Stob Poite Corie Ardair and Cairn Liath

[ctahowarth]

We had a very good day out yesterday with about all the weather you can imagine. Started out walking up towards Creag Meagaidh on the excellent path that leads up to Lochan a' Chorie. As we approached the lochan the first of many Snow Showers came through getting us wet rather than anything else.

The window was full of snow and it did not take long to reach the bottom of the snow which was soft at first but getting harder as we ascended the gully. Instead of going up the middle of the gully I ascended towards the left and got into some difficulties trying to cross rocks further up the Window. We found a snow hole at the top of the gully and tried to decide if we were going to do Meagaidh or not. The answer lay in the weather which was deteriorating fast. Most of the group had a go at ice axe arrest in the top of the Window and moved on up towards Stob Poite Corie Ardair in white out conditions. a fence line from the top took us to the next top from which a short steep drop could be seen.

This was the least straight forward part of the day which involved us having to negotiate a snow cliff which would have been about 10 ft high. Easy but long trudge on to Carn liath in misty conditions having to take bearings twice to get to the summit. Took a pretty direct route off the summit which lead us down over several hummocks at about 600 m This terrain is quite boggy and the path down to the main path is very boggy and wet underfoot.