The ridge leading directly up to Maol Chinn Dearg is narrow enough to be interesting without being too exciting for us in winter conditions and short enough that we wouldn't have to get out of bed too early
.The return of the snow this week provided the motivation we needed to get out
. The weather reports suggested the day would be essentially dry with the highest winds at 35mph, and the cloud cover and visibility variable. - The Route
The drive to Kintail was slow, with fresh snow slowing the traffic and it was 10:00 before we were suited and booted and on our way.
The joys of walking through virgin snow outweighed any disadvantages of breaking trail, even an early sinking into a particularly smelly boggy hole
. The stream and The Allt Coire a Chuil Droma Beag were both full of snow which hid the stepping stones but was too soft for a snow bridge, but some poking about with a treking pole downstream of the usual ford identified a narrow section and we crossed with dry feet . Initially the path was surprisingly visible as we headed towards the ridge.- Heading towards the broad start of the ridge
There was a large herd of deer on the lower slopes, the only wildlife we saw all day.
After following the path for about an hour it disappeared into the snow. There were a number of heathery ribs that looked like they led up to the main ridge so rather than trying to trace a zig zagging path in the snow we headed up one of these.
- Up the heathery rib
, which we rejoined shortly after our moment of doubt.- The ridge getting narrower
- Aonach Air Crith ridge an easy but exposed grade 1 scramble
The winds felt much stronger as we moved onto the more exposed section of the ridge, and I got to play with my new toy, a wind metre, which showed the gusts were 45mph.
We were approaching a steep, narrow rocky knoll, which looked unavoidable
. Feeling a little apprehensive we sheltered behind a large rock to consider our options. To crampon or not to crampon 
Up to this point any harder sections of snow and ice had been avoidable and with a fairly sparse covering of snow crampons were going to be more of a hindarence than help so we decided to give them a miss but make our ice axes more accessible. In fact, the path ran through the knoll and only a minimal amount of hands on was required
- The rocky knoll
There was one steepish snowy section of ridge after the knoll but by the time I thought about getting the ice axe out it was over and we were on easy ground heading towards the summit.
- 13:00 Maol Chinn- Dearg summit
- Feeling blustry
- South Sheil Ridge
- Summit views south
- And again
- Down into Glen Sheil
We had spied out our sheltered lunch spot on the way up so we were keen to get down too it.
- Ice Axe adding security to the descent
- Down the rocky section
- Sheltered spot for Jeremy Jetboil
- 14:15 out of the shelter and on our way
- A final photo looking back
- Why do I always do this?
- Funny how the path is always easier to follow on the way down
- Blue Skies over Loch Cluanie
Back to the car for 15:45. A great way up or down to the South Sheil Ridge summer or winter and extra special for the snow. The next ridge along Druim Thollaidh also looks a good route to try before the winter ends.
