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Good Friday was rubbish weather-wise. We killed time doing shopping in Inverness - I bought a new pair of gaiters. My old ones served me for a few years and had more holes than the proverbial slice of cheese. Kevin joked that now we should pick something particularly wet and boggy to climb, just to test the new purchase
and he kept his promise, because the next day we set off to visit Loch Tay. Our target was a couple of Munros, infamous for their "bogginess" (my Thesaurus tells me there is no such word!!! but I found it in Scrabble dictionary...). Meall a'Choire Leith and Meall Corranaich have been described as "peat-hag ridden ground" (McNeish), "rough, peaty terrain" (SMC Guide) or "marred by extensive peatbogs" (The Websters). Such expressions should be sufficient to keep most dry-ground loving hill walkers away from the two Mealls, but because they are on Sir Hugh's list, they still get their share of attention. You're not likely to be alone on this ridge, especially on Easter Saturday. Even if weather is cr*p...
Last year we climbed Ghlas, Lawers and An Stuc, I had a good look at the two Meall neighbours and they looked easy enough. Not much ascent as for 2 M's - only about 700m. Starting point at 550m - that's half way up the mountain to my standards
I'm not so much against bog - it's a natural feature that occurs in wild Scotland and as such has to be accepted. But bog plus low cloud plus murky day - that's no fun at all.
It wasn't so bad in the end, we bagged the Mealls using the traditional route and the horrible bog was just bog like anywhere else...
It was our first trip without La Toya. We're getting used to her replacement, the Black Arrow. She's brand new and still smells of car factory. Kevin has become overly cautious every time he parks the car, God forbid any bumps or scratches!!!
Lairig an Lochain road was just about clear of snow, we took it steady and hoped there was still space at the small car park by the cairn. Lucky us, we took the last free spot!
Black Arrow fits in:
When we decided to tackle the Mealls, we hoped for a weather window around Loch Tay area, sadly it wasn't meant to be. The cloud was thick, gray and overcast
Not the best of days:
We prepared quickly, agreed we needed to take winter gear, especially that we could see zilch and there was still quite a bit of snow around.
That's where we're going (believe me or not, there is a mountain top up there somewhere):
What a difference compare to last month, when we did Tarmachan Ridge... But I was desperate to enjoy the experience and in the end I did, oddly... Posing with Meall nan Tarmachan behind:
We started on the good path (though "good" might not have been the best description at the time - the path was covered in melting snow) and followed it for about 300m, then spotted the first of many fenceposts and aimed for it across the boggy moorland.
The beginning of the route:
Looking back to the pass from the middle of so called bogfeast:
Our target hill - no chance for any views whatsoever!
The bogfeast was bearable, not so bad at all, maybe because some of the worst peat hags were covered with snow. I must say, the bad reputation of this route is a bit exaggerated...
The fenceposts are a good guidance:
White snow, Black Panther, gray cloud:
Higher up the slopes, the snow was thicker and a bit more compact, so easier to walk on, we picked up speed. So far we navigated using only map and the line of the fence, but I felt it would change once we enter the cloud:
One last glimpse down from the slopes of Meall Corranaich:
The clag closed around us and we walked into the silent zone. If it wasn't for the fence, navigation would be tricky already at this point
It's not always safe to relay on other people's footprints...
The rest of the climb to the first summit was uneventful and soon we reached the top. Kevin has done the Mealls before, but in clag as well so no second time lucky for him...
No. 157 for me, I'm catching up:
From the summit of Meall Corranaich it is, at least in theory, an easy traverse to Meall a'Choire Leith, but I remembered reading something about a confusing ridge, so I dug up my compass... only to discover that it wasn't working
Kevin carries a compass too, plus GPS with compass function in it, so we still had enough equipment to lead us out of the mist. But I must say, even on the summit, when visibility is zero, it's so easy to assume that one should simply follow the ridge straight ahead... Yes, but that ridge descends to the col between Corranaich and Beinn Ghlas!
We found the right direction and set off into the clag. As soon as we lost sight of the cairn, we were in a complete, total, 100% whiteout, nothing around us but white snow, white cloud... Only after a few hundred steps we realised, that we were walking maybe 3-4 m away from the edge of the cliffs falling into Coire Liath - we could hardly spot the end of the snow line
Yes, following snow-covered ridges in whiteout has its charms and dangers. We kept checking almost every step with map, compass, GPS, just to make sure we didn't get lost. There were footprints in the snow, but I have learnt not to trust them fully...
For the first time, we downloaded Waypoints from WH into our Garmin and they also proved useful
Slowly but surely, we found the right way off the mountain. On the lower slopes there was much less snow and a well-worn path has emerged:
We found a lonely rock and agreed it was as good a place for lunch as anywhere else on the ridge. We were off the wind and as for views... Well, there was nothing to be seen.
Feeding time
Another couple of walkers emerged from the cloud and passed us as we enjoyed our cuppa - we caught up with them again on the second summit
Having descended to the col between the two Munros, we began to meet people doing the circuit clockwise - I counted eight happy faces, funny how we are so desperate to enjoy it even when swimming in milk
The climb to Meall a'Choire Leith is only just over 150m, the path was visible most of the time. The summit area looked similar to that of the previous mountain... Because we had already enjoyed our lunch earlier, we only stopped for a summit pose...
... and turned sharply south-west to descend into Coire Gorm. There was very little snow on south facing slopes and soon we picked a path (a bit boggy) which took us out of the cloud:
We descended to the small stream flowing out of Coire Gorm and crossed it easily:
Looking back up... Milky way
Down in the glen, the ground became waterlogged and very boggy, but it didn't take us long to reach Allt Gleann Da-Eig, which we crossed just before the little dam:
A short, wet climb lead us up to the initial path, here we picked our own footprints from earlier in the day. Just as we walked the final metres back to the car, the bad cloud began to lift - too late for us
Lochain an Lairige and the mountains across Loch Tay, zoomed:
Almost back to the starting point:
Some would say, a pointless exercise, but we still enjoyed it, a different kind of challenge. And for the umpteenth time I learnt a lesson that mountains cannot be underestimated - even the easy ones... Snow covers the path, thick cloud descends, your compass breaks, wind may snatch your map... and you are in deep s.....now
Luckily, Sunday was much better, lovely sunshine and we had a fantastic day with unforgettable views on Glen Lyon Circuit. TR to follow soon. So far, I'm glad I ticked two new meows... I mean: Mealls
