Creise and Chasgaig

[weaselmaster]

For this weekend I wanted to try and get a couple of Munros for Sick Kid and tag on a Corbett for myself. Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh fitted the bill nicely, or so I thought til the snow kept falling and the avalanche risk on north-facing slopes kept rising. OK, all isn't lost, we could maybe try to go up from Alltchaorunn in Glen Etive and hit the slopes from the opposite direction. Went up on Friday for a rather wet night at The Squirrel, aided by a wee visit to the Clachaig. Saturday morning wasn't bad when we set out along Glen Etive, parked up near the bridge and meandered through the swamp bypassing the cottages. Looking back, saw a couple of deer swimming across the river.

Some road-side shots from Glen Etive road

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Bridge

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Off across the swamp

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Followed the track by the river, with fast flowing runs and pools, along to where the river splits - managed to forget about the plank bridge and forded on some rocks. Then managed to convince myself we were to continue along the western arm and spent time looking for a place to cross this wider body of water - before realising we didn't need to cross it at all and were in fact heading the wrong way. At least realised that before struggling with an unnecessary crossing!


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Crossing

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Onto the track again and a lovely walk through a narrow valley, hemmed in by the steep hillside and decorated with the occasional Scots Pine. The SW nose of Chasgaig looked craggy and steep. Up ahead I could make out the snow covered slopes encircling Coire Odhar. Stopped to take a picture of the river bursting through a huge block of reddish stone. Soon we could make out the bealach between Chasgaig & Creise with the 698m spot height. Started to head up the north bank of Attl Coire Odhair and cut across the hillside diagonally towards the bealach. This involved crossing numerous gullies where snow had collected, often deeply and in other places scrambling over wet grass and scree. Eventually made it up to the bealach and stopped for a bite to eat. The wind was a good deal stronger than I'd seen forecast and blew the coffee grains out of my mug in a swirl of brown powder...

Western nose of Chasgaig

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Valley

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Looking back west to the bookil

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Coire Odhar

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Whoosh

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Up to the 698 bealach

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Coire Odhar

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Coire Odhar with snow traps in the gullies

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View from the bealach - south

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View to the North - Beinn a'Chrulaiste

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Chasgaig

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A couple of walkers that had been following behind us caught up by this time - we were to meet them again later on the summit of Creise. It's a relatively gentle ascent up the 400m western shoulder of Creise that rises to the 1070m point - most of the snow had been blown off by a strong crosswind, which also shot icy pellets against faces and legs. Soon we were up onto the plateau. Over to our right was Clach Leathad, lots of cornicing evident, to the left the summit of Creise. making sure to keep well away from the edge we meandered up. I looked down to the spot where the ridge to Meall a'Bhuiridh joins the plateau and saw unstable cornice and quite an uncomfortably steep descent, although the rest of the ridge looked fine. Realistically there was no way we were going near that so Ma'B will have to wait for another day for the Sickly One. No cairn at the summit of Creise, but we had a group natter then began the trek back to the 698 bealach with the intention of heading up Beinn Mhic Chasgaig. The wind had already whipped away most of the traces of our footprints from our ascent.

View to Stob Dearg

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A low haze of spindrift

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Heading for Creise

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Creise

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Towards Stob a'Ghlais Coire

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Summit Creise

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Meall a'Bhuiridh

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Cornicing on the ridge to MaB

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Although it was only about 165m from the bealach, the wee Corbett seemed a good deal steeper than the shoulder of Creise. Got to the top where there was a cairn and enjoyed a good view across to BEM. Allison eventually caught me up and we headed off due west over the top of Chasgaig to cut downon the east side of Coire Aiteil. As we descended the gradient became steep and slippy with many areas of deep snow that looked avalanche prone - we set off many snowballs that rolled and gathered more of the sticky fresh snow to themselves. Soon we were down to rock and wet grass and with no more excitement made it back to the riverside. Back along the valley, this time making sure to locate the plank bridge, the crossing of which was a bit of fun. Back at the car by 4.15, just as the rain started. A good day out, even if we didn't manage Ma'B - I suggested to Allison she could go up on the ski-tow as she had really climbed the height of the hill, but a withering look told me she don't take no short cuts.

Ascending Chasgaig

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Cairn Chasgaig

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Views to Stob Dearg

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Descent

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Plank bridge

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Green River

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[rockhopper]

Looked good even if cloudy on top - think you picked the beter day, nicer than Sunday turned out. Deep soft snow is certainly an energy sapper, even worse when it hides a bog - cheers

[BlackPanther]

Wow... Weasels, do you never take a weekend off?
Some really atmospheric photos, especially of the "spindrifting" snow.

This is a part of Scotland I haven't yet ventured into - it looks fantastic... Glen Coe is as far south as I've been, time to tackle some southern mountains this year.

We climbed Carn a'Choire Ghairbh in Glen Affric on Sat and almost drowned in loads of soft snow... Crampons and ice axes completely useless. It was windy, it snowed, not much of a view to see, not that I'm complaining...

[SMRussell]

Grand report Weaselmaster - and some good snaps. Nice to make your acquaintance up on the shoulder and summit of a fine Munro!

The Corbett descent was grand for us (the snow allowed for a rather nonchalant stride) but could imagine it would have felt like hard work heading up - esp. after the steep route in to the bealach

[RTMcB]

Grand day out, great to meet you both! Nice to see how route choice can make for a different experience, especially with the changeability of the Scottish weather!

[scottishkennyg]

Nice one WM and SK another sound day out in the winterland and some grand images in there too.