Head in the clouds on An Caisteal

[zatapathique]

After the previous day's weather had been fine for hillwalking, today's forecast seemed equally well. Overcast sky, single and rare clear spells, cloud level rising to above summit height during the day.

Stepping out of my cabin and going to the town centre for breakfast, I saw that the clouds were still pretty low. The hills I had planned for the day, An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin, are not among the highest, so this should not be too much of a problem, especially as I could expect to find a clear path in the highest sections.

Driving South past Crianlarich, I first missed the parking area and had to turn back to arrive at the starting point. There were two other cars, one man and a young couple, both had just finished putting on their boots and started immediately after my arrival. I soon followed them, going downhill on a track to pass underneath the railway and to cross the river Falloch. There was a small hydro scheme on the right side, looking quite new, and it did not figure in my map.

Setting out

According to the walk description, I had to pass through a gate, then go more or less directly uphill. The gate was not far away from the power station, and the other three walkers, already far ahead, were still following the broad track, so I decided to do the same. After a while, I found a good spot to leave the track and started going uphill towards Sròn Gharbh. It was a bit of a toil in the deep grass, and the going was slow. After a while, a fence crossed my path, and it began to dawn on me that I had left the track too early, and this was the fence to which belonged the gate I was supposed to go through on the track. The fence was intact in most places, with barbed wire, so I started walking alongside the fence to the left, still going uphill, to find a suitable place to climb over it.

Being the lucky guy that I am, there was even a gate only a hundred yards or so further. I continued going straight uphill, and after some more toiling and frequent stops, there were faint traces of a path, appearing and disappearing. Finally I reached the ridge, where walking was much easier and straightforward.
The view opened up as well, and I could see that the summits of both An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin were still covered in clouds.

When I turned to take a photo of the ridge, I was surprised to see the man who down on the track was far ahead even of the young couple now some distance behind me, looking for a place to take a break. I did the same some distance further on behind a rock, sheltered from the wind. It was a good spot for a break, and I was soon lost in watching the clouds moving up and down, but never so far up as to reveal the summits of the two Munros. After some time, the man passed by without noticing me and went up the Twistin Hill ridge. I ate another cereal bar to prepare for the ascent to An Caisteal and decided to go on, as I started feeling a bit chilly.

Looking towards Twistin Hill, An Caisteal, Beinn a' Chroin

Some way up Twistin Hill, I spotted the young couple on the ridge in the distance, so they had finally made their way up as well. I wondered how I could have advanced them by so far, having judged my going quite slow and having made many stops - and there are no possible short cuts in "go straight up the hill"...

Looking back along the ridge

Going further up, I soon reached the clouds, but the path was always clearly visible. I passed the impressive cleft that looked like "a giant had cut it with its butter knife", as the elderly couple I met on the Beinn Dorain walk the day before (see the other report) had described it.

The Cleft

On the summit, I finally caught up with the other lone walker, an Englishman from the Lake District. After a short chat he left, while I stayed for a while longer to see if the clouds would lift.

You all know the sensation - every couple of minutes you think "Did it just get brighter?" and you deceive yourself into believing that the clouds will tear apart any minute now. Of course they don't, and you have no choice but to go on eventually.

On top of An Caisteal

I was free of clouds maybe only 50 metres below the summit and soon reached Bealach Buidhe for another short break and a lovely view to the North-East and South-West.
It seemed that the only two summits in the clouds were the ones I had chosen to climb today...

Bealach Buidhe

The following climb up the steep sides of Beinn a' Chroin involved some light scrambling and one tricky section where I almost slipped on the wet rock - a small rush of adrenaline can never hurt...
Shortly before the summit, I was in the clouds again, it started raining, and of course it was quite windy. I re-read the walk description several times to make sure to find the real summit. I believed one of the cairns to be the summit and performed my "secret summit ritual" (which shall be revealed in 30 years after having completed the round), only to find out that it wasn't the summit, because I should have passed a little lochan shortly before, which I hadn't.
Going further on, I quickly came to the lochan and to another cairn above it. Again the summit ritual, this time being confident that I was at the real summit. While I was taking some photos of the fog, the young couple caught up with me. They were confident as well that this was the real summit, so all three of us were happy.

Another fine summit view...

I left them to celebrate their achievement in togetherness, and paid a short visit to the East summit just for the sake of completeness. The small path down the North East ridge of Beinn a' Chroin was of the kind neither me nor my knees like very much, and I went down fast to get it over with.

Escape through the valley

From two thirds down, I could see the Englishman trying to find a way across the young river Falloch and memorized the place where he succeeded. Behind the crossing, the ground was pathless and boggy, crossing many little streams before finally reaching the end of the track running alongside the river Falloch. The way out of the valley was easy going, and I recognized the gate in the fence I should have used in the first place when going in. During all the way out I looked back from time to time to see whether the clouds would have freed the summits, but they remained hidden until the end. I guess I will have to see what these two mountains look like some other time.

Altitude profile created with GPS-Track-Analyse.NET