by Myth » Thu May 22, 2008 2:59 pm
Munros included on this walk: Ben Wyvis
Date walked: 22/05/2008
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November 2007, 1 experienced, 1 intermediate, 11 and 13yr kids, one dog. 2*2ltr bladders, flasks, snax and lunch. Full waterproofs carried, and 4man bivvyshelter.
This was our last hill of the 2007 season, and we climbed after the first snows had been and (mostly) gone.
The initial part of the walk in is through forestry, and is a relatively uninteresting, but simple and easy climb up to the reserve. As you exit the woodland, and read the reserve noticeboards, you get a magnificent view of the mountain rising hard from the flat ground of the stunning Bealach Mor ahead, and the contrast to Little Wyvis on the right.
The ascent path is good all the way, if somewhat busy, and we seemed to pass far more people than there were cars for at the bottom? We saw a lot of trainers and jeans (although not as high a proportion as on Nevis), and many people without backpacks / waterproofs at all...
There's not much more to say about the ascent, although the last pitch to the first top, An Cabar is fun, but there is no shelter here from what was a bitter wind. The cloud was blowing down to inches above our heads on this busy top, and from there, everything higher was invisible which may explain the number of people touching the small cairn, taking photographs and turning back... Odd.
Knowing better, we marched on (and on and on - over 2km) NE towards the summit (compass got a rare outing) in the cold and windy cloud - the final cairn/wall were greated with robust calls for the bivvy to come out, so we lunched in our private orange room while the dog tried to make friends with some serious mountaineers planning on going north.
Refreshed we bundled the shelter and retraced our steps, carefully, to An Cabar (still just below cloud, still busy, still being touched, photgraphed and left like a summit) and headed on down the hill, admiring a flock of ravens wheeling in the strong breeze between us and Little Wyvis to the SSW.
Dispite it being late in the day we still passed a steady stream of visitors still heading up the hill, although mostly better equiped than the mornings crop!
Another big hill in the cloud... ah well, at least we saw our house from the top of An Cabar, but it's not one I'll trouble again without very good reason...
