Killilan in the rain

[weaselmaster]

Another week, another attempt to get our Skye hills done. Friday was clearly out but our guide, Paul, had left an outside possibly that things might improve enough for Saturday & Sunday to be considered. I thought it might be sensible to head towards the North West - if we got to Skye all well and good, if not we could do a set of hills in Kintail. We had a gig on the Thursday night, so left Glasgow after 10.30pm and drove as far as Tyndrum where we camped in the rain and wind. Didn't get to bed til nearly 1am.

IMG_2441 by Al, on Flickr

Set off about 8.30 and received a message from Paul that Skye wasn't on...looking at the forecast for Saturday that was no surprise as the wind had got stronger - high 40-mphs all day, rain and clag. Not a day for the ridge. So Killilan it would be. No other cars at the parking area, which was a bit unusual for late June. We had our lunch at the car then prepared to set off.

I'd drawn the route up intending to go over the three Corbetts first and camp at Iron Lodge or thereabouts - however since we were starting in the early afternoon there wouldn't be time for that, so we'd walk in to Iron Lodge and hopefully do Carn na Breabag today, leaving a return over the Corbetts for Saturday - meaning we'd be walking straight into the wind and rain all day...I'd also tagged on a couple of Simms as an amuse-bouche and it would be hard to fit them in this way round. Oh well


Planned route

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What we ended up doing

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We set off along the track with the wind on our backs, intermittent rain. Cloud down on the tops, no-one else in sight - not even any Wrathers. It was about 4.30 when we reached Iron Lodge - it's now derelict, with many of its windows broken. Shame - it isn't that long since there were people living in it. We found a small spot for the tent beside the outbuilding which had some protection from the wind and decided to go and get the Graham done before tea.

IMG_2443 by Al, on Flickr

IMG_2444 by Al, on Flickr



There is a track from Iron Lodge that you can use to access the south west Mullardoch hills - sadly for Breabag one is only on it for a short time before having to head up the hillside. At least the grass is fairly short and the going not too heavy. Summit reached - now we both have only one Graham outstanding We returned by the same route and got stuck into a late-ish meal as the rain - which had stopped during our ascent - returned with a vengeance.

Iron Lodge
IMG_2445 by Al, on Flickr

Loch Mullardoch
IMG_2447 by Al, on Flickr


I knew Saturday would be a bit of a tough one - these are big Corbetts and not the easiest to manage in clag. We would use the track up to the high-point between Aonach Buidhe and Faochaig, the track which you use to go to Maol Buidhe bothy and which I've only ever been on in foul weather. No exception today then. There are some old mining works and a bit of track that lead up Aonach Buidhe - use this then follow the stream until an ATV track is reached which heads almost all the way to the top. I was hoping to be reunited with a walking pole I'd left somewhere near the summit in November 21, but sadly it was not to be

Carn na Breabag
IMG_2448 by Al, on Flickr

Aonach Buidhe
IMG_2450 by Al, on Flickr

IMG_2451 by Al, on Flickr



We returned by the same route and had lunch where we'd left our packs before using the stalkers path up Faochaig - the start of it is a bit difficult to locate, but its alright after that and leads up almost to the summit. A bit of wandering over jaggy protruding rocks before the cairn is reached. Then the long haul over to Sguman Coinntich. The rain got heavier, my waterproofing was failing to keep me dry - Allison had brought her winter jacket with her, so was better prepared than I was. This is the end of June, for godsake. Eventually the summit of Sguman was reached with its trig on spindly legs which for some reason reminds me of a robot. We had a bit of difficulty navigating off here in the clag - discounting coming down the nose of the hill as we'd have a river crossing at the bottom, ending up following the line of a stream down the steep hillside - this managed to avoid the crags. Still had a tributary of the Allt a'choire Mhoir to cross but I was so wet by this time that it didn't matter.

Path up Faochaig
IMG_2452 by Al, on Flickr

IMG_2453 by Al, on Flickr

Sguman
IMG_2454 by Al, on Flickr






It was quite late by this point, after 7pm - and we wanted a place to camp. I knew there was no-where near the car parking area and we found an acceptable spot near some woods. The wind had dropped away to the extent that some midges actually appeared while we were making something to eat. Peeled off various wet things, kept others on to dry them...

For Sunday we had the option of doing the couple of Simms we hadn't done or doing another of Allison's outstanding Corbetts. Looking up at the clag lying about 400m I didn't feel well disposed to muck about with Simms, so we headed down the road to Morvich for Sgurr an Airgid which has a path and is relatively quickly done. There are not a lot of options to climb this hill - I suppose if we'd been really keen we could have combined it with the two Simms to its NW but not today. Followed the standard WH route and got no views at the summit, but at least the rain stayed off.

IMG_2456 by Al, on Flickr

Another distinctive trig
IMG_2457 by Al, on Flickr

Our journey down the road was delayed by the A82 being closed at Corran because of an accident so home later than expected via Dalwhinnie. I'm suspecting the next 4 weekends will all be ideal on Skye, as the next date our guide has is the first weekend in August