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Weather/Conditions: Summits
clear, no rain, only brief flakes of snow. Little wind, a lot of sun and
even quite hot near the bottom! A damn sight better than the forecast
predicted. Snow was generally in good conditions with thick build up
(Binnein Mor had some healthy cornicing) or scoured slopes to sheet ice.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 13.5km / 1150m /
6h 35m
Accompanying: James, Iain, Dougie,
Craig, Tommy |
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This is along the lines of the conversation
that took place in the Mamore Lodge car park just prior to 10am,
Saturday morning. With three to one car and two to another, the
conversation went like this between them:
"Is Kev with you?"
"No. Isn't he with you?"
"No."
Sh*te...
I don't know exactly what was said because I wasn't there, but the fact
is, they left me back in Inchree, unintentionally. Oops!
Dougie (at the car park) called up Diane (at Inchree) with Stevie and I
listening in. The mess was cleared up across the phone and Diane, Stevie
and I jumped into her car and I got a lift to Mamore Lodge.
It was about a half-hour drive with the Mamores in full, spectacular
view and when I arrived the guys were already on their way up the hill
as planned. I got on my way pretty quickly. They'd be somewhere up in
Coire na Ba and with great weather and superb views I was glad to pick
up a pace and enjoy the solitude. Some alone time with the hills was
actually refreshing. I enjoyed time to myself. The path curved up into
the coire and I was walking among some magnificent mountains. The
objective, Na Gruagaichean, didn't look so far away either.
I met one solitary walker who said he'd seen
my lot further up. I steamed onwards. I finally met them at 550m and
much hilarity and talk followed about what happened. It was a simple
mistake - each driver thought I was with the other car. I preferred to
tell Craig I knew what he thought of me when he left me behind. I think
he knew I was kidding.
When I arrived with the group, I was
exhausted and covered in sweat. It was a relief to turn down the pace
and walk with everyone even though the upper sections of Coire na Ba
felt more like a grassy slog. There were no real complaints though - the view to Am Bodach was occupying enough. When we reached the
ridge itself, we got views to the Nevis peaks and Grey Corries. Not only
that, we'd had fears a front would come in during the day and these
fears were relaxed when we saw nothing was on it's way from the north.
Na Gruagaichean west ridge is a great
scramble - perhaps nothing to pay attention to in summer, but a lot of
fun in some snow. We all stopped on the NW Top, realising how lucky we'd
been with the weather and watching the snow and sun on the mountains,
cloud inversions bubbling up through distant valleys. The scramble to
the summit of Na Gruagaichean looked fearsome and this was cause for
some exhilaration. We dropped off the NW Top and the descent between the
two summits was much easier than expected. The climb through rock and
ice to the summit looked like hard mixed ground, but again it was much
easier than expected. We looked back on the NW Top, realising only now
the knife-edge we'd crossed. The north slope drops spectacularly, add to
that a few people on top for scale and cornices hanging out over space
and it looked like a serious summit. When we got to the top of Na
Gruagaichean with no fuss or scares, the joy was only deeper. These were
a bunch of really magnificent mountains. In good winter conditions, the
whole range must be a joy.
Binnein Mor
The fun only continued. We continued northward
on a knife-edge ridge with snow banked up to an aręte. The beaten track
weaved around and over this to give some superb walking and since many
other teams had beaten down this track just before us, it allowed me not
to worry about avalanche danger. (Always a consideration and a nightmare)
Crampons had helped a lot because the slopes were regularly scoured to
ice, but I removed them for this stretch to see how I got on. I was
okay,
besides the occasional slip.
The way to Binnein Mor is an easy walk,
without much exposure and a graceful ridgeline. It was well worth
doing. I was having a great time and found myself, again, in paradise. Thank God I
hadn't been resigned to
walking around the Inchree waterfalls today, that had nearly been the
reality. And when we reached the
summit, Iain Rooney reached his 100th Munro.
The summit is very small and six of us piling in gave us the feeling of
walking on top of one other. But what a place to be - the view around
about is magnificent. An added delight was to see that the weather had
held. Ben Nevis, Carn Mor Dearg and Aonach Beag were on display in thick
winter garb, their high slopes passing into an untouchable place where
for once they became more than stacked contours in my mind. That streak
of sunlight on Aonach Beag especially caught my imagination.
As we pass over the mountains on our walks, it's often necessary to
bring them to a level where they break down into components of mileage,
ascent, easiest line of attack, etc, but there's attraction when the
mountains transcending this and thus become unclimbable or
otherworldly. I think it's the feeling we get when we set eyes on the
mountains for the first time where they're seen for their form, mystique
and danger - something that I used to feel but don't any more. It's probably why countless cultures make their
mountain summits domain of the gods. Interestingly, Scotland's
mythological creatures appear in the lochs as in Loch Ness and Morar.
Maybe the Gaels saw more reason to wrap the waters in legend then
mountain.
Descent
Anyhow - all good has to come to and end and I hate descending when the
day is as good as this one was. We headed down the ridge to the South
Top with the setting sun ahead of us, casting light across the southern
lands. At the saddle between the South Top and Na Gruagaichean, a couple
before us had glissaded (bum-slid is a better term) into the eastern
corrie, 'Coire nan Laogh'. They'd left smoothed bum tracks, perfect to
sit down and fly of. We had a blast, and all went down. I went several
times. Further down, they'd left more tracks.
When the snow ran out, we only had to
descend to the track leading to Mamore Lodge. But again I found myself
that intense experience that brings me back time and time again, an
intense happiness to make me feel I was built for days like this. And
there's nothing better than to tramp off down the hill with the moors
and mountains around, feeling good, tired and content.
This is living.
And with sore feet, we picked up the 4WD
track back to Mamore Lodge, in one hell of a good mood. Back at the car
park, my feet were soaking and it was a relief to pull the boots off.
This time Craig didn't drive off without me.
At Inchree, we had some drinks and a great meal. I would have tried
playing pool but the table was off horizontal and no one could prevent
the balls from piling in at one side. I didn't even try.
The next day, I planned to finish off the weekend with a couple of
Corbetts at Tyndrum (I did one of them a few weeks later, Beinn
Bhreac-liath) but the weather was looking quite grim. I'd have to haul
walking and camping gear (and it weighed a lot) from Bridge of Orchy to
Tyndrum and decided it wasn't actually worth it. Iain drove onwards and
dropped me off at Linlithgow. From there I took a train home and despite
the brief absence from home life, I found it awfully strange to be back.
Such is the fun of the mountains, I was even a bit sad to be back.
Panoramas
360° panorama from Na Gruagaichean
360° panorama from Binnein Mor
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