Ben Alder the easy way, by train - non-stop
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 2:52 pmYou've got dozens of reports on walks over Ben Alder and its neighbours but everyone seems to have done it the hard way, lugging stoves and sleeping bags and groceries. I can't be bothered carrying all that stuff, all I want to do with a mountain is look at it and walk on it. Has nobody else done it the easy way?
I went at (approx.) midsummer, left Dalwhinnie station at 15:45 on 15th June 2003 and arrived at Corrour station at 13:57 on the 16th, after a midnight lunch on Ben Alder.
Ben Alder was the only summit where I stopped for refreshment. The rest of the lunch breaks were just before each steep ascent, boosted each time by 12-15 minutes' complete rest on a convenient slab.
I never used a torch, except a tiny keyfob torch to get my bearing to leave Ben Alder's summit. I'd actually taken a red light so I could read without spoiling my night vision but of course it bleached out all the contour lines so it was no use. The fob light showed me (10 minutes before midnight GMT) that I could walk 1100m aiming at a point on the slope of Beinn na Lap. That led to a deep descent to cross over to Beinn a'Chumhainn. It really was dark there and I went down singing and clapping because the col was full of deer all grunting and snuffling. Maybe they were the hundreds who had fled from the summit of Beinn Bheoil.
At the top of Beinn a'Chumhainn I had 360 degrees clear view, naming every hill all around except one big clear cone away to the SE that had me puzzled for several minutes. Schiehallion! My only excuse is that it was 03:50. On the way up Sgor Choinnich a ptarmigan gave a classic decoy display to lure me away from the chicks that were almost under my feet. She kept stopping to look back, like a comic pausing for applause. Those two tops were more interesting than Sgor Gaibhre but Carn Dearg was the only poor bit of the crossing: the wind dropped from light to zero so all the midges came roaring up and I fled. The descent from there to Corrour was the only poor terrain of the whole trip.
I had a pint of milk, a 1 litre Platypus and a 2 litre hydration. The last glugs from the hydration came just as I got down onto the main track. It would have lasted to the station but I stopped to take a layer off on the Pattack road and, when I picked the sack up, I found I'd been standing on the mouthpiece and the water was running out.
My usual diet of Geobars served me well but I'd taken bars of chocolate for quicker energy and I found that milk chocolate becomes very unappetising after a long night: it needs to be dark with orange or ginger.
I've had midsummer midnight lunches since then on Beinn Eibhinn, Braeriach and Beinn a'Bhuird. The worst was one year when the weather was poor so I just went to the Cobbler. I couldn't stay upright in the wind at the top so I spent midnight being dripped on under a Narnain Boulder then dossed down in the waiting room at the station. The longest walk was in May 2008, soloing the route of June's Caledonian Challenge with no backup, 80km in 25hours 24 minutes, but that didn't include any hills.
I went at (approx.) midsummer, left Dalwhinnie station at 15:45 on 15th June 2003 and arrived at Corrour station at 13:57 on the 16th, after a midnight lunch on Ben Alder.
Ben Alder was the only summit where I stopped for refreshment. The rest of the lunch breaks were just before each steep ascent, boosted each time by 12-15 minutes' complete rest on a convenient slab.
I never used a torch, except a tiny keyfob torch to get my bearing to leave Ben Alder's summit. I'd actually taken a red light so I could read without spoiling my night vision but of course it bleached out all the contour lines so it was no use. The fob light showed me (10 minutes before midnight GMT) that I could walk 1100m aiming at a point on the slope of Beinn na Lap. That led to a deep descent to cross over to Beinn a'Chumhainn. It really was dark there and I went down singing and clapping because the col was full of deer all grunting and snuffling. Maybe they were the hundreds who had fled from the summit of Beinn Bheoil.
At the top of Beinn a'Chumhainn I had 360 degrees clear view, naming every hill all around except one big clear cone away to the SE that had me puzzled for several minutes. Schiehallion! My only excuse is that it was 03:50. On the way up Sgor Choinnich a ptarmigan gave a classic decoy display to lure me away from the chicks that were almost under my feet. She kept stopping to look back, like a comic pausing for applause. Those two tops were more interesting than Sgor Gaibhre but Carn Dearg was the only poor bit of the crossing: the wind dropped from light to zero so all the midges came roaring up and I fled. The descent from there to Corrour was the only poor terrain of the whole trip.
I had a pint of milk, a 1 litre Platypus and a 2 litre hydration. The last glugs from the hydration came just as I got down onto the main track. It would have lasted to the station but I stopped to take a layer off on the Pattack road and, when I picked the sack up, I found I'd been standing on the mouthpiece and the water was running out.
My usual diet of Geobars served me well but I'd taken bars of chocolate for quicker energy and I found that milk chocolate becomes very unappetising after a long night: it needs to be dark with orange or ginger.
I've had midsummer midnight lunches since then on Beinn Eibhinn, Braeriach and Beinn a'Bhuird. The worst was one year when the weather was poor so I just went to the Cobbler. I couldn't stay upright in the wind at the top so I spent midnight being dripped on under a Narnain Boulder then dossed down in the waiting room at the station. The longest walk was in May 2008, soloing the route of June's Caledonian Challenge with no backup, 80km in 25hours 24 minutes, but that didn't include any hills.
