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Parking up in Dalwhinnie cycled into the Culra bothy late on Tuesday afternoon in the pouring rain, 1 ¾ hrs
The morning brought much improved weather conditions with the day’s route up Ben Alder being clear with a good coating of new snow, finally got set off at 08:30.
Followed the Bealach Dubh track and crossed the Allt a’Bhealachaich Dhuibh without difficulty about 3 km from the bothy before heading directly up the heather to the reach the Long Leachas above snow line. The ridge line proved straight forward apart from a couple of steep steps which in the unconsolidated conditions required ‘dusting off’. The summit plateau had more snow than I expected, generally 25 – 30cm (+ drifts) which made for hard going to the summit.
Headed off down to the Bealach Breabag in a brief snow storm, the descent to the col was a bit of a pain with the wet snow being a great lubricant under the feet.
Had a short stop for a snack before heading off uphill towards Beinn Bheoil which proved a lot easier going that Ben Alder. The northerly wind seemed to have kept snow from building along the summit ridge and only a bit of extraneous zigzagging was required to make the going a lot easier.
Ended up going too far down the north east ridge, in a sleet storm, and making a steep descent to the peat bogs before the skies cleared and I could see the stalkers track 0.5km off to the NW. Ended up back at the bothy after a great 7 hrs needing a brew.
