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This was a kind of last minute day out, Tommy (tommyatr) sent me a text on Thursday asking if I fancied hitting the hills on Friday, so after a quick check of the forecast I could see that the options were rather limited
The forecast was for a nice dry day in the NW, however the wind would be a major factor. I fancied and wanted to do the Forcan Ridge, but with a wind speed of 30mph and gusts up to 50, that idea was kicked into touch. Next on the list was the Sisters and knowing that we would have 2 vehicles this seemed like an ideal opportunity, so the Sisters it was
Tommy was going to be camping in his van overnight and I suggested an 8.30 meet at the start, which seemed like a good idea until you factor in the travelling time - just under 3hrs 30min. So another early rise with the usual "hardly any sleep" was on the cards.
I arrived at the start much earlier than arranged and there was no sign of Tommy's van, so I drove to the other end just before Morvich in case we had got crossed wires, wasn't there either
So I headed back to the start point & as if by magic Tommy's van was there, he had met a fellow Walk Highlander Richard (silverbullet) at Cluanie, so we were going to be the 3 amigo's and 2 dogs. Tommy had brought one of his dogs Daisy and Richard brought his dog (I think it was a collie) called Solo.
After quick introductions we set off, there is no chance to get the legs warmed up, it was literally straight up and the straight up continued and continued, relentless is an under statement
Nice path to start off with
Gaining height rather quickly
Water feature
Solo waiting patiently for us
We were happily following a well trodden path, but on checking the GPS we noticed we were well to the west of where we should really be
After a quick discussion, which was also a good excuse to get our breath back, we opted to leave the path and head up in a NNE direction with a view to getting back to where we should be. Great idea, but in practice traversing uphill wasn't very easy as there are large gully's to negotiate
That plan was binned, we decided to just head directly up, our only slight concern was intercepting the ridge to the west of the first Munro
The rest of the ascent up tufty grass and the occasional loose rock wasn't the most pleasureable, especially as the gradient seemed to be almost vertical
At least we would reach the ridge quicker
Going up
Indicates the angle of the gradient
Richard looking up and thinking the same as me, the top isn't getting any nearer
Looking SW
Nearly there
Daisy & me waiting on the ridge
We eventually reached the ridge and what a relief, firstly a decent path and secondly it was almost flat
Now we could make progress
The way ahead, looks easy
Looking back
The way ahead
Looking back
The initial part of the ridge was great, we could see all three summits, admittedly with a wee bit of a drop between each one. The wind seemed to be strengthening, the main concern were the gusts and as usual they were unpredictable, not good when walking on a ridge.
There were a few scrambly bits up and down, nothing difficult and then the final push up to Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe
First sight of the summit cairn
Summit pose
Next two targets
Loch Duich
Zoomed
After a bite to eat, we set off on the descent down to the bealach, like most bealach's the wind was ferocious they are like wind tunnel's
It was as quick as we could start ascending just to get a bit of shelter. The wind luckily was either coming from behind us or from the right, but it was still really hard going.
The summit cairn on Sgurr na' Carnach
Solo leading the way
The way up to the final summit
The slog up to the summit was a real struggle, I was certainly out of breath when we reached the top
After another bite to eat we set off down, Richard had decided to leave us and head up to the final sister, so we said our goodbyes. Hope you managed to get back to your car OK, was great meeting you, just a shame we couldn't chat a bit more, the wind kind of ruined any chance of conversation
The way back to the vehicle
Nice deep gorge
East cliffs on Sgurr na Saighead
The way down
The way down
The route down was straight forward, the path initially traversed the side of Sgurr nan Saighead then it was a matter of heading towards the main path down that could be clearly seen on the other side of Allt a' Chruinn. Once we reached the main path we made great progress and it was made even better because we were kind of out of the wind.
Ferel goats
Goats again
Looking down on the A87
Loch Duich
Nearly back at Tommy's van
Daisy cooling down
We arrived back at Tommy's van in under 7 hours, which considering the conditions was excellent. A HUGE thanks to Tommy for suggesting a day out, look forward to hooking up again soon
The Sisters ridge is a great walk and it made a change to actually have clear day and actually have views
As for my next outing that will have to wait for a week or so
