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On Saturday morning myself and gman27 headed up to Bridge of Orchy to attempt Beinn an Dothaidh & Beinn Dorain. At 8am we were parked at the train station and on our way. The weather looked like it wasnt going to be to bad with only light rain and snow on the way up. The route is well worn and fairly straight forward up between the two mountains. It gets a bit steeper on the approach to the bealach and with the thick snow and patches of ice the ice axe was required.
When we got to the bealach the weather started taking a turn for the worse with the snow getting heavier. Fairly quickly we couldnt tell the difference between the snow on the ground and the sky. It was like walking blind, by far the worst whiteout I have ever been in. Initially we were following the GPS through the whiteout and this got us to within about 100m distance from the summit when the battery low warning came up and it switched off. (Note to self - Bring spare batteries next time!!). We continued in the direction we had been travelling for a short time onto what felt like the summit ridge due to the crazy winds that we were now in but we couldnt find the summit cairn. Walking about the ridge effectively blind trying to locate it wasnt an option so we decided the safest thing to do would be to retrace our footsteps and head back. Just as we were heading off we spotted some footprints in the snow from someone elses visit. We decided to follow these steps for a minute or two and see if they led to the top and that we would turn back if we lost the footprints. Thankfully after about 10m we found the summit cairn. We quickly took 2 pics bracing ourselves in the wind and made a sharp exit.
The route back to the bealach wasnt quite as straightforward as we had hoped. Our footprints in the thick snow were already filling in and in places were gone. With a bit of compass work now that we knew where we were on the map again we headed back towards the the bealach. Although im confident in my navigation skills when its clear I was way out my comfort zone in these conditions. The bealach was a welcome sight when it appeared again.
We decided very easily that Beinn Dorain would have to wait for another time as there was no way we were attempting it in these conditions.
Sorry for the lack of pics.
- Me lying down to avoid the wind
- Sorry gman thought you were looking at the camera when I took this