The Fast, The Slow & The Mountains - Lucky with the weather!

[Meiklie Mist]

Yesterday I climbed Càrn na Caim and A'Bhuidheanach Bheag and then stayed in Perth for evening, hoping to climb this one on the way home.

I had been watching the weather forecast for days and it was changing every 5 minutes! I’m not exaggerating – at one point, I refreshed the page a couple of minutes after looking at it and the forecast was different! It was for sunshine and clouds, but the wind speeds varied between 20 and 40 km/h. For me, in winter, anything above 15 km/h needs careful consideration because of the windchill factor 🥶 and the slow speed at which I walk. The wind direction was from the north-west, so I was going to be sheltered from it to some extent until I reached Stàc Meall Chuaich at around 800m.

I checked the forecast when I arrived at layby 94 (the starting point) and it was saying 40 km/h at 09:00 and dropping to 30 km/h after that until late afternoon. It was just after 08:00, so figuring that I’d miss the highest winds I decided to make a start and be prepared to abandon the trip if the winds were too much, or it was too cold.

Fortunately, I only had myself to worry about – no fast border collies today.

I set off at 08:20 and headed out to the power station along a very good road, yes road! Not the normal route to a Munro.

After the power station the road becomes a little rougher, but still a very good vehicle track.

The road leading out towards the power station with Meall Chuaich in the background.

Immediately after the power station, the road goes over a bridge and then a little further along, it crosses a second bridge, then there’s a sort of crossroads of tracks with a helpful sign pointing the way to Meall Chuaich.

Helpful sign pointing the way.

The sun poking up over the hills to the south.

Then further on, past the wooden bothy, (which looks like it’s had a bit of a paint job since the photo on WH), there’s a cairn marking the point at which the hill path turns left from the main track.

The wooden bothy – new paint job?

Cairn marking the turning point and the path leading up the hill.

So far there had been no wind; it was a very pleasant day.

Once on the hill path, the going becomes much rougher – it’s steep in places and was also icy, but the icy patches were largely easy to avoid. It’s clearly a very boggy path and I was glad it was frozen, but as it turned out, not completely frozen – I found that out when I went through the ice with both feet a bit higher up . The bog seemed to want to hold onto my feet and was sucking them in as I tried to pull them out. Fortunately, I didn’t go any deeper than my ankles and only ended up with one slightly wet sock!

The frozen ground was helpful in many ways, but not so much in others… obviously, it meant the bog was generally easier to cross and the loose stones and gravel were frozen together, so not as slippy underfoot as they might have been. However, there was a lot of ice where the boggy water was frozen, and some of the rocks had a thin layer of ice on them, meaning care was needed.

Looking west shortly after starting on the hill path.

As I started to climb, I was beginning to regret all the layers I had on, but sure that the wind was going to pick up soon, I carried on and decided to put up with the roasting!

A little bit further up (at about 500m), there is a junction in the path and another helpful sign pointing the way.

Another helpful signpost!

Until I reached about 700m, the path was mostly clear as there was very little snow, although it did get a bit lost in the boggy sections. After that, the snow, albeit only 2 or 3 inches deep, mostly covered any path that might have been there, but there was a wide track of footprints in the snow, so still easy to follow the route.

Looking west on the way up.

The way ahead from (at 670m).

Looking west from a little further up.

As I approached Stàc Meall Chuaich at around 800m, there was slightly more wind, but it was very light and to be honest, I was glad of it due to all the layers I still had on!

Looking up towards Meall Chuaich - a false summit, naturally!

At around 850m there are some boulders to cross and at that point the snow became more icy, so I put on my microspikes - the snow wasn’t deep enough for crampons, so they stayed in my rucksack.

Looking north-west from about 100m below the summit.

Looking west from about 100m below the summit.

As I approached the summit, first a lone fencepost came into view and then the summit cairn.

Approaching the summit cairn.

The wind was still very light – I recorded 15 km/h gusts and a temperature of -4.5° at the summit. It was completely calm, a white wilderness, as I sat down by the cairn to eat my lunch (something I didn’t expect to be doing at the top given the wind forecast) – it was 11:45.

Whilst I was eating my lunch a crow (I think it was a crow ) turned up, and seemed to take an interest in me – maybe hoping for some crumbs!

The clouds were low and just resting on some of the mountain tops in the distance.

Being stalked by a crow!

Looking south from the summit.

Looking north-east from the summit.

It doesn’t take long to start feeling cold once you sit down, so I only stayed about 15 minutes, then headed back down.

The microspikes were a real blessing on the icy snow and further down on the iced bog; it’s always more slippery going down than up.

Looking south-west on the way down.

Looking west on the way down.

The journey down was straightforward, still no wind to speak of, and in what seemed like no time at all, I was back on the vehicle track.

All that was left then was the long walk back to the A9 – it’s not far short of 3 miles.

I arrived back at the van at 14:45 looking forward to driving, at least part way, home in daylight!

About 35 miles closer to Inverness, I encountered a snowstorm that lasted all the way home, alternating between driving snow, rain and sleet. The cloud was so low that the trees on the side of the A9 were barely visible, and the mountains were completely invisible! I was very lucky to have had the weather that I did for the day.

Bye for now!