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This weekend was scheduled as a bit of rehearsal and preparation for our outing to Ben Alder at the end of the month which is hopefully going to involve 3 or 4 nights away. So we needed to find out a few things - could we walk for a full day with full overnight kit; could we manage to winter camp without the security of the car being beside the tent and; could we walk for a second day after said winter camping
Casting around for a suitable location taking the weather forecast into consideration, the Monadhliath hills seemed worth a punt - do the 3 hills on Saturday, camp somewhere then drive over to Geal Charn on the Sunday. It was going to be a cold night, which would be a bit more realistic than the initial trial camp out we had 3 or 4 weeks ago in the balmy surroundings of a layby beside Meal Ghaordiadh
Arrived at the car parking area at Glen Banchor at about 7.45 - hills looked swathed in cloud but at least it was dry.
P1010091 by
23weasels, on Flickr
Lots of friendly notices painted onto gates like *No Camping* and *No Dogs* - well - Finn was confined to base as being unsuitable to join the tenting fraternity on account of dog claws and tent bases don't mix (let alone the lack of room inside) and we were not going to allow a painted sign to get in the way of pitching in the great outdoors, though we would have a bit of thought where we'd put up. All that lay ahead of us as we pulled on the heaviest sacks we had tried walking with yet - mine was over 20Kg - and set off to do the hills in an anticlockwise direction - wisely (if entirely fortuitously) chosen as there was a pretty strong wind blowing from the East, and there's a long exposed plateau going East - West - I would not have liked to be going over that into a headwind on such a chilly day
P1010093 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010094 by
23weasels, on Flickr
The initial section along Allt a Chaorainn was mostly boggy amongst the heather, with the temperature not having fallen far enough to make the bog freeze. It's an easy paced gentle pull up the hill without any steep bits.
P1010095 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010096 by
23weasels, on Flickr
We passed the tin hut, saw that the top of the hill was going to be smothered in clag and turned to the R, following footprints in the snow til we reached the impressive cairn. Views - there were none
P1010098 by
23weasels, on Flickr
Heading NW down a rather steeper slope towards Carn Sgulain we watched numerous snow hares, some having shed their winter white already - racing and gamboling about. Fantastic animals! One of them scooted down the slope and up onto Sgulain skirting under a cornice - would be quite something to be able to cover hill terrain at that speed!
P1010104 by
23weasels, on Flickr
As we headed towards the valley of Allt Cuil na Caillich the snow was frozen harder and I felt it best to slip the crampons on. Off with my outer glove and *off* the wind took it, whizzing over the snowdunes. After putting the crampons on I did go after it but nowhere to be seen, unsurprisingly. Fortunately this wasn't a Maurice Herzog moment as I had a spare pair in the sack, but I would not have fancied going over the plateau on a day like this with only liner gloves on. Lesson - when it's windy, things blow away
Without further ado we walked the short distance to the top of Carn Sgulain, surveying its stone strewn landscape and being rewarded with a clearing of the clouds and some views.
P1010108 by
23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
A bite to eat was had before setting off over the plateau, following the very helpful line of fenceposts, which some enterprising ski-ers had been using as slalom practice. The plateau sits around the 900m mark for its entire length and I can imagine it being a fairly hostile and unforgiving environment - wouldn't fancy trying to pitch a tent up here with sizeable winds.
P1010119 by
23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
Eventually Carn Dearg came into view - impressive ridge profile with a considerable bit of cornice built up along and the tiny black speck of the cairn evident against the gunmetal sky.
P1010126 by
23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
Although it looked quite challenging from this angle, by the time we had got to Carn Ban we could see there was a broad line up the shoulder of the hill and we wouldn't have to venture anywhere near the egde. Did seem like another spot for crampons however.
P1010133 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010136 by
23weasels, on Flickr
We trudged slowly up to the summit and had some great views over the side - the cairn is rather near the edge, especially when you can't really see where the actual rocky edge is under the snow...
P1010138 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010142(1) by
23weasels, on Flickr
Because it was so nice a day now we decided to walk along the ridge to the second cairn at 923m. Had considered carrying on over to Carn Macoul, but it looked steep down from there on the map, and I didn't want to get lost with rivers to cross on the walk back in, so we retraced our steps and contoured Carn Dearg, having a good view of Loch Dubh as we did so, which with a frozen white lid was not looking very Dubh at all.
