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crianlarich 4

crianlarich 4


Postby danrun » Mon May 03, 2010 7:45 pm

Munros included on this walk: Beinn Tulaichean, Ben More, Cruach Àrdrain, Stob Binnein

Date walked: 02/05/2010

Time taken: 7 hours

Distance: 18 km

Ascent: 2200m

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Decided sat night that I would go n walk stob binnein and ben more, so I started looking at the maps and read some reports on the web site to get more info about what the walk is like. During looking at the maps I noticed that cruach adrian and beinn tulaichean were just across the valley that I would be using to return back to the car.

That got me thinking could I do the two pairs of hills in the one outing???
After a bit more reading n going over maps I found out it would be around an 18km walk with 2200m ascent and best done from inverlochlarig side rather than the side of the A85.

I decided to go up n walk the first two then if I felt upto it and the weather was ok I’d then continue on and do the next two. Weather forecast was for clear skies so that made me plan for early start… up at 0330 quick breakfast then on the road for around 0410. great thing was roads were clear so was at car park for around 0530ish.

Then as ever forecasters got it wrong!!! :? Rain at car park but light n bearable so booted up, bag on n headed off. Under foot wasn’t as boggy as expected after what I had read but climb was instant as reported (not as steep as ben more route I think), at around 400m the snow started and that was the weather story for most of the walk no visibility and snow showers but no wind thankfully..

I just kept head down and plodded on up to stob coire an lochain then along to my first munro of the day stob binnein. I took quick view less photo of the cairn then on I went for about 100m where it starts to descend , there was solid snow field as far as I could see(about 20m!!) with slippy fresh snow on it so I decided to put on my small pair of crampons I carry just incase snow field was all way down to the bealach which is around 300m down, not a good plan slipping down there. After my effort of putting them on the snow went down about 40m :lol: never mind better safe than sorry.
Once at bealach its just a case of following the well worn path up the 300m or so climb to the summit of ben more, there was a few patches of frozen snow heading up but all were easy to cross or go around. At summit fuelled up with bit fruit n jelly babies n good drink of water then another quick photo n off I went again back down to the bealach from there I headed west down into the valley where ben more burn starts.

Once in the valley I felt like I’d give the other two munros a shot it was 0930 n I had been walking for about 3hrs 45mins which I thought meant I had plenty more in me, so I headed across to directly below stob garbh and scrambled up the 400m or so of grass n rocks to get to the spot height between stob garbh n cruach adrian by this time I’m starting to question myself as I was pretty nackered and the snow was back on.
No choice now just got to plod on only two summits, 300m ascent n 7km till I’m back at the car. Doesn’t sound like much but the climb upto cruach adrian almost destroyed my legs another steep climb of around 150m in small increments of 10 to 20 steps at a time… took me about 25mins to do this part of the walk. When on the summit I had a short rest, quick fuel up n unpack the walking sticks to assist the auld legs. The last munro was by far the easiest with an ascent of 120m over almost a km, walk in the park compared with what I’d already done. Only descending to do n I’m home free but as ever it felt like a long slog which was very boggy in places.

I had reached the last summit in 6hrs and an hour descent which made for a hard 7hr walk taking in probably the most ascent I’ve done in a single walk. Was a great outing except for the lack of views as looking at other reports they show some great scenery.
I met two couples and a father n son who were up doing the latter two munros its nice to stop n have a chat with folk with the same mental imbalance wanting to walk huge hills just for fun!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
stob binnein summit.jpg
first munro of day
ben more summit.jpg
second munro of day
ben more cairn.jpg
cruach adrian summit.jpg
third munro of day
beinn tulaichean summit.jpg
fourth munro of day
heading to stob binnein.jpg
heading to ben more.jpg
looking back at stob binnein.jpg
heading upto stob garbh.jpg
heading to beinn tulaichean.jpg

crianlarich 4.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Last edited by danrun on Mon May 03, 2010 9:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: stob binnein ben more cruach adrian beinn tulaichean

Postby monty » Mon May 03, 2010 7:53 pm

Nice report Danny,
It sounds like you had a hard time and couldn't really see much. :shock: shame :lol: Well done on bagging all four though :D

