Sgiath Chuil & Beinn nan Imirean

[quagga64]

Got up at 6 and left at 7 for the 64 mile drive up the M9 to Stirling then A84 through Callander (which becomes A85 as it passes Lochearnhead) and along Glen Dochart to Auchessan arriving at 8:30. Today I had two objectives, firstly to reascend the munro Sgiath Chuil which I climbed in April 2012 along with Meall Glas, on that occasion I seem to remember straying off course on the pathless ascent and arriving on the summit ridge to the North of the highest peak and then walking Northwards to Meall a'Churain the Northernmost peak which has a small cairn and mistaking this for the actual summit, however after studying maps and photographs it became apparent the highest point is the most Southerly peak or front peak when coming in from Glen Dochart, this was an inaccuracy I wanted to correct, and secondly I wanted to climb the corbett Beinn nan Imirean which I had also thought about climbing back in 2012 during my hike of the two munros but hadn,t. After parking up on the grass verge I set off at 8:37 down the tarmac road to Auchessen farm, past that it was a muddy boggy path up the side of the Allt Riobain which leads up to a flattish moorland with a faint path leading to a small dam, after crossing the river the path, still faint and still boggy, climbs up the slopes of Sgiath Chuil, as you near the top the path disappears which explains why I got lost on my first ascent. This time I had the route on Outdooractive. Although the weather had been bright and sunny if cold on the way up, as I neared the summit the cloud drifted in and the wind became fierce. Got to the summit at 11:10 after 2 hours 35 minutes, the strong wind was bitterly cold and the cloud obscured any views but I managed some photos at the summit cairn which is actually a wee pile of stones on a large rock outcrop confirming that unlike my last visit I was now on the true 3,021 foot (921m) summit. I wanted to walk the entire length of the summit ridge from South to North and as I set off Southwards I donned my new boot spikes as there was a fair amount of snow. At 11:30 I reached the middle peak which is 2,952 feet (900m) and at 11:40 I was on Meall a'Churain, 3,008 feet (917m) the Northernmost peak and the one I had mistaken for the actual summit in 2012, an easy mistake to make really considering its only 13 feet lower than the South summit and was actually listed as the munro summit on Sir Hugh Munros original 1891 list as the highest point. The cloud had cleared away by now and I then walked back along the entire ridge from North to South visiting the summit again and then going on out to Sgiath Chrom 2,798 feet (853m) a prow which juts out to the South of the summit. Satifying myself that I had now visited all the tops on Sgiath Chuil I began the descent at 12:38 back down the same way I,d come up to the small dam on the Allt Riobain and then headed Westwards for about a mile across pathless peatbog with many ups and downs and lots of squelchy bits then climbing upwards onto Meall Garbh, the SouthEast shoulder of Beinn nan Imirean. The going was still pathless with quite a few patches of snow to cross but I eventually reached the summit at 15:05 and stayed till 15:20. The long trudge back took 2 hours, at first down off Beinn nan Imirean via Meall Garbh then picking up a faint muddy path which led down the side of a small burn all the way back down managing to slip and scrape my knuckles just a few hundred yards from the buildings at Auchessen, back across the bridge over the River Dochart getting to the car at 5:20 p.m. spent ten minutes drying my feet off and getting dry socks on and left at 5:30 driving home the same way and getting in the house at 7.