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Wow what a day that was then. Certainly bit off more than I could chew for a January outing, not sure if I'd fancy doing such a big walk again at this time of year. We shall see..... kudos for expert navigator Dave Webb for getting us up and down safely, especially in the last couple of hours of darkness. Head torches to the front. At least I was able to test out my new Lenser I treated myself too, more of that later.
Didn't have the best of starts at all, I'd got as far as Stirling services en-route to pick up Dawn in Dunblane when I realised I'd left my new jacket at home. Fortunately, Hazel had a spare. Even if it was a bit girly, it was better than not having one in the conditions we were going to face. Didn't quite match my new PLUM coloured rucksack, it's not PINK and girly in the slightest. Maybe I should have used the DAYGLO ORANGE raincover instead....
Anyways, suited and booted, us 4 intrepid adventurers and Bob the Dog left the car park about 9.15. A bit later than planned but that's mostly down to me being not sure where to go exactly..... Along the road to the farmhouse and started the climb through the forest.
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- Early days....
A bit of clag over the plateau but at least we couldn't really feel the wind at this point.
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- Claggy plateau
Out of the forest the wind hit us side on, I was glad of the spare jacket and also my thermal long johns. It's a good path pretty much all the way up to the plateau here and I was glad of that. Wouldn't fancy tramping through bog with this wind as well.
Carried on up, passed several wee rivulets caused by snow melt, there really was just the odd patch of snow here and there after the big thaw. The good path continues up until you get to a wee cairn marking the crossroads; straight on if you want to do Sgor Gaoith first or go right at the cairn for Mullach Clach a'Bhlair.
We went right and the path was still pretty good here. Came off the path a wee while later and stopped for lunch at a nicely placed shelter cairn. Dave was still expertly navigating us to Mullach but now we had the worst part to come. A massive bog field to traverse but at least some of the mud was quite firm to walk on; although I do believe some of the party may have tripped or slipped here...... no names, no pack drill....
I was too far behind at this point to see what happened properly. For once I didn't slip at all myself.
Through the bog we finally regained the landrover track and this took us pretty close to the summit cairn of Mullach. We made it in just over 4 hrs but the increasingly strong gales into our faces made it tough at times.
Only stuck around for the obligatory cairn photo's then retraced our steps to the landrover track and found a wee shortcut which saved a few minutes but isn't obvious on the route up.
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- Success....
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- Success 2
Followed the landrover track back down to a dip and paused for lunch part 2 out of the fierce wind. Bob the Dog seemed to be loving this adventure.
Back on the track we roughly made a beeline for the 2nd summit of Sgor Gaoith, bypassing the top of Carn Ban Mor. The wind was still picking up speed and the clag was coming in thick, along with the daylight fading it was difficult to see where we were going. I think we got to the summit cairn in about 3 hrs after leaving Mullach but it was dark by the time we did make it and the conditions were probably as tough as I've ever had in the mountains. Given that the cairn is right on the edge a corrie we had to take extra care. I wasn't moving at all whilst we attached head torches. Being a glasses wearer, the worst mountain weather for me is claggy mist and so it proved. My glasses constantly misted up and resulted in the light reflecting, meaning I was walking almost blind. Ended up switching my light off and following the beam from Dawns torch. Even then I nearly stumbled a couple of times and we were all glad to finally reach the original path down. At least I'd be able to use my own torch but it was still a struggle to see properly until I was below the clag level. The rain was on as well by now just to add to the lovely day out....
We were back at the car park just before 7 pm and I for one was glad of that. So glad that I couldn't even be bothered changing out my sweaty t-shirt......
Can't see me ever wanting to repeat Mullach again but having read some cracking TR's of Sgor Gaoith I might go back and see what others have seen of the spectacular views. Only a maybe though....
Apologies to Dave if the attached gpx file isn't quite spot on, had a go from memory at creating it.
