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Our weather window for the Christmas holidays (and last for 2014) was becoming apparent this weekend, so with permission from mum to head for the hills, I proposed a shortlist for dad of munros we could do. He picked Beinn a' Bheithir, so that's what we decided to do.
We decided we'd try the Walkhighlands route to give some variety rather than Steven Fallon's, which is straight up and straight down.
It was our earliest start yet, up at 5, to drive to Ballachulish for first light. We were hoping for some snow at the top, but weren't too optimistic given the recent thaw. However, we did decide that it was going to be cold at the top, given the -6
shown on the car over Rannoch Moor.
We were away and walking at 8, which we considered to be pretty good.
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- Ballachulish at 8am
Followed the track to the foot of the ridge, then headed straight up to try and gain the ridge. The hard frost turned to snow at about 150m, then as it got thicker it was a lovely quantity, not enough to walk on but just enough to go everywhere and make your life a misery
.
We targeted a lonely tree towards the top of the steepest slope, and just beyond this we encountered a HUGE path
?!? Where did that come from?
As we began to follow the path, the views began to open up and the sun started to hit the tops of the hills.
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- Over Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe to Morvern
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- Loch Leven and The Mamores
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- Glen Coe and Bidean gathering cloud
We eventually gained the ridge and got a view of our first munro.
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- Sgorr Bhan on the left, Sgorr Dhearg on the right
Continued as the ridge steepened and we saw the sun for the first time.
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- Back down the ridge and over to the Mamores
Eventually reached the top of Sgorr Bhan. We were very disappointed when we saw the cloud flowing on from the west.
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- Cloud...
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- Dad and Sgorr Dhearg in the cloud
Fortunately the cloud started to clear.
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- Hooray
We discovered a snowman.
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- The snowman is called Ben
The ridge ahead was lined with cornices and hard snow, so we donned the crampons and headed on.
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- Heading up the ridge to Sgorr Dhearg
Reached the first and highest munro of the day, Sgorr Dhearg (1024m).
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- Sgorr Bhan
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- Summit shot
Headed towards the bealach and Sgorr Dhonuill.
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- Snow, snow, everywhere
The ridge up to Sgorr Dhonuill is a slog in the snow, until the final ascent which is a bit more interesting...
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- I'm only smiling because we've stopped
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- The final ascent
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- The peak itself and some marvelous skies
Reached the summit with little difficulty.
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- I'm knackered
The summit plateau is huge compared to what you'd expect from coming up.
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- The plateau and some more skies
Had some lunch on descent to the bealach, before it was time to lose the ridge.
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- The forestry of Gleann a' Chaolais
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- Looking back to the ridge
We soon hit the forests, which were quite interesting actually. It's always nice being in and out of the trees. The path through the forest is a constructed path which would be great in summer, but in winter it freezes, making the steps a death trap and absolute nightmare.
Before long, we hit the forest track, which would take us to Ballachulish.
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- The peaks above Coire Sgreamach
The forest track was a nice walk, other than the fact my legs were dead from the descent
We reached the A82 before long, which was very noisy and tedious so we got bored. There was an interesting church, however.
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- St John's Church and the Meall a' Chaolais ridge behind coming down from Sgorr Dhearg.
Loch Leven was beautiful as we arrived back in Ballachulish.
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- Reflections
Toad in the hole was beckoning back home
, so we left hastily.
