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Not done a Munro for 6 months and a New Year`s Day walk was planned, we wanted it to be quick and easy to get to, so Beinn Narnain was the lucky hill for the day. It was me & Jim again, and we were joined this time by his cousin, Claire. She was over visiting for the christmas holidays from Holland and actually fancied doing a Munro. I was a little worried that she may be put off by the conditions, but she was well up for it.
We headed off early knowing that bad weather was to arrive in the afternoon. It was a pretty decent morning, just getting cloudy as we arrived at the Succoth car park. We were glad we hadn`t been there a few days earlier, going by the state of it, looked like the loch had risen right into it, leaving driftwood & debris all over the place.
We took the WH recommended route, which Jim & I had both done twice before anyway, so we knew where we were going, this time. The first time we did this, along with Ben Ime, was November 2011, our first outing on the hills without anyone holding our hands and with low cloud like today`s, we stopped and celebrated at every small cairn we found thinking we had reached the summit, only to see more mountain appear in front of us when the cloud shifted.
We never saw a thing that day, and the same thing happened when we both climbed it again separately. Maybe today would be different ? Aye, right.
We climbed the path/stream , which wasn`t as fast flowing as we expected. Claire took it in her stride, no problem.
We were now emerging from the tree line and couldn`t really see much of the mountain in front of us.
- no cloud yet
We looked down behind us at what would be the last views of the day.
- Arrochar & Loch Long
It was now on to the hill proper, with twisting, climbing paths and some boggy steps along the way.
About an hour and a half into the walk, snow patches began to appear and become more abundant and by about 700m the whole place was a misty, winter wonderland. The path had disappeared under it and we decided to set a bearing on the compass. We followed this and some footprints in the snow. Visibility was really poor, but at least the rain or snow had stayed off, and the wind wasn`t too bad.
- Jim & Claire make their way up
- Claire falling in the snow
The climb then eases for a bit giving you an a bit of a rest after going over Cruach nam Miseag, around about 800m before the next climb up towards the Spearhead.
- Rocks
The next rocky section led us into a craggy area filled with huge rocks and we clambered around them taking us towards a huge rock which i mistook for the Spearhead.
- Heading for the false spearhead
in this settlement of rocks we found a tree growing, sheltered from the wind in a wee grotto like cove.
We then slowly climbed up this narrow gully, which was a bit hairy at first, an icy rock had to be negotiated first before digging steps into deep snow. I already had my ice axe out and Jim noticing how dodgy this was, got his out for Claire, insisting she take it and we showed her how to use it for climbing through the snow and, in case she fell. There wasn`t much height to fall but any slip would have resulted in a head knock or a twisted leg and most definitely it would have been curtains for Jim ! But the snow was taking our weight and i led with Claire following and Jim taking up the rear. We just had to throw ourselves over the final lip of snow and i was glad to see we were in a safe place.
- snow climbing
We then had a less steep climb up through the snow, but we had found the path again and it was a simple climb until you looked down.
- Don`t look down
I shouted at Claire to look back at what she had climbed up, because for someone on her first Munro, she had coped excellently and wasn`t afraid at all.
We were now approaching the Spearhead and the last climb of difficulty of the day.
- Spearhead
- Gully
- Up the Gully
- Ice rimed rocks
- Looking down the Gully
- Jim & Claire in the Spearhead Gully
The climb up here was really easy compared to that last one. Only the wind was getting stronger now. There was an icy blast in the air, which could be seen by the ice building up on the surrounding rocks.
Jim and claire walked up on top of the spearhead.
- on top of Spearhead
It was now just a case of following the compass, fingers crossed, to the summit as it was a complete whiteout. The trig point emerged from the cloud, and we were only a few degrees off with our bearing. We let Claire reach it first.
- Claire about to bag her first Munro
We joined her at the summit for some icy photographs, and then headed off for the drop off on the other side quickly, the icy wind was too much too bear.
- Summit pose
- mountaineers
We went off track for a bit and disaster struck when Jim`s sole almost completely came off his boot, should have got new boots sooner, instead he wanted to wait for the january sales
We tried tieing it up with straps off our axes but it wouldn`t hold, just as well i had my crampons with us. He put one of them on and that held him together till we got back to the car.
A few other people came down off the hill as we waited for him to sort himself out, and this reassured us that we were back on track, either that they were as lost as us ! Oh yeah, this is when i got a phonecall from my wife, I answered the call, "what have you done to the wallpaper in the living room?" she asked i laughed, and replied "so you haven`t phoned to ask if i`m safe, but to ask about wallpaper ?" Jim and Claire just laughed.
I think i had squeezed between the dining table and the wall to switch a lamp off on my way out, with my rucksack on, which also had my ice axe strapped to it , doh .
So we carried on , slipping and sliding in the snow sometimes deliberately (bumsliding) but mostly by accident, till we got to the fenceposts crossing the bealach between Narnain & Ben Ime. Seeing these, we changed direction back towards the cobbler which was when we could finally start to see below the cloud again. It wasn`t until we reached the path coming off the Cobbler that we could see clearly . All along on the way back we kept looking back at Ben Arthur to see if it would pop out of the clouds, but to no avail.
- cobbler
I stopped for a bit to answer a call of nature and the others carried on. As i ran back to catch up with them i nearly ran into a man with two huge dogs, who were giving me a bit of a growl. That was a bit harsh i thought, then i realised what the dogs must have seen , a guy in a balaclava wielding an ice axe running towards them and there master !
I caught up with them and Claire was telling us how much she loved her day on the hill, another Munro lover in the bag !
A link to Jim`s everytrail page and more pictures
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2539795