Munro 98 & 99 - An Teallach

[IamAJMiller]

So it's that time again: time to knock off a mountain that had 'caused me a lot of thinking/daydreaming time, An Teallach. Everything I've read about this mountain says that it's very tough as a walk and a lot of care is needed. They're not wrong!

Jamie and I set off in my car from Perth early on so as to arrive at CorrieHaille carpark for about 10am. Plenty of cars in the carpark and this always gives me a bit of confidence that someone is about in case we needed assistance. We'd had good views of the pinnacles all the way along the road and they looked menacing in real life. I'd seen them before but Jamie hadn't and we set off from the car with a fair bit of excitement in our bellies!!

The initial path to Shenival is very good so we nipped along there with no problems. Passing a few parties we started towards Sail Liath after chatting to some people who were waiting at the slabs for a party behind us. The slope was steep and the wind was picking up which concerned me. The last thing I wanted was a breezy day perched on those pinnacles! We got to the top and stopped for some lunch and sat facing the teeth as we ate. I sat on my compass!!! I never really believed that you should take two but it seems such advice is correct! All the water leaked out of it onto the summit but luckily it was a clear day and it wasn't needed, map and GPS was enough. Watching another party climbing onto the pinnacles proper we left to tackle them too, it was at this point I got a call from Jessops jewelers to say that my engagement ring was ready for collection!! Did the fact that I now had to ask the question to end all questions or the ridge get my heartrate going......we'll never know!!

After a bit of scrambling about on the West side to gain some height I found the pitch I'd been looking for. The guide book suggested that you ascend via a slab with a flake crack in it which goes as a rock climbing MOD grade. I was fairly sure I could solo a 7m MOD pich so hadn't brought a rope. While I managed it fine the sheer exposure down to Loch na Sealga made things harder. The left hand holds are rubbish and while the right are fine; I still made tentative moves to get to the safety of the ledge. Not showing that it was difficult I led Jamie up the pitch and he also said the exposure made this easy pitch a bit harder than normally a MOD would be. We sat and had a drink where we were and then moved up onto the ridge which was reached very quickly and suddenly! It is wildly exposed and it really takes your breath away! Luckily the wind was non existent so we made our way carefully along the ridge properly. It's completely exhilarating making moves when you swing your leg straight over Loch Toll an Lochain with hundreds of metres below you. It was just us on the ridge and our progress was good with a few 'thinking' moves before you continued. We sat on Lord Berkley's seat but NOT with our legs over the edge! Haha! After this we made our way up to Sgurr Fiona and got a great view of what we'd just come across. Left Sgurr Fiona to do the last munro and got some great views all around in excellent weather. There were a few midges at the trig point so we made our way down to the bealach to go home.

We had a bit of trouble getting down the headwall due to the huge snowbank which barred our way. We had to go slightly North and make our way down slippery broken slopes. Quite dodgy as the grass was wet and while a fall wouldn't have ended in a fatality it still would've hurt. We got down into the Corrie and looked back to watch an old man follow us out and we made sure that he got down safe. At this point we were able to fill up our water as we'd run out due to the heat and were forced to pack snow into our bottles, keep them next to our body and hope that it'd melt enough to give us a drink!! Haha!! Fill up where you can as there's nowhere to get water on the ridge and it takes longer to get across than you'd think!

Very tired we made our way back to the road under gorgeous cliffs and clear burns. The 'dreaded rhodedendrum forest' was actually quite pleasant as it gave us a welcome break from the scorching sun! A cracking day and we felt mighty pleased with ourselves at conquering one of the hardest Munros on the mainland!

PS The old man at the bealach turned out to be staying in the same bunkhouse as us that night so we got a bit of banter with him about the day etc. Nice guy.