Looks like a nice scramble up Stob Ghard :D

I might give this a go next week :D :D
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby malky_c » Mon May 03, 2010 9:19 pm

Good route! I tried to do this from the N years ago but didn't take enough food. Totally ran out of energy after Ben More and Stob Binnein (stupidly went out to Meall na Dige as well). Practically crawled back to the car from the low col between the two groups!
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby danrun » Mon May 03, 2010 9:23 pm

haha.. i can relate to the crawling part i was in tatters by cruach adrian :lol:
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby FloozySuzie » Mon May 03, 2010 9:26 pm

Wow, the orange in the 9th photo is stunning. So much so it was a shock to the eyes after all that white in the rest of them!
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby skuk007 » Mon May 03, 2010 10:41 pm

That's some trek there, well done. Did you suffer the next day?
I hope to do these 4 (over two days) in just over a fortnight. Don't like the look of the snow though. :(
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby chris_c201 » Tue May 04, 2010 12:28 pm

Fresh snow in May.... thought it was supposed to be going away!

Out of curiosity, did you need crampons?
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby monty » Tue May 04, 2010 2:30 pm

Yes, about the crampons. How did they fair on the boggy slopes. did they ball up, clog? or were they a real asset?

By the way, are you getting auld noo. Having to use your poles :lol: :lol:
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby danrun » Tue May 04, 2010 8:36 pm

hi floozysuzie, i think all that orange you mention is what inspired me to continue i shouldve known better eh :lol:

hi skuk007, i'm still in pain today :lol: but well worth it hoping to do some long hard treks in summer?

hi chris, as monty said i did use a pair of crampons on parts of the walk, only once for the frozen snow as couldnt see how far it went or if any route around it, then i used them for the descent down off the bealach as it was very wet n slippy. as for the snow i never noticed it before i started walking? think the almighty found it funny chucking in an extra hurdle.. :lol:

monty, the crampons were fine no clogging at all great asset but wouldnt take on an ice climb with these ones.. n yep i felt old n nackered by summit of cruach adrian! now know how it feels to be in your shoes :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby Alastair S » Tue May 04, 2010 9:31 pm

Epic route there danrun - 2200m of ascent! Well done. Pity about the weather. I did the first 2 in Feb and had one of my best weather days & now use this panorama taken from Ben More from that day as my PC desktop at home & work :D
Image
larger view
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby Graeme D » Tue May 04, 2010 9:40 pm

danrun wrote:its nice to stop n have a chat with folk with the same mental imbalance wanting to walk huge hills just for fun!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


That reminds me of a little incident on Saturday - coming off Conachcraig and onto the path up Lochnagar, I was obviously coming onto the path from a different angle than the majority of walkers who were coming along the track and onto the Lochnagar path, so it actually looked like I had taken a big loop round and gone the long way. One guy actually commented on me "going the long way round", to which I explained that I had just come down off the Corbett. He looked a bit perplexed and asked why, to which I simply replied "For a laugh", at which point he looked up the slopes of Conachcraig for a few seconds and gave a snort of laughter! :lol:

Nice pics there and a fine effort.
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby Stretch » Tue May 04, 2010 9:55 pm

Heck of an effort Danrun, I was up Cruach Adrain Easter Sunday and I found it very steep and strenuous, thankfully the other hill was easy going.
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby mountain coward » Wed May 05, 2010 12:11 am

Helluva walk that! and a great time for it doing it in only 7 hours! I defo couldn't contemplate doing both sets of hills together... I'm just gonna do the round of up Ben More's long ridge from the forest to the NE (I think), then Stobinian, then Meall na Dige and t'other one, then back down to start in the forest...
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Re: crianlarich 4

Postby danrun » Wed May 05, 2010 7:08 pm

cracking photo alastair s, wouldve loved to have that sort of visibility for my walk.

hi graeme, its amazing how many people dismiss doing a corbett. me n monty done the glen muick circuit couple wks ago was great day hard in snow tho.

hi stretch, the last summit was certainly a welcome break compared with the others.

hi mountain coward, that'll be a good route one of the couples i met said that was one of their prefered routes up there, just hope you get a clear day to get full advantage of the amazing scenery...
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