walkhighlands

Share your personal walking route experiences in Scotland, and comment on other peoples' reports.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

Match abandoned at half time....

Match abandoned at half time....


Postby weescotsman » Fri Apr 06, 2012 11:10 pm

Route description: Beinn Achaladair and Beinn a'Chreachain

Munros included on this walk: Beinn a' Chreachain

Date walked: 06/04/2012

Time taken: 8.75 hours

Distance: 16 km

Ascent: 1100m

1 person thinks this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

Toughest day on the mountains for the gang for many a walkout, followed the WH route advice to go clockwise, starting with the long walk alongside the river Tulla. MWIS forecast was for clearing cloud level in the afternoon but that was ever so slightly inaccurate..... :(

Took us about an hour to get to the rickety bridge and from there on it just got tough. Pretty much an upward slog and the fog drifted through the corrie but it was a struggle to even see the cliffs never mind the lochan.... On the steep slope upwards to the left of the lochan I never thought I'd ever make the plateau as well as the non-disappearing clag the windspeed was a fair bit higher than the expected 20-25 mph. We could have lived with that....

Nowhere to shelter on the plateau so we carried on towards the ridge where we finally managed to get a seat out of the wind to grab a bite to eat. I was starving by this point and that was over 3 hrs from the start. Added the fleece and the waterproofs to warm me up as it was pretty chilly....

Still not much sign of the cloud clearing and we kept well away from the huge cornices at the edge as it was a sheer drop. Hands were too cold at this point to take many pics....

Eventually made the summit cairn in about 4 hrs and the fog here was at it's worst. Very disorientating and hard to work out a bearing and we couldn't agree on the way out to the next summit so we compromised after a wander trying to figure it out that it was safer to retrace our steps and admit a partial defeat. Better that than to go with so many steep cliffs all around us...........

Left the car at the farm at 9.45, got back about 6.30 so not far off 9 hrs..... think on a clear day we'd easily have been inside the 6 -8 hrs guide time on WH. Just shows what the effect of deep clag can have on us....

Didn't see any blue skies till we were well off down the initial steep slope but even as we got to the car the tops were still shrouded in mist. Just one of those days.................

A few foggy pics now but I'm sure you all know what they are like............... :lol:

IMAG0211.jpg
The corrie on our way down......

IMAG0206.jpg
Up there somewhere....

IMAG0208.jpg
Up there as well....

IMAG0210.jpg
We did get there at least....

IMAG0214.jpg
Clearing cloud on the way down....


All in all a bit disappointing but you take the good days with the bad days..............
weescotsman
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 142
Munros:116   Corbetts:8
Fionas:1   Donalds:4
Sub 2000:8   
Joined: Nov 19, 2009
Location: Bo'ness

Re: Match abandoned at half time....

Postby rockhopper » Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:11 am

Certainly sounded a tough day especially since you couldn't see anything. These hills have memories for me for what also ended up a tough day. As you say, better to get back safely - well done - cheers :D
User avatar
rockhopper
 
Posts: 7446
Munros:282   Corbetts:222
Fionas:136   Donalds:89+20
Sub 2000:16   Hewitts:2
Wainwrights:3   Islands:20
Joined: May 31, 2009
Location: Glasgow

Re: Match abandoned at half time....

Postby Bod » Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:25 am

Good call....very sensible to return if there's serious doubt and exposure is getting to you! Well done, and yes it was one of those days, one to remember just like all the rest :D :D :D
User avatar
Bod
Walker
 
Posts: 1548
Munros:282   Corbetts:67
Fionas:34   Donalds:21
Sub 2000:44   Hewitts:27
Wainwrights:51   Islands:25
Joined: Jul 30, 2010
Location: Cowdenbeath

Re: Match abandoned at half time....

Postby pollyh33 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:31 am

Oh I feel your pain.

I did these two 3 weeks ago and I wouldn't be in a hurry to go back. Our conditions weren't as bad as yours but it was pretty miserable :( :(

After the first summit I was intending to carry on over in a easterly direction but luckily the person I was with suggested retracing our steps for about 5 mins and then head in that direction and we soon picked up a reasonable path. Fortunately the next summit was much easier than the first- wouldn't be hard!!!

Sorry should have said we went in a clockwise direction too. Don't know if it was just us but we had a lot of river crossing and fence climbing to do!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Good luck with bagging the second one, are you going to head for the bealach with a' Dothaidh? Still a bit of a bog but the path is 80% visible. :D
User avatar
pollyh33
Walker
 
Posts: 2577
Munros:282   Corbetts:18
Fionas:5   Donalds:2
Sub 2000:1   
Joined: Mar 30, 2011
Location: Rutherglen

Re: Match abandoned at half time....

Postby gammy leg walker » Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:54 am

Ditto to what polly said,what a slog I had on these two,near 4hrs the the 1st summit,near 9hrs round trip all clockwise
User avatar
gammy leg walker
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 3464
Munros:282   Corbetts:7
Fionas:4   Donalds:3+0
Sub 2000:2   
Islands:7
Joined: Jan 30, 2010
Location: Central Region
Walk wish-list

Re: Match abandoned at half time....

Postby weescotsman » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:29 am

Cheers for the comments..... well apart from the spam one above which should be removed shortly.

Tough day but we live to fight on, don't feel overly sore this morning, despite this strenous workout as well as some BootCamp training that I've started in Edinburgh.... mad or what ?

Probably will attempt it anti-clockwise next time when we have a full complement out, and if it's a decent day will continue and do the full loop, would love to get some decent pics from the summits compared to what we got as the corries and cliffs kinda looked very nice...

As an aside, I was convinced that the path to the next summit was the actual way we came up, that's how much I was confused yesterday. Partially by the strong wind which sneakily changed direction without telling me. It had been blowing from the West into our faces most of the way up. Think I need to practise navigation a bit more.... :lol:
weescotsman
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 142
Munros:116   Corbetts:8
Fionas:1   Donalds:4
Sub 2000:8   
Joined: Nov 19, 2009
Location: Bo'ness

Re: Match abandoned at half time....

Postby pollyh33 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:51 pm

Hi Weescotsman,

Here's some of my photos from my walk. This is what you should be seeing after leaving Beinn a'Chreachain.
P1000314.JPG
Descent from Beinn a'Chreachain

P1000317.JPG
Lochan

P1000322.JPG
Climb up to Achaladair

P1000333.JPG
Bealach with a' Dothaidh


Hope this helps. :)
User avatar
pollyh33
Walker
 
Posts: 2577
Munros:282   Corbetts:18
Fionas:5   Donalds:2
Sub 2000:1   
Joined: Mar 30, 2011
Location: Rutherglen

Re: Match abandoned at half time....

Postby weescotsman » Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:09 am

Thanks Polly..... what a difference with no clag..... :D

Hope it's like that when we return...... :)
weescotsman
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 142
Munros:116   Corbetts:8
Fionas:1   Donalds:4
Sub 2000:8   
Joined: Nov 19, 2009
Location: Bo'ness

1 person thinks this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).




Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: archierob, EwanM, hornetuk, LeeRae, Martraven, peter mc g, simp25, TaylorsTreks and 73 guests