White Coomb, a stark contrast.

[meangarry]

A trudge up to the frozen loch skeen and then on to white coomb. Helped a goat give birth to a dead kid, I was too late to save it.
A harsh winter scene. by meangarry, on Flickr Leaving the sorry scene of the nanny goat and her lifeless kid to turn a corner and see the beautiful frozen loch was an incredible contrast.
Loch Skeen by meangarry, on Flickr It was an emotional moment. Hard going in the drifts.
My tracks. by meangarry, on Flickr Hard to avoid the drifts in places.
Loch Skeen and the moraines. by meangarry, on Flickr

Lunch shelter. by meangarry, on Flickr Eventually made it to the summit after marching along the ridge punching through the snow with every tiring step.
Croft Head and The Solway by meangarry, on Flickr

Summit and my bag by meangarry, on Flickr The way down was alot easier in the soft snow. Almost scree running with a few arrests thrown in for practice. Back at the car park I chatted to a guy who was heading up to the loch with the intention of spending the night in a snow hole. Nutter.
Frozen grey mares tail. by meangarry, on Flickr

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

[gmr82]

Thanks meangarry, picked up you reply from the other forum. How deep is the snow on average, excluding drifts? Think I'm going to shelf my plans then, had looked at reworking it from the NT car park too, but either way it was going to be around 21km for the 5 Donalds in the area. The way its looking now I might only be able to get Lochcraig Head and White Coomb. Its a long drive to come for only 2 Donalds (1 of which I've already climbed, admittedly the other a Corbett), whereas if spring ever arrives I could do all five in one go (2 above, Molls Cleuch, Garelet, Erie) from Talla and save the petrol. Will have to see, the forecast tomorrow couple with a frozen Loch Skeen standing on the top of Lochcraig Head is very tempting!

Where was the goat giving birth? What a shame, lovely pic of the Loch though

[meangarry]

Sorry pal, been busy working and drinking all weekend! The snow was about 8-10 inches in most places but varying wildly in the drifts. I could walk over packed snow from time to time but in the deeper bits it was a struggle. Looking up at the hills today it looks as though all eastern and southern slopes have melted greatly. The goat was on the path just before the first view of the loch.