Another day out in the hills utilising what looked like a weather window, as usual I can rearrange my busy schedule and Tommy was also available as being a shift worker he gets days off during the week

Having worked out the day, next where to head, I want to increase my Munro tally so that was decided, so I studied my Munro map and as the weather looked better in the west so Kintail was hand picked Sgurr nan Conbhairean,
Sail Chaorainn and Carn Ghluasaid were to be the targets

The plan was to meet at the car park on the banks of Loch Cluanie at 8am as the early part of the day was forecast to better than the latter



Alarm clock was set for 0405 and as usual I was awake before it was even thinking off going off

I had decided to drive north at a nice leisurely 60mph to conserve fuel and of course save the planet, mainly because my new car has a tiny fuel tank of 45lit and that would enable me to drive a wee bit quicker on the way home

I arrived at the car park at 0740 and Tommy was already in the process of getting ready, having spent a comfortable night in his well kitted out van


Great setting for the start, just a shame that there was so much litter


The initial part of the walk follows a quite good stalkers path uphill, not too steep, but like a few hills the going up starts almost as soon as you get out of the car


It wasn't long before we were both puffing and panting and therefore had to stop to take a few photo's, as we got higher the views were tremendous. The South Glen Shiel Ridge looked awesome and as we were ambling upwards we were discussing our exploits and experiences of that specific ridge





It wasn't too long before we were on the summit of Carn Ghluasaid, we had encountered a few snow patches higher up but compared to what we were about to encounter, it was negligible



As we are all no doubt aware, one of the problems with getting up in the middle of the night and having breakfast before you leave, that brings all the other meal times or hunger pangs much earlier than usual

We knew the next part of the walk was going to be the toughest as the pointy summit of Sgurr nan Conbhairean loomed large in the distance, it was also obvious that there was a good covering of snow on the summit and on the lower slopes






Whilst walking across the very wide ridge, the cloud base seemed to drop to about 3000' and we were kind of fearing the worst, however that was to be just a minor glitch

As we started the ascent of Sgurr nan Conbhairean the snow was firming up and whilst I was looking across to a small cairn to mark the way, I fell flat on my face



It was shortly after that wee incident, that we decided to don the crampons - this was a first for me, I have had mine for a couple of years but have never actually had cause to even work out how tie up etc


The rest of the ascent would have been impossible without crampons, as there were large ice fields to cross all on a slight incline.






We were making really good time, even with all the faffing around with the crampons, I have to confess my right crampon came apart just before we reached the summit, but after a good talking to and a minor adjustment (by Tommy) we were off again

The views from Sgurr nan Conbhairean were outstanding in all directions, especially as it the highest hill for miles around.






The descent off Sgurr nan Conbhairean was challenging, as the underfoot conditions were pretty much the same as the other side, so concentration and care was the order of the day











The descent off Sail Chaorainn was easy however once we started climbing back up towards Sgurr nan Conbhairean before heading SW. It was whilst descending the underfoot conditions became dodgy, I slipped on yet more hidden ice, this time onto my backside and as it is well padded no damage done, so it was back on with the crampons. I was saying to Tommy whilst we were donning the crampons, that I have only ever fallen once before and that was umpteen years ago on Conival

Cramponned up we traversed the western flank of Sgurr nan Conbhairean, which was indicated by a small cairn. A couple of times the traverse was across fairly steep sloping ground which would have been impossible without the winter tackle.









Once we managed to skirt round Drochaid an Tuill Easaich the descent down the next ridge was straight forward, what snow there was was soft so it was back to normal on the footwear front

The descent seemed to last forever and both of us happened to mention it a few times, the knees were taking a bit of a pounding. We seemed to lose the path, but as we could see exactly where we were going, no problem. It was just a matter of picking our way down trying to avoid steep rocky bits







Once we reached the road it was then a matter of enjoying the nice smooth flat terrain, however the walk back to the vehicles did seem a bit further than we anticipated

Title explanation: First for crampons, seconds for the tumbles

Cracking day, big thanks to Tommy for being great company - mental note to self, watch out for ice

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