Culra bothy weekend TR from an unworthy scribe.

[gammy leg walker]

8 months ago myself & Jonny616 bailed on the then Fisherfield 6 since then we have been planning an other attack on that area and a few other WH members were also hoping to walk the "last great wilderness" Bod & Val,Dawnfoth,Quoman,Meatball & Rottiewalker made up the motley crew,in the weeks leading up we had been nervously watching the weather & conditions hoping for a nice weather window for the weekend,however as we are all aware winter just does not want to leave so now we had to execute Plan B (I thought they were a pop group) so after tons of chat back & forth on FB it came down to Fisherfield or Culra bothy with Val giving me the pressure of picking where my heart said Fisherfield but the head was saying Culra so Culra it was.

You maybe wondering why the TR heading says "an unworthy scribe" well that's easy the time,distance & accent are all mine not that of the other 7 nutters who after we all dropped off Beinn Elbhinn to pick up the stalkers path that links Dalwhinnie to Corrour carried on & climbed Ben Alder & Beinn Bheoil giving them a staggering 2400 metres of accent & near 60k of walking over the Fri/Sat/Sun,or even more staggering if you are Meatball who climbed Beinn a"Chlachair,Geal Charn & Creag Pitridh on the Fri to give him near 85k & 3200 accent over the 3 days.

ETA for most of us was 3.30pm at Dalwhinnie where some would bike in & the purists would enjoy"the long walk in"

Quoman & Dawnfoth getting ready.

Going light is not an option

Quoman & Rottiewalker were the bikers,me Jonny 616 Bod Val Dawnfoth would walk & Meatball would meet us en-route to Culra not much I can say about the 15k walk to Culra apart from "ouch" 10 cans of lager firewood walking boots (walked in with trainers) enough food to feed an army made for an interesting three & a half hours Culra sure was a welcome site where soon we were all unpacked food was cooked & beer,cider & whisky flowed

Quoman,Rottiewalker,Bod & Val

Jonny616,Meatball & the rest

a fairly quiet night was had with only small amounts of lager,beer,cider,whisky being consumed all in preparation for the next days activities.

8 am sharpish & we were all suited & booted for the off

Dawnfoth,Quoman,Rottiewalker,Jonny616

Yours truly & crew with "bear" the ladyboy dug

Now there"s not a lot I can say about the walk to Carn Dearg at 1034 meters apart from UP but it does give you some grand views.

Loch Pattack

Loch Ericht

Culra bothy far below

Eh,up

and in just a shade over one & a half hours the summit was reached.

With views now there"s a surprise

.Now it does state that the walk to Geal Charn has some wonderful views & for what its worth we managed to get some fine views down to Loch Coire Cheap & Loch an Sgor

Loch an Sgor

Loch Coire Cheap

however for some reason our eyes had been drawn to the interesting climb ahead it was fairly steep with a fine if somewhat unstable hanging cornice on the r/h/s which we all agreed looked like it could go at any time

Fairly steep climb & that cornice

thankfully some people had been on this route the day before & cut some fine steps into the snow which eased the climb no end but even so we all were happy to get past safely,it also states the summit cairn can be a challenge to locate even in clear weather on the wide plateau and by this time the weather had closed in with a heavy clag,some snow flurries & biting wind all adding to the fun,however with map compass & at least 5/6 gps units in know time the summit was reached.

Geal Charn summit & service back to normal

.

From here over Aonach Beag & Beinn Elbinn I took two pictures one on both summits the weather was now fairly dire wet & windy with no views.

Aonach Beag summit more of the same

Beinn Elbhinn summit sayin nowt

all that was left now was a re trace of our outward route down to the bealach & then find a route down into the glen floor this was eased somewhat with 1 or 2 fine snow shute"s that made for some great bum slides.

All day the talk had been 4 or 6 munro"s now it was time to make a decision a 6k walk back to Culra or follow Rockhoppers route 600 meters straight up onto Ben Alder and then over to Beinn Bheoil & back to Culra adding 1200 accent,10k & 4/5 hrs more walking,for me it was a easy choice as by this time the gammy knee & ankle were done for again,I can walk & have one long day know bother but with the 15k walk in on Fri 18k on Sat & 15k walk out on Sun I just cant cut it anymore so this is where I wimped out bade goodbye to my companions & headed back to Culra to rest up for the walk out on Sun,I think 1 or 2 will post some pictures from the rest of there walk I can now only comment on what had already been an epic trip for me.

So 6k back to Culra at a steady pace was done in just under one & a half hours where I cleaned & packed my gear had some food & beer and waited for the crew to return this they duly did around 4/5 hrs later around 9.30 pm all elated and all a wee shade frazzled after their epic trip,well done to every feckin one of you all that was left now was food for the troops then beer,lager,wine,whisky,vodka,mocha choca latte,& some electrolites I did hope to have some pictures of the Sat bothy night but my camera was a wee bit damp maybe some others will have pictures to add.

