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The wind whipped up the light snow, blasting spindrift across the hillside. A mini tornado formed to our right, twisting and turning with white fury as it spun out of control and raced across the slope and down into the glen. We were on the descent of Ben Enaiglair, a Corbett located close to the Braemore Junction near Ullapool.
- Just leaving the car park at the Braemore Junction
We had set off in changeable conditions at 11am, the skies heavy with the threat of snow, but patchworked with enough blue to ensure some sunshine too. We left the carpark and followed the 'to the hill' sign, and soon we were following the wooden posts marking the boggy trail across the moorland. High on the hillside above us stags were roaring, their calls echoing across the mountain. Tracks in the snow showed where the hinds stood close by, watching the spectacle.
The boggy track continued along and past the North edge of Home Loch, 3 swans gracefully bobbing on the choppy waters. A green railed bridge led across the burn and we joined the main landrover track heading up the glen. Our aim was to ascend to the col between the graham and our hill and then turn North and head up steep slopes to reach the summit. A small cairn marked the start of the track up the hill, passing the remains of an old steading along the way. The path followed the course of a delightful stream, which in summer would provide lots of opportunities for cooling down, but today we just kept going. A mix of the boggy conditions underfoot, and the patches of icy snow made the underfoot conditions quite slippery. The snow eased off and we soon began to get views in all directions. The Fannichs appeared through a white haze of drifting cloud and then An Teallach, with every gully and feature picked out clearly by the icy snow gathering on its mighty slopes. Shafts of sunlight caught snow-dusted mountaintops, lighting up the landscape. The stags were quiet now, the current argument settled. We stopped for tea and muffins and enjoyed the sudden blast of warm sunshine, but in the distance the skies were darkening to a battleship grey and soon the large fat flakes were falling again.
- The 2 lochans in the sunshine
As we approached the col the two lochans came into view and we knew we needed to head off the path and uphill, but to the North the hillside was a mess of rocky crags and cliffs, with no obvious route through. We carried on along the path a little, looking for a cairn to mark the ascent route, but nothing materialised, so we headed off track and up across heather strewn bouldery outcrops, around crags and buttresses and eventually up onto less steep but still pathless hillside. We carried on, slipping and tripping over snow covered boulders until eventually, still in a snowstorm we reached the summit, marked by a small cairn. We caught a brief glimpse of the glen leading to Beinn Dearg and then it was swallowed up in the cloud.
We headed down and out of the wind to find a sheltered spot for lunch, but soon realised that it was too cold to stop for long. We finished our sandwiches and began to pick our way back through the heather and rocks and down towards the lochans near the col. The wind was really picking up now, snow being blown off the hillside and lifted high into the air above us. The mini-tornado shot past us and away, tugging and pulling at the heathers and grasses as it went. As we continued our descent the snow started again, this time sharp hail stinging our faces. We donned goggles and carried on. The snow stayed with us for much of the descent, until finally the clouds parted and showed An Teallach and the Fannichs, reflected pale pink and orange in the afternoon sun, shafting down on snow white slopes.
- Glimpsed views of the Fannichs
Eventually the last pull back across the boggy moorland had us back at the car by 4pm and on our way to The Ceilidh Place for the weekend.