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Absolutely crackin day walking the south ridge. Our energy slumped a bit going over 5 and 6 -- nothing some penguins couldn't fix.
Overall a surprisingly straightforward though long route. Very minor scrambling between peaks and near the end, but by far the biggest challenge is just the distance required. We're fairly experienced walkers and it was a tough but ultimately do-able day. It was near perfect weather, not too hot, not too wet, and we still each went through 3L of water, two bagels, 1 chocolate bar, and 3 granola bars. Don't under estimate these bad boys.
We started in the mist and rain, with no views at all until we reached peak #3. Probably for the best as glimpses of how far we had to walk looked deceptively intimidating. The mist and rain created a very cool atmosphere to walk through and made the sunny breaks all the more rewarding!
Ran into a few other folks along the way, including a family with some extremely hearty teenaged children, and a couple with a very wee dog. My nominations for MVP of the day go to these two groups.
- looking down on the descent -- the last view we saw for a few hours
- misty ridges between M1 and 2
- as visibility improved we got these epic mysterious foggy shots
- From M3 we could see quite a ridge stretched out ahead!!
- a good idea of how undulating the terrain is. Not too rough at all, we didn't really run out of breath between peaks
- cleared up enough to glimpse the airfield to the left! Neato
- Looking back along the ridge and glad we didn't see the monster that lay ahead. Cluanie still looks fairly close here but I assure you it did not feel that way
- Happy campers hitting up Munro #7 -- a 800% increase in Munros climbed for one hiker!
- a funky walk down as we were rushing to make our dinner res
- ... and wishing the midgies weren't so bad and we weren't in a rush as this would be the perfect place for a cheeky dip for our sore feet!