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The 4am alarm was as un-welcome as ever but the need to get out and bag another couple of Munro's before the year end was enough to drag me from my bed and get in the van to drive up the A9 before turning off for Kinloch
Rannoch and continuing toward Rannoch train station,stopping short at the start of the track that would lead me
into the two Munro's at Corrour,Carn Dearg and Sgor Gaibhre.
The road out to the start point from the A9 was treacherous to say the least with a covering of snow and ice but
i eventaully got there just short of 9am and after parking i realised i had left my gaitors at home-Damn! the
forecast was for heavy snow and i cursed myself for this mistake,then as i zipped up all the pockets on my jacket,
one of the zips burst! (the said RAB jacket will be returned for a refund
)
- sunrise from the parking area
- the parking area from the start of the track
Not a great start to the day but i set off anyway and for a change i had decided to take my ipod which up until
now i had been dead against,always preferring the soundtrack that nature provided but i have to say this was
fantastic! I marched up the track at a really good pace with Queens greatest hits 1 blaring in my ears and as per
usual i managed to miss the crossing of the bridge which would have taken me in the direction of Carn Dearg which
i had chosen to summit first and then onto Sgor Gaibhre.
- todays targets,Carn Dearg ridge on the left,Beinn Pharlagain leading to Sgor Gaibhre on the right
- loads of deer roaming this area
No big deal i thought,i'll just reverse the round i had planned,so i continued up the track looking at the low cloud and snow covered hills-what a difference from Bridgeof Orchy a few days ago but un-deterred i followed the track and decided that i would miss out the Corbett and continue into the glen,picking my own path through the deep snow and eventually head up to the bealach between Sgor Gaibhre and Beinn Pharlagain.
- still enjoying the tunes before the ascent
This plan was going really well and i was having such fun,the music of choice had changed to 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' by pink floyd-smashing!
I stopped below the bealach and decided as it was time to start working hard and ascend i would lose the music,this seems to be when things went wrong for me.
I made it up to the ridge just around about the corbett
- lochan Meoigeach (i think)
and after checking the map with my gps reading was sure i knew where i was and where i was to head and set off hoping the rise to the Munro would appear out of the cloud and snow in front of me,
WRONG! As i walked on i was met by the steep craggy looking side of a hill,how could this be? the visibility was about
30ft and for the first time ever walking solo i got worried,all of a sudden i had no idea where i was,what direction
i should be headed and what my next move was.I checked my GPS and i had covered just over 10km-christ i should be on summit at this distance! yet my gps was telling me that the summit of Sgor Gaibhre was 3.4km away???
this was a major WTF? moment for me and after a slightly panic stricken check of the map i decided to plumb in the
co-ordinates of the bealach,i reckoned if i could get there i could then re-plan my day.After a while i reached the
bealach proper and stopped for some coffee and to decide what i should do.
Now with getting lost i had fell even further behind time and the sensible option was to head back to the van by
dropping down into the glen and retracing my steps,option number 2 was to head up to the first Munro,see how much
daylight i had left and plan accordingly.
Rightly or wrongly i headed for the summit and after just over 4hrs and 13.8km i reached Sgor Gaibhre's summit,
thank god! i thought.
- Sgor Gaibhre summit
- stats upon reaching Sgor Gaibhre
The weather wasnt getting any better and the wind chill was bad so i didnt stop long and decided that heading for
bealach between the two Munro's would be my best bet,giving me the option of dropping into the glen or going for
second summit,again my determination/stubborness got the better of me and i headed onward to the second summit which was a real slog due to the depth of the snow and also the fact that i had torn the inside leg of my trousers with my crampons and it was filling up with snow.
- the view from the bealach to Carn Dearg
After a couple of false summits i trudged onto the freezing summint of Carn Dearg,tired,cold and in dire need of a
rest but it was far too cold to stop and it was also 2:25pm,i had possibly an hour and a half to reach the track as i
didnt want to still be on the hill when darkness fell,a summit pic and vid was taken and i set off along the ridge
- Carn Dearg summit
- Carn Dearg stats
which was torture,no path to follow,numerous drops into waist deep snow and also a fair few falls,i wasnt enjoying
this but needed to try and travel as fast as possible.
Eventually as i neared the end of the ridge and with daylight failing i spotted the river that runs down the glen and opted to head down toward it,the hillside was fairly steep but i really wanted to get to it knowing it would lead me to the track to the van.
just as i reached the side of the river i stopped and guzzled down four cups of coffee and had a snack to
keep me going,then followed what seemed to be a path along the river and eventually onto the track,by this time it was completely dark and i walked back out by the light of my headtorch eventually reaching the van 8hrs 15mins after leaving it.
- end of day stats
I know i made a good few mistakes on this walk,some that may have comprimised my safety so if anyone wants to have a 'go at me' feel free,i'll take it on the chin but i learned a lot from this walk and have since checked the map to
see where i went wrong and i'll certainly not make the same mistakes again,
i also think a winter safety course is in order if i plan to walk solo in the depths of winter again.