P1010148 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010147 by
23weasels, on Flickr
Around this time Allison found out what happens when your crampons tackle on another and fell smartly onto her nose, kissing the snow and sustaining superficial but bloody damage
Fortunately no bones or teeth were dislodged and we headed down to Gleann Ballach. This was a tiring part of the journey - the path was difficult to keep in sight due to the heather and the snow, the snow itself was patchy and prone to letting you plunge through it into the boggy water beneath - all in all slow going. Once we'd rounded Meall na Ceardaich the quality of the path improved considerably and we made the footbridge onto the track proper with a sense of relief.
P1010153 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010157 by
23weasels, on Flickr
Now all that remained was to find a place to pitch for the night. It was getting on for about 5 by this time. We had intially planned to camp in or near the trees near the abandoned buildings at Glenbanchor itself, but I quite fancied being somewhere further out, so we pitched just below the track on some flat ground beside the Allt Fionndrigh, across from Creag na h-lolare. A few molehills marked the grass, and we giggled at the thought of a moley visitor emerging through the tent floor during the night. Anyway, pitched smoothly, got the grub on (Food Doctor lentil & couscous pots)and settled in for a bit of reading by headtorch. About 9pm we were startled by a brief burst of strobe like white light - no idea what that was, but the stars were very beautiful in the clear sky when I poked my head out of the tent to see if we were under attack. It did get colder during the night and when I went to get water from the river for the morning porridge, I watched a surface layer of ice form on top of the water in the kettle in a matter of seconds before I put it onto the burner. Brrrr. Certainly not a morning for plunging your arms into the river to waken yourself up
Another lesson - don't take golden syrup for your porridge as it turns into tar and won't come out of the container - use brown sugar next time
P1010159 by
23weasels, on Flickr
After packing everything up again and being grateful that there had been no rain (just a small amount of hailstones) during the night we walked the 4km back to the car on a glorious sunny morning. We were surrounded by fantastic views of the hills against heather and forest, one of the best morning sights I have had in ages.
P1010160 by
23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
Plan was to strick in the same area and drive over to Garva Bridge and climb Geal Charn. The road was quiet and the scenery immense and we were the first car to park at the bridge. Further up the road from the bridge we could see various construction traffic - windfarm stuff maybe? There was a huge pile of stones that I initially took for some crazy neolithic-style dwelling, but no, it was a pile of stones
P1010168 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010169 by
23weasels, on Flickr
Despite the wonders of GPS, I managed to rather carelessly lead us off on the wrong path to start with so that we were on the wrong side of the river and required to cross it further along, when the reality of my error became apparent. Rocks were slippy with ice, and it would not have been a good start to the day to have an icy plunge. We also managed to not quite find the path once we were on the right sider of the river and had much huffing and puffing amongst the heather until we finally did. Then we managed to miss the post that suggests where to cross the stream and once again had a slightly more difficult crossing higher up
I blame lack of sleep and brain freeze
P1010194 by
23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
By this time it was pretty hard to go wrong as the snow capped rounded top of Geal Charn lay before us.
P1010172 by
23weasels, on Flickr
The path was mostly over heather and some patches of new snow, with odd bits of slidy ice underfoot at times. The views all around were wonderful - I am really coming to love these softer curvier hills up in this part of the world - especially with their sense of remoteness - as far as I could see there were hills and little sign of civilisation - the odd forest plot, but no human sounds, no vapour trails of planes to mar the blue sky.
P1010176_Panorama by
23weasels, on Flickr
Reaching the brow of the hill there was still about half a kilometre to walk before the summit was reached, over hard frozen snow. Met another three walkers when we were at the top, having a quick bite before heading back down.
P1010189 by
23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
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23weasels, on Flickr
Sun was still out but we could see that snow or cloud was coming down on all of the surrounding hills - it seemed that we were at the centre of a clear area of weather and golden sunlight. There were odd flurries of snow and hail as we descended towards the car, following the path properly this time round, which made the going considerably easier.
P1010196 by
23weasels, on Flickr
P1010197 by
23weasels, on Flickr
By the time we got back to the car the sky had closed in and it was snowing quite heavily, but there was no problem with the road and we quickly emerged back into sunshine. Heading down the A9 we had some marvelous views of the Drumochter 4 before the clouds came down and the snow came on for real.
A great couple of days which left us feeling much more optimistic about being able to do 3 or 4 days at a time (as long as it doesn't rain solidly for them that is!) And I think that winter camping overnight is great
