Schiehallion- hangover hill
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 12:23 pmIt was never my intention to climb Schiehallion this weekend but events conspired to leave me returning home having bagged just a single munro from a weekend which promised 9 and the milestone of completing my first 50!
Having been working in Glasgow all week I took the opportunity of being two and a half hours nearer to the Highlands than normal to get in a couple of day walks on Friday and Saturday before returning home to my ever forgiving missus who hadn't seen me all week.My intention had been to leave my hotel friday morning, traverse the Ben Lawers 5 before driving north to Kincraig to stay with a friend, returning south to Perthshire again for the Carn Gorm round in Glen Lyon and heading home to Newcastle.
Anyway to cut a long story short I bottomed my car on Thursday afternoon,damaged the oil sump, had to be towed to the garage and await a damage report back in my hotel room, then had to endure 6 hours of sitting in a pub all day Friday drinking coffee with the garage repeatedly ensuring me it would be fixed in the next few hours, finally got going again at 5.30pm and drove completely the wrong way in my hast to make Kingussie (via the Forth bridge!!). I got there at 9pm, decided at 10.30pm to head to the local for last orders as I could do with a beer after a stressful day, ended up chatting to some German hikers till 2.30am drinking whisky and warning them about the Kincraig panther which they seemed genuinelly scared of,got completely wrecked and forgot about the supposed 8am start the following day!!
We set off groggy at 10.30am the following morning!! I decided after passing a cafe in Aberfeldy that I really needed a bacon sandwich but my friend was adamant we had wasted enough time already "but If I dont have a bacon sarnie I will be even more groggy and therefore will slow us down" was my retort. After a small argument we both decided that neither of us could really be bothered with an 8 hour walk and maybe Schiehallon was a better idea so changed direction and headed for Braes of Foss car park which was already full at 11.30 when we arrived. The forecast was light showers and the summit was slightly obscured by cloud but I didn't fancy lugging my rucksack for a three hour walk up a well worn path so just took my windstopper and a bottle of water in my pocket. We soon passed a walking group of around 20 teenagers some of whom were carrying fully loaded 40-50 litre rucksacks, being lead by a couple of older leaders and made good progress despite our hangovers. By the time we reached the large cairn and shelter at 900m the cobwebs were well and truly blown away and I started to regret our decision not to do the longer walk.I was now enjoying the more dramatic boulder strewn ridge and final push to the summit which we made in less than 90 mins. The cloud was still swirling around us which meant we didn't get a view so after a few minutes bouncing around the top we made the journey down.We passed the teenagers who had only made it halfway up the hill- a few were really flagging and looked ready to turn back - Surely the the leaders should have told them exactly what they should and shouldn't need(Gaiters!!!) for this mountain? We made it back to the car in 2hours 40 mins, easily my quickest ever munro walk. I took my camera but without the view didn't take any pictures and anyway I think I will return here with my kids in the near future for a gentle munro introduction. I was a tad disapointed in the fact that I didnt reach my 50 milestone, but have learned not to stay up drinking with Germans untill the wee hours.( Well maybe!)
Having been working in Glasgow all week I took the opportunity of being two and a half hours nearer to the Highlands than normal to get in a couple of day walks on Friday and Saturday before returning home to my ever forgiving missus who hadn't seen me all week.My intention had been to leave my hotel friday morning, traverse the Ben Lawers 5 before driving north to Kincraig to stay with a friend, returning south to Perthshire again for the Carn Gorm round in Glen Lyon and heading home to Newcastle.
Anyway to cut a long story short I bottomed my car on Thursday afternoon,damaged the oil sump, had to be towed to the garage and await a damage report back in my hotel room, then had to endure 6 hours of sitting in a pub all day Friday drinking coffee with the garage repeatedly ensuring me it would be fixed in the next few hours, finally got going again at 5.30pm and drove completely the wrong way in my hast to make Kingussie (via the Forth bridge!!). I got there at 9pm, decided at 10.30pm to head to the local for last orders as I could do with a beer after a stressful day, ended up chatting to some German hikers till 2.30am drinking whisky and warning them about the Kincraig panther which they seemed genuinelly scared of,got completely wrecked and forgot about the supposed 8am start the following day!!
We set off groggy at 10.30am the following morning!! I decided after passing a cafe in Aberfeldy that I really needed a bacon sandwich but my friend was adamant we had wasted enough time already "but If I dont have a bacon sarnie I will be even more groggy and therefore will slow us down" was my retort. After a small argument we both decided that neither of us could really be bothered with an 8 hour walk and maybe Schiehallon was a better idea so changed direction and headed for Braes of Foss car park which was already full at 11.30 when we arrived. The forecast was light showers and the summit was slightly obscured by cloud but I didn't fancy lugging my rucksack for a three hour walk up a well worn path so just took my windstopper and a bottle of water in my pocket. We soon passed a walking group of around 20 teenagers some of whom were carrying fully loaded 40-50 litre rucksacks, being lead by a couple of older leaders and made good progress despite our hangovers. By the time we reached the large cairn and shelter at 900m the cobwebs were well and truly blown away and I started to regret our decision not to do the longer walk.I was now enjoying the more dramatic boulder strewn ridge and final push to the summit which we made in less than 90 mins. The cloud was still swirling around us which meant we didn't get a view so after a few minutes bouncing around the top we made the journey down.We passed the teenagers who had only made it halfway up the hill- a few were really flagging and looked ready to turn back - Surely the the leaders should have told them exactly what they should and shouldn't need(Gaiters!!!) for this mountain? We made it back to the car in 2hours 40 mins, easily my quickest ever munro walk. I took my camera but without the view didn't take any pictures and anyway I think I will return here with my kids in the near future for a gentle munro introduction. I was a tad disapointed in the fact that I didnt reach my 50 milestone, but have learned not to stay up drinking with Germans untill the wee hours.( Well maybe!)
, my mate sacked it about 80 meters from the summit.
Suddenly it all blew over and there it was but only had a brief window for a piccie and then it disappeared again. hope youhave better weather next time and more water in the whisky..lol 
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