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Having completed a total of zero Munros between May 23 and March 24, Cairngorm a few weeks back was a welcome addition, but now it was time to get back in the saddle, proper!
Having completed a short winer skills course at the beginning of March, I was keen to try out my new crampons and ice axe before the snows melted, so I chose the Sgùrr nan Conbhairean Round of three for an outing on March 31st.
I considered taking Meg (the fast), but decided against it as it was my first time with a chance of using crampons and I didn’t want the distraction of a Border Collie to deal with. So, just the one slow human on this occasion.
I set off from the car park on a gloriously sunny day at 07:30 and had the hill to myself until the first summit, Càrn Ghluasaid.
- Looking back towards the car park with the morning sun over Loch Cluanie.
- A little higher up, looking south-east.
The track was boggy in places, but easy to follow all the way to the last 100m of ascent to the ridge leading to the summit of Càrn Ghluasaid.
- Looking up towards the ridge that leads to Càrn Ghluasaid.
The snow was patchy and easily avoided all the way to the summit, where I sat down for a rest and enjoyed the first sandwich of the day.
- Looking towards Sgùrr nan Conbhairean from Càrn Ghluasaid.
I am undecided as to whether I will try and summit all of the minor Tops as well, so just in case, I decided to include Creag a’ Chaorainn and Drochaid an Tuill Easaich on this trip, but didn’t fancy the trip out to the two south of Sàil Chaorainn, so left those for another day.
The route from Càrn Ghluasaid to Creag a’ Chaorainn was straightforward but there were a few snow patches, roughly ankle deep, so a little bit slower than the route so far.
- Looking across to Sgùrr nan Conbhairean from Creag a’ Chaorainn.
Descending to the bhealach and then up to Sgùrr nan Conbhairean was stony with very little snow until about the last 100m of ascent, where the snow cover was almost total but quite shallow (no crampons needed yet!).
Another summit and another sandwich!
Descending the north-west ridge, I found the going quite slippery, and the snow-covered slope to my left looked quite steep. Since I didn’t fancy sliding down it, I decided it was time for the shiny new crampons to come out
. I was the only one though – the other handful of people on the mountain that day were just striding down it, seemingly very confident - still, I felt safer with the crampons.
- Looking south, shortly after leaving the summit of Sgùrr nan Conbhairean.
- Looking back at Sgùrr nan Conbhairean.
After the initial slippery descent (about 50m) the going got easier, but there were some deeper snow patches which made for a slower walk. I didn’t need the crampons for very long and I didn’t need the ice axe at all, although I did manage to cut my finger on it whilst getting something out of my rucksack!
- Looking north from the route towards Sàil Chaorainn.
It was 13:45 when I reached the day’s third summit, Sàil Chaorainn, and I was wondering whether I’d be getting back to the car in the dark – again! No sandwich on this summit as I wasn’t hungry
- Looking north from Sàil Chaorainn towards Glen Affric.
- Looking south-east from Sàil Chaorainn.
After leaving Sàil Chaorainn the return route climbs part the way back up to Sgùrr nan Conbhairean and then cuts across the west slope about 60m below the summit. There were footsteps in the snow and the GPS confirmed that they were on the Walk Highlands route, so I started the traverse, but about half way across I didn’t feel safe at all (I hadn’t felt the need to put the crampons on again as the snow was shallow and the path was fairly level), but the snow was wet and slippery and icy in parts. The slope on my right was steep and I began to wish that I’d put on my micro-spikes before traversing; by then it was too slippery to put them on and there were no handy rocks to sit on, so I edged my way slowly across, taking very careful steps and was extremely glad to reach the ridge on the other side safely. 😰
- Looking west after the traverse below Sgùrr nan Conbhairean.
A short climb over some more wet snow to the minor Top of Drochaid an Tuill Easaich and it was all downhill from then on, but not before another sandwich
.
- Looking south-west on the way down from Drochaid an Tuill Easaich.
The next couple of kilometres down to about 650m were easy going, mostly on grassy ground. That was followed, as is often the case, with 200m on much steeper descent – very tiring on the legs at that point.
- Looking west towards the Cluanie Inn.
Once across the small river, there is a stalker’s path, but it was intermittent, and I lost it a couple of times. However, it was still easy enough to make my way down the remainder of the route to the road. I had intended to turn left onto the Old Military Road, as mentioned in the WH route guidance, but I missed it and before I knew it, I was on the A87. From there it was about 2km back to the car park. In the end, I was pleased that I’d missed the Old Military Road because there is a wide grassy verge alongside the main road which made for much faster walking (there is a crash-barrier, but for much of the way it would be possible to walk on the other side of it away from the traffic).
I reached the car park at 18:15 – a real bonus, as at one point I thought I’d be returning in the dark, again!
- A view from the car park at the end 😊.
