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My first walk report - go easy!
This past weekend, my partner and I were both discussing how we had fallen into bit of a rut with work, and using our ageing, demented dog as an excuse for missing out on date nights. We were missing adventure together. Now, we are by no-means munro-ists, but we enjoy a remote overnight camp, and even more so if we can get an easy summit in.
After seeing a glorious weekend ahead in the forecast, we organised a dog-sitter, and grabbed our 'One Axe' book to find a winter route we could both comfortably conquer with the winter camping kit on our back. We decided on a route up the Southeast side of Fuar Tholl with a wee grade 1 scramble at the top. I consulted the forums here on Walkhighlands for some advice on the route, and we were off to pack the bags.
- Fuar Tholl
We left our home not far from Inverness just after breakfast, the grass was white and crispy, the air beautifully winter clean, and the sun was shining. A quick stop at the Midgebite in Achnasheen for some Parsnip soup, and were soon parked up just outside the Achnashellaic train station.
We hummed and hawed on whether the crampons and axe were necessary as the snow cover looked scarce. A couple of older boys who had looked as if they may have been working or around the railway stopped to chat with us over the lovely conditions, as a couple of Robin’s bounced around us.
From the layby, the walk heads up and across the rail station’s level platform, to find a small sign marking the Coire Lair track. This takes you down to the Allt an Leth-chreig and then works its way up toward Loch Coire Laire. But for us, this path was to be used as the exit route for the following day, where we’d descend Fuar Tholl via Coire Mainnrichean. Instead, this morning we would cross the Allt an Leth-creig by hopping across the small weir. This required us to remove a boot and sock to safely step over as the ice made things just sketchy enough that one of us would have likely ended up falling into the drink. After 20 minutes of deliberation and almost dropping one of the bags into the river, Sarah and I hopped across the weir and we were soon headed straight up the side of the hill.
The views opened up across the Achnashellach forest and down Glen Carron; Torridon not yet in sight. The ground was frozen solid, and the water anxiety started to set in quickly as every superficial water source we came across was frozen solid. Thankfully, not more than 45 minutes later we were at a fresh flowing river draining a small lochain within the SE coire of Fuar Tholl. We stopped for a fill-up and a few jelly babies before heading straight up ‘The Nose’ of Fuar Tholl.
By the time we reached the plateau of ‘The Nose’, we quickly became aware of the sunset in progress…. Oops. Even allowing an extra hour of ‘faff’ time, I still never get it right with the timing! We were supposed to be cuddled up in our bags, watching the sunset from the porch of our tent by now!
At this point, I noticed that Sarah’s bag was making things quite awkward for her due to the top pouch falling forward and forcing her neck into forward flexion. The sun was set, we had another 20min of scrambling to get through, and the snow and ice were starting to accumulate under our feet. I was keeping an eye around us to identify any opportunities to lay the tent in case things got a bit too sketchy, but it wasn’t going to be a comfortable night if we needed to stop now. Despite my anxiety getting us both up the hill safely, Sarah was determined to get to the top, though she was clear that this was only to avoid navigating our way back down in the dark! We make a great team in this sense, she may be less capable than I am (HER WORDS!) but is braver and more determined than me - I would have happily retired to an uncomfortable tent, leaving the ridge for the morning. So, we unloaded Sarah’s bag onto my own and we pushed on.
We approached the short, exposed section on the ridge, which was an approximately 1-metre rocky edge with a near vertical drop into the coire to the left, and a steep icey slope plummeting into the coire on the right. For some reason, I opted to take the exposed rocky scramble across the knife edge (or so it felt at the time). Upon finding somewhere secure to put my feet on the other side of the ridge, It became quite obvious that the more secure way across was on the grassy bit (slightly iced up tonight) just down to the right of the rocky edge. The footprints might gave it away….. Annoyingly, in the midst of almost losing my head, I forgot to take pictures of this section but highlighted on the map here.
- OS Ridge Section
Sarah took this like a champion, making me look like a flappy wimp. She soared across the section, and we were soon on the final scramble to the summit as the sun disappeared.
- Sarah on Summit
- Sunset Summit
I began my ritual of finding the spot for the tent. This is the least favourite part of the adventure for all my friends, who slowly freeze to death as run around in circles agonising over the best spot. We agreed on a SE-facing spot, just a few metres from the summit shelter so we could take advantage of the sunrise.
- Allak 2 at Sunset
Next up was dinner, Real Turmat Pulled Pork for Sarah, and the Firepot Beef Stew for me. The Pulled Pork, despite its £11 price tag is always a welcome treat. I can’t say as much for the Firepot, unfortunately…. It took twice as long to cook and was still crunchy, watery, and flavourless after 18 minutes. We cooked up a couple of hot drinks for dessert, and Sarah curled up in the tent with a podcast as I tried for some photographs using my Samsung S23 and a wee tripod I picked up for work.
- Sarah cuddled in the tent
The results amazed me but I am no photographer by any means. I used to take a Nikon DSLR up on the camps with me but haven't bothered over the last couple of years due to the weight and faff. I always found that, by the time I had gotten the kit out, figured out my settings, set the tripod up, and changed lenses several times, I was bored before the picture-taking even started. This time I had my mobile phone and a tiny desk tripod and I was amazed at the results! AI can be a lovely thing
- Tent w/ Milky Way
- Milky Way
After several “only a few more minutes” screamed back to a lonely Sarah back in the tent, I put the phone away and crawled into the tent for a lovely, if not chilly, night. I am usually quite warm in my setup but this time my feet got a bit chilled over the night. However, it was a lovely quiet evening with a mindfulness podcast courtesy of Blindboy, and some chit-chat, before a cuddly goodnight around 10pm.
I set the alarm for Sunrise.
- Sunrise East
- Sunrise West Skye
- Sunrise North
- Sunrise West
Our morning routine is preassembled cinnamon porridge and a coffee. We watched the sun come up and light the sky with unbelievable colour. We packed up at about 10am and said goodbye to one of my favourite camps in a long time.
- Sarah w/ her breakfast
The descent was fairly uneventful after a slow climb down the icey scree slopes in Coire Mainnrichean. Not many pictures were taken on the way down as we were descending on the north side of the hill and the sun was hidden from view for most of it. It was a straightforward return to the car and off to the Midgebite Café for the best surprise of the trip – the daily special was a roast chicken, bacon, and cranberry club sandwich with a side of parsnip soup. OOFT.
Till the next one.
