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We hadn't gone far up the slopes of Stob Coire Sgriodain when the chorus of the old Simon and Garfunkel song 'Slip Sliding Away' started a continuous loop in my brain – occasionally finding a route out through my mouth as I spontaneously burst into song while squelching through the bog
. I quite like the human race so I don't usually burst into song, but for some reason this song that I'd forgotten about stayed with me all day, and singing it added to the joys
!!. The wise among you are probably thinking something like … “Silly ****, what else did you expect? You go up a well known bog route 3 days after a snow dump followed by 2 days of thaw. Of course it would be WET”
True to our usual pattern we didn't quite leave home as early as planned, so it was about 10:15 when we pulled into a (quite busy) car park. A couple of guys next to us were kitting up for ski touring, and set off about the same time as us. The weather was reasonably warm (for March) with little wind so it was only about 15 mins into the walk Roger realised he'd left his down jacket and gloves in the car. While he went back to get them I amused myself taking photos.
The bog to come followed by a climb up Sron na Garbh-bheinne.
The night before I'd read Dogplodder's TR for these hills, she mentioned the Fearsome Farmer from Fersit, who didn't care much for much for hillwalkers or their dogs – so Biggles and Bertie were still on leads at this point.
The green barn, mentioned in the route description made a great navigation aid coming back.
We tried to follow the WH route of keeping to the right going up the nose of Sron na Garbh-bheinne, but the snow covering made it difficult to spot the route so we kept further left making our way up the rock and across snow slicks, with a stop for refreshments by a waterfall.
with a view to Creag Meagaidh group
Going this way gave us an increasing steep ascent, scrambling up crags interspersed with using the ice axes to cut steps in the frozen snow.
Pristine snow, just waiting for the ice axe
(The angle of the photo makes this look less steep than it was!)
At one point I glanced down, between my feet I could see the hillside dropping away, and wondered why I was enjoying myself so much. Me doing a winter scramble (even an easy one like this) – its unheard of; must have been the effect of all that singing!
It was a beautiful day – relatively clear with just enough breeze to keep cool, without causing any problems – and the views were superb. (Notice I didn't take photos mid-scramble – only when we stopped, multi-tasking while scrambling must wait for another day!)
Eventually we reached the summit of Stob Coire Sgriodain, with the wonderful trench of Loch Trieg down to the west.
Roger and Biggles on the summit.
Trotsky's revenge??
The Easains
Looking north west towards Kintail
The Creag Meagaidh group and Loch Laggan
By the time we stopped for lunch it was well after 2:00pm, the backtracking for the forgotten gear, followed by a more demanding route up had taken its toll of the time. We debated the route back, should we miss out Chno Dearg and head down, or continue as planned? The snow covering between Stob Coire Sgriodain and Chno Dearg was continuous, if it was soft that could make for slow progress. Neither of us fancied trying to cross the bog fest we knew was waiting for us below the snow line in the fading light – that seemed like a plan to end up in someone's Grobag - so would it be safer to go back the way we'd come?
After a quick scout round from the summit we spotted footprints going our way which looked reasonably crisp and not too deep, so we continued as planned (to be honest I guess it would have taken me even longer to scramble down the route we'd come up than to follow the original plan!).
Bertie eying up the view en route to Chno Dearg - great view down Glencoe.
The snow made the going over the boulder fields relatively easy – and the tracks we'd spotted were a great navigation aid so we made good time to Chno Dearg. The only minor mishap was when I got engrossed in watching a pair of Ptarmigans quarter the snowy ground, presumably in search of food, and managed to put my food down snow hole and bang my knee on a hidden rock.
A quick pit stop at the summit of Chno Dearg was followed by a quick, easy and fun descent over the snow.
View south west from Chno Dearg
The view south
The Ben Alder hills
We spotted ski tracks, presumably the ski tourers we'd seen in the car park. Oh and Schehallion too
We reached the end of the snow knowing we'd plenty of time to get back to Fersit before the light went, so hopefully we'd be spared the Grobag for now.
The final stretch was not fun – it would have been unkind to count the number of times we slip slidded away out of control; I almost managed to lose a leg again in the bog and then we met the meandering burns. One dog thought crossing and recrossing the burns was great fun, the other one almost went on strike 'cos he'd got fed up with wet paws – dog management problems at the end of the day were not part of the plan
. Finally Biggles (the dog who was playing in the burns) disappeared, and we were nearing Fersit, who would find him first, us or the fearsome farmer? (In the words of the song ...“You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away”
).
Fortunately he came back to our increasingly desperate calls – he'd just been reconnoitering further to the east, but as soon as was safe the dogs were on the lead as we negotiated the final burns between us and the green barns at Fersit.
We strolled back to the car park just as the sky was turning pink, we were glad the slipping sliding was over – but the scramble up Sron na Garbh-bheinne had been a joy.
PS. Roger wants me to assure you that despite my flippant writing style, we (well he) did know what we/he were doing and were safe!!