Stob Coire Sgriodain

[DandyMark]

After waking up feeling in the tent miserable and full of the cold we were still determined to go out in the hills but set off about 2 hours after we had initially planned from our campsite.

Once at the fersit car park we set off and made up good ground quickly, until the point you turn off at about 1km where the sheep pens are, it became apparent very quickly it was going to be a very boggy day after heavy rainfall just a few days earlier.

We continued to ascend up Stob Coire Sgriodain and after several false summits we finally reached the summit, however due to the hours of marching through a bog and both of us being ill it took a lot out of us. As we set off 2 hours later than planned it was a concern we might not be back to the car in daylight.

We decided to reassess the situation once we had descended down to the bealach at about 900m.

After some consideration we decided to skip Chno Dearg and just begin to descend back down past Lochan Choir an Lochain. Although we did have headtorches with us I didn't fancy walking through the boggy ground in the dark.

The dissapointment of not having time to summit the second munro made the return a bit of a long slog back to the car through the bogs.

First time I've not completed my intented route of munros, but I will return for Chno Dearg at some point hopefully when the ground is a bit more frozen and easier going.

[Colin1951]

Not a failure, a tactical retreat and very sensible too. The hill will still be there next time, the priority is to make sure you are too. It’s always a hard decision to press “escape” but well done for making the safe call.

[DandyMark]

Not a failure, a tactical retreat and very sensible too. The hill will still be there next time, the priority is to make sure you are too. It’s always a hard decision to press “escape” but well done for making the safe call.

That is very true. It was a painful decision to take knowing it was only around 120m from the summit of Chno Dearg. But like you say the hill isn't going anywhere. There's always a next time.