still alive, so it was fine. The stoves warmed the van until it
wasn't bone chillingly cold anymore and we had a great breakfast of
Lorne Sausage, bacon and spaghetti. While it wasn't luxurious, any heat was welcome
having froze in the dark for eight hours.
Today's plan was Beinn Sgulaird above Glen Creran with Kevin McKeown who
was driving up in the morning. Similar to yesterday's
mountain Beinn a' Bheithir, I'd already climbed Sgulaird a month
previously. I don't intend to repeat it all the time, but today I didn't
mind. It was beautiful day when we opened the van door, snow covered peaks
rising into a blue sky. The mountains looked great and Kevin McK arrived
as were firing back to life.
Beinn Sgulaird
So we set off and got ourselves ready (helped push one of the locals cars out of the
ice) then headed off from Elleric across the valley towards Beinn
Sgulaird. We crossed the river then headed upwards in a direct line,
unlike the previous months strategy of trying to find a path up and
going off-route instead. The hills looked wonderful but it wasn't to last as
thicker cloud rolled in. The snow was deep too and of the same powdery
consistency as yesterday. It made for hard walking. It was getting
late in the day.
Then at 600m Kevin McK. decided to turn around followed by Michael
shortly afterwards. Sure, the going was tough and it was steep too but I
couldn't let this mountain go. I didn't feel too tired thus far so
headed on upwards, alone. It was then that it became extremely
tough.
Tough Final Ascent
There was a combination of factors in this - for one I hadn't realised
how far there was to go before we hit the top. The mountain is hugely
foreshortened when seen from Elleric so it didn't quite hit home that
there was another 300 vertical metres to go before the summit. I climbed into the small corrie beneath the summit,
with Sgulaird's main summit on one side and north top on the other. I would head to the
main summit first. The corrie was drifted over in many places and it was
exhausting work. So instead, I climbed up onto the summit boulder field
hoping that would make progress easier. It did, but only marginally. On
larger slabs, I'd be shovelling the powder away then searching for
purchase with an ice axe on blank rock. It was the only way to travel;
the gaps between the boulders were drifted over.
It was physically draining and it was mentally torturous. I hadn't ever had to
put so much effort into reaching a summit before. I'd never had to
scream my lungs out to climb sections. Sounds like an odd tactic, but
adrenaline helped. My legs screamed back at me, my body wanted to sit down and stop
but I couldn't let it get away - I wanted to top out on this now I was
so high up. I'd already been away for a while but I was
determined to reach the summit, the unaccompanied ascent was
taking longer than anticipated. I reached the indefinite north ridge
running along the top, knowing the top was not far away and just as the
parents phoned. I told them I was alone near a Munro summit and that it
was tough going... They didn't like the sound of that, but I was
comfortable with the fact, late in the day as it was. And of course, I
reached the top soon after, happy but knackered. It was one of the hardest ascents I'd done in my life.
Beinn Sgulaird North Top
But I guess I'd been putting pedal to the metal a bit more too and I took a few minutes of breather
at the top. Light
clouds enveloped Sgulaird and I could often see out across to the
western horizon, though the light was getting dim and it would be dark soon. I
went across to the north top (which felt a great deal easier)
since it was a Munro Top that I'd missed out on my first visit in
November. It was on my way here that my foot went through
powder snow and through a crevasse in boulders below, my right knee
whacking into a boulder. It hurt but it seemed to
have just missed the knee. Such are the dangers of deep powder on a
boulder field - it could have been more serious but thankfully not. I
got to the top then with light quickly fading, took a few shots and
turned and went down. Every minute of light was precious now.
Descent
I left and rode the powder downwards. It was a little risky but not so
much so to justify walking slowly and losing daylight. I had a headtorch though which went
on when Elleric came into view. I'd been away longer than expected and a
light on the hillside above would tell Kevin and Michael I was coming.
On the west face, I then got a huge helping hand since Michael and Kev had
descended by sitting on their arses and flying down the snow covered
slopes. In the end I rode a 1000 foot high slide to near
enough the bottom of the hill.
In all honesty, I'd actually become worried that it would get too dark
to locate my way back. It didn't help that I also lost a glove on the
descent so I began to desire the safety of the valley. My other wonder
was where would Kevin and Michael now be? I'd been away for a long time
and I could imagine they would be already at the cars. Kevin could have
already left. it was to my great surprise that once I'd shot down the
forests at the bottom and crossed the bridge beside the farm, two head
torches were walking in the direction of the car park. I couldn't
believe I'd managed to join them for the last leg back to the car
and was glad to be back at safety and out of the unpredictability of
above.
Then with the walk finished, Michael and I headed back to Glasgow via.
Glen Coe. (a long route, but what the heck ... I got some pics of Glen
Coe and the Buachaille Etive Mor in the moonlight out of it) It had been
a generally successful weekend, on one picturesque and spectacular hill
the first day then a tough one the next. New summits amounted to a
mere Munro Top tagged onto the end of Beinn Sgulaird but although I
didn't mind too much.
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