Basecamp Benalder Cottage Day 2 (the Aonach ridge)

[The English Alpinist]

The superb vision of the Long Leachas of Ben Alder, from Sgor lutharn on the Aonach Beag ridge.

Today's route in yellow.

This walk was preceded by 'Basecamp Benalder Cottage Day 1 (the walk-in)'
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=125042

With Culra Bothy being unavailable (unless wanting to risk asbestosis) and not being a fan of camping, I had to base all my summit pushes from Benalder Cottage. To get the Aonach Beag ridge done, in its entirety of 4 Munros and 4 tops, was going to require a 20 mile round trip to bring me back to the cottage via Bealach Beithe. I set off at 9 a.m., a bit daunted but secure in the knowledge I'd be down from the ridge well before dark, and could face a late bealach slog when it came to it. It also required a bit of bog-tramping in Glen Labhair to get through to the first two tops at the western end. Down there, I came across a biker struggling through the opposite way; he'd have started from Corrour on good tracks with the aim of passing through the glen on an officially marked path only to find it was almost non-existent and unrideable! I was tactful enough not to smile, but simply said, "Not the best of paths, is it?" To which he said, "No, especially not with a bike." Good conversation; now for two Munro tops for me.

Up the Bealach Cumhann. Easy start, good path.

Solitary specimen all day, beside the good path and burn of Bealach Cumhann.

Ascent of Meall Glas Choire, after having trudged the sludgy Glen Labhair.

Battle to gain the ridge, and struggling cyclist encountered in the Glen Labhair.

Looking back up the Glen Labhair to the bealach I entered it from (Cumhann).

Loch Ossian and Corrour out there to the west.

On Meall Glas Choire, Munro top, 924m., with Munro proper Beinn Eibhinn in the cloud.

On Mullach Coire nan Nead, Munro top, 921m.

It seemed right, if a bit scary, that the first of the Munros proper was in the cloud. Beinn Eibhinn was really nothing to fear, though, navigation being easy and with mostly decent paths from this point. I got into my stride and enjoyed the atmosphere, and by the time I was in the col before Aonach Beag I was also enjoying the magnificent views in sunlit clarity. The forecast was spot on; it was going to be a good, if stamina-testing day. I greeted my first fellow walker of the day too, and we 'marveled' at the challenge of access out here with its long walk-ins. Well, onwards and upward to Aonach Beag for me, and Ben Alder looked awesome across the valley by the way - a real mountain of mountains, for want of a better way of describing it. It sits there, with various routes of attack (or retreat), like a great sprawling fortress commanding the region. My 4 fellow cottage-dwellers were up on it today, as I planned to be in two days time, possibly to descend by the Long Leachas. This whole range, I reflected soberly, was not the best of places to get injured or exhausted on, and it's no small act of faith or confidence or something to launch oneself out there alone into it, so I felt reassured in my sanity that at least one other person was doing the same.

View out north to the Munro, Creag Pitridh, not to be visited on this expedition.

I advance on Beinn Eibhinn.

Summit of Beinn Eibhinn, 3,615 feet (1102m).

A view right through the bealach to Ben Alder Bay whence I started.

From Beinn Eibhinn to Aonach Beag.

Treated to glorious visibility advancing on Aonach Beag and from then on.

Ben Alder viewed through Coire a' Charra Bhig.

On Aonach Beag itself, 3,661 feet (1116m).

Geal Charn was up next, and this was a different kind of summit of expansive grass, the type you could get hopelessly disorientated on if it was misty. But for me it wasn't! This also felt like a good refresh point, and that I had broken the back of this long ridge, or at least would have after venturing out and back on a sizeable detour to the Munro top of Sgor lutharn. I sat down for a proper break, not before discovering to my surprise another walker (and dog) was already doing the same. It seems to me quite rare to have such an extensive chat at a summit, perhaps because we are usually too cold or wanting to retain our mountaineering 'mystique' with good, solid but passing greetings. Well, I gleaned that he was from Coniston, English Lake District, not quite beating the coincidence of encountering a fellow Lancs-dweller at the top of distant Conival 3 years ago. The young Consiton chap had based himself in a tent by Culra Bothy. Well, I got up soon after he got up, and bullied myself out there to Sgor lutharn. Worth it, though, on a day of such visibility. One of my finest moments from this expedition was in deciding to 'risk' a traverse back to the ridge instead of respooling up to the summit plateau again. It was easy, though, there was no sense of being anywhere near a bad drop and the waterfall I had been a bit doubtful about from a distance was easily crossed.

Advancing on Geal Charn, 3,714 ft (1132m), Munro #3 of the day.

I rest on Geal Charn, where I chatted to a young guy from Coniston for a while.

On Sgor lutharn, 1028m, a testing little diversion of a Munro top.

It was a moment of inspiration to traverse across that, rather than respool up to the plateau.

Looking back on Sgor lutharn, now back en route on the ridge.

Onward to Carn Dearg 3,392 feet (1034m), 4th and last Munro at the end of the range.

Almost there! On Diollaid a' Chairn, 925m, Munro top, looking back.

On Carn Dearg. My route back is down there, between Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil.

It was a straighforward but splendid ridge march over the top of Diollaid a' Chairn and onto Munro number 4 and end of the range, Carn Dearg. This offered a spectacular view of both Leachas of Ben Alder, as well as my long bealach trek between it and Beinn Bheoil to get back to the cottage. First, though, one has to get down. Not fancying the steep way down the southern flank, partly because there seemed no way to be sure exactly where it was, I continued off the end as the alternative route down to Culra Bothy, but even that entailed some rough, wet, arduous stuff, unless I missed a path altogether which is highly possible. No matter, I was there, at the 'asbestos bothy', safe and well but getting pretty footsore and achy by now. This accumulated on the dusk march over Bealach Beithe, not helped by lugging a carrier bag-full of firewood I'd helped myself to at Culra (which I hope had no need of it, in the circumstances). The last bit, coming down from Bealach Breabag, reached 'high unpleasantry' on my endurance rating. This was because of underestimating the amount of altitude, but not least the fading light which had me slipping and tripping several times, navigating the semblance of path and very real bog by torchlight for an hour or so. But hey, I got a nice Benalder Cottage fire going the next morning!

I get down from Carn Dearg to the closed-for-asbestos Culra Bothy.

Up to the Bealach Beithe as dusk begins to settle.

So I made it - and with firewood! - but I do not recommend that bealach in fading light.

This walk is followed by 'Basecamp Benalder Cottage Day 3 (Ben Alder)'
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=125106

[HalfManHalfTitanium]

brilliant account of venturing into the wilderness - has the feel of a real expedition!

Great photos too

Tim

[Chris Henshall]

Nice work EA; Ben Alder Cottage is a great place to spend some time.
Looking forward to reading about day three!

[R1ggered]

Great effort,