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Date. Saturday and Sunday 28th and 29th April 2012
Completed by. Dave, Julie, Wilson and Jake
Weather. Great winter conditions
Time. 15 hrs / 11hrs
Distance. 29.2 km / 23 km
Ascent, 2356 m /1443m
Hills.
Munro’s x 5
Corbett’s x 1
Grahams x 1
Beinn Dearg, Cona Mheall, Meall Nan Ceapraichean, Eididh nan Clach Geala and Seana Bhraigh,
Beinn Enaiglair
Meall Doire Faid
Starting from
The Dirre More Pass ( NH 227 764 )
Arrived at the Dirrie Mor Pass Parking Area at approx 9am. Our agenda was to reach the Coriemor bothy. We would take in 7 summits on route, 1 Graham, 1 Corbett and 5 Munros.
This would be a big route at anytime of the year, but this weekend, it would be much tougher because of all the snow that had fallen in the higher reaches of the hills. I had estimated about 12 hrs or under, in actual fact it took us 15hrs or slightly more.
Weather was better than expected, even with the prospect of high pressure. It was great conditions for hiking, made all the better with the winter outlook higher up.
Soon enough we had reached the 712 height on the Graham Meall Doire Faid now all we needed to do was to head NW along the ridge for about 1.5km to reach our 1st summit of the day. Next was the Corbett Beinn Enaiglair. Once we had reached the summit of this Corbett it was clear that the rest of our high level route would be above the snow line until we needed to drop of our last Munro of the day. It really was near perfect conditions, Alpine like…..
Beinn Dearg seemed for long spells to always be in our sights, a pure beast of a hill. We would ascend next to the stone dyke that would lead us to the summit. We really enjoyed Beinn Dearg, but the climb all the way to the summit was a physical and mental drain. The soft snow and heavy over night packs were now starting to take their toll. On reaching the stone dyke it eventually took us near 1.5 hrs to reach the summit.
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- Beautiful
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- Graham summit picture
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- Wilson and Jake on the Corbett summit
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- Julie heading for Beinn Dearg
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- nice vantage point
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- Beautiful
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- Meall nan Ceapraichean summit, Beinn Dearg Behinf
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- and again with the gang
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- getting colder on Eldidh nan clach Geala
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- Wilson with Seana Bhraigh behind
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- sun starting to set prior to reaching Seana Bhraigh
It was pitch black long before reaching the burn to the NW of the small loch. The burn was well swollen on arrival, and would have been a nightmare in the dead of night to cross. We decided to head to the SE end and try and cross there so we could spend our night at Coriemor. This was tough going with all the bogs and burns we had to bypass on route. We eventually decided we had no option but to find a pitch and get the tent up. It was gone 1am when we got in our sleeping bags; we had been on the go for 22 hrs. We slept on empty bellies that morning. Hahaha.
We both woke after 9am thankfully we had slept well. The sun was heating the tent nicely. Julie opened the tent door to look across the loch and there it was, that bloody elusive Coriemor Bothy. Really was a shame to get this close only to miss out.
Anyhow by the time we packed and re-fuelled it was gone 11.30am; we were still a long way from the car. We had originally planned on doing the Corbett Carn Ban, the Graham Mheall Choarainn and the Munro Am Faochagach on the way out. We now had to have a re think..
We decided on the steep climb out of the Coire next to Loch Luchd Chaine. This was tough and pretty steep indeed. I had actually thought I had reached the top of the Coire at one stage. I shouted to Julie to stay and I would check it out. I aimed for the gap between 2 crags at the top. When I did reach them my jaw nearly/did drop, I was now looking into the steep craggy Coire next door. I had missed the narrow plateau by probably 50-100 feet, there was nothing to do but climb back down and traverse in a south direction and up a snow scattered Gully ( our original choice ) we eventually reached our destination, the narrow part of Creag an Duine.
We still had a bit of a hike to go, we decided on the shortest option. Heading south we reached Meall Faith na Slataich, We dropped in to Gleann Beag and skimmed the west side of Glenbeg bothy, we then cut slightly west of Meallan nan sac. At this point we ended up on very steep ground above the small loch named Loch Na Still. It took us a long time to make a South traverse onto slightly easier terrain and then down to the above named loch. On reaching the South of Loch Coire Lair we made for Meall Feith Dhiongaig, we passed between the 519 and 535 spot heights. As it was only about 9.30pm we could see the main road and Loch Droma as clear as day. We eventually reach the motor and are ready to go by 10.40pm.
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- Camp spot . with Bothy over the loch ( shame to miss out )
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- looking back to bothy and our camp spot.
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- our escape route. the snow topped gully far right corner
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- nearly topping out of escape gully. Just before reaching the narrow plateau.... steep......
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- me and the mutts
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- Creag an Duine and that narrow plateau
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- one of many crossings
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- looking down Glen Beag, with Glenbeg Bothy to the right.
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- Beinn Dearg and Cona Mheall
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- final drop into the glen below
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- looking back to Cona Mheall ?
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- circular animal holding pen near the foot of Meall Feith Dhiongaig
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- last views of the day
Work next day was a tough affair; by the time we got home and got showered it was gone 3.30am. The sound of my 6.30am alarm was very unwelcome indeed.