Oooooft Sunday morning not so bright and early but time to ready ourselves for the walk/bike back to Dalwhinnie

Culra bothy & morning Bod

Culra bothy morning Bod & Val

My bed for the last 2 nights

Packing to go home

Meatball heads for home

Quoman with his antler

A last look back to Culra

So there"s my TR it would not have been possible without Jonny 616 one of my best friends,Dawnfoth one of the sweetest people I have ever met,Rottiewalker & Bear(the dug) stonking fella & his great companion,Quoman one of the funniest people you will ever meet,Bod an absolute gentle giant,Val what a personality always laughing,Meatball first time we have met but has given me some great help with my last injury thanks very much & one last thing

Ben Alder

I"ll be back.

[pollyh33]

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic Willie

So glad all my fears were pretty much unfounded

You were in excellent company and I'm sure everyone of them would say the same about you

[Meatball]

GLW,
Tell the whole story, half a story is no use!

As I saw it...
GLW walked every step of that walk, unlike me;
He carried in a massive pack, consider that, the mileage and ascent;
The man did all this while carrying an injury that has hampered his walking over the last 6/9 months;
I feared the worst as we were going up the first hill, GLW looked as if he was toast, however he toughed it out over 4 tough munros in difficult conditions;
On reaching the bealach prior to Ben Alder GLW showed excellent decision making in realising that while the mind was willing he was not sure he could complete the additional two munros, with significant mileage and ascent. This is something that I think is far more difficult than just pressing on.
In summary, my hat is well and truly off! I salute you.

As for the report, good effort man!

Until next time!

[pigeon]

Well done GLW,Saturday was pretty wild so you done good getting round the 4.Looking forward to getting up to these ones soon,so many plans no enough time Well down the rest of the gang too,big route that

[Valerie]

Great effort Gammy getting round the 4 is an achievement in itself, never mind the other 2 and it now means you can have another night in that fantastic bothy. I'm still buzzing from it all and can't think of a better bunch of people to have shared the experience with. Roll on the next adventure....

[mrssanta]

sounds like a great weekend and here's to loads more of them. As for sunshine, who needs it ??

[Alan S]

Well done mate,Fisherfield can wait
Really glad you got the 4 done as this is one big walk for a gammy leg, Well done for pushing through the pain barrier
Glad you all had a good weekend

[quoman]

Gammy it was the best 3 days in the hills ave ever had with great company,I only had 9hr sleep the hole weekend i wonder why the pair of you sounded like a earth quake with your snoring .

saving the best till last

[Alan S]

the pair of you sounded like a earth quake with your snoring

Finally, Someone has agreed with me

[malky_c]

10 cans of lager? You're off your nut - that's what whisky was invented for! You seem to have managed to get nice weather at the bottom and Gammy weather on the hill. How does it know?

Looks like a great weekend though

[Bod]

The north western approach up, up and up to the Ben Alder plateau from the stalkers path slpitting it from Aonach Beag.

Levelling out and fine views back Aonach Beag and all around.

Ben Alder summit n the clouds, damp and cold but all still thriving on the day!

Back down again now to Bealach Breabag and ready for our last munro of the day, Beinn Bheoil. Loch Bealaich Bheithe straight ahead there :)

Height gained one more time and there is our last munro :) Phew .....!

Beinn Bheoil with a small decent then the final approach....a fine looking mountain, helping very much to keep the spirits up. Blessed with a nice turn in the weather :)

No. 6 Yeha! Now time for home ......

Loch Ericht stretching all the way north eastwards to Dalwhinnie.

Jonny616 and meatball and the rest of all elated dropping off back doon the hill........

The very memorable Ben Alder range...:)

Bothy nights....:)

Culra Bothy, I think there may well be a few us back here one day....

One final shot of our inspiration :)

Great report Gammy, thank you for one magical adventure, one and all

[dawnfoth]

Aw Gammy, what can I say? Brilliant report! Stonkin effort from you as usual. Never a complaint! You are one tough Gammy and I thoroughly enjoy walking with you and everyone else. It was a fabulous trip despite having no sleep whatsoever! And..... 'sweet'.... me? Mwahahahaha..... Here's to the next trip! x

[SAVAGEALICE]

well done GLW and crew

[LeithySuburbs]

Nothing unworthy in that trip . You should be glad to be the sane one amongst those loonies who did the other Munros

[rockhopper]

Epic stuff, gammy - and makes very entertaining reading Well done all - you certainly made the best of the weekend !

Now there"s not a lot I can say about the walk to Carn Dearg at 1034 meters apart from UP but it does give you some grand views.

You're not kidding - seems like straight up, but great when you're up there

Like you, I also hope to go back sometime for a more leisurely trip, preferably in good weather. Always think that the photo of the bothy with Ben Alder in the background makes for one of the most memorable hill/bothy views - cheers