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Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh

Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh


Postby Bmg99 » Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:57 pm

Route description: Creise and Meall a'Bhùiridh from the Ski centre

Munros included on this walk: Creise, Meall a' Bhùiridh

Date walked: 03/02/2018

Distance: 11 km

Ascent: 1177m

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The Weather forecast was not great so I'd set off from Glasgow prepared just to go for a walk rather than summit anything. The drive up to Glencoe showed signs of promise as the cloud base was lifting and breaking up.

I arrived at the car park in the ski centre about 9:30am and there were already a fair number of cars from skiers out for a day's fun. I got my boots on and headed for the path under the shadow of the chair lift.

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It is rather strange to walk along and hear voices from above you talking.

The view back over Rannoch Moor was stunning, even if the cloud was low.
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Once I'd reached where the chairlift deposits its cargo I headed to the right and quickly found the metal bridge over the burn. This takes you to the area where avalanche training/practice takes place and there was a small group busy honing their skills as I passed by.

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View back to the main ski area.

Visibility was much better than I expected, so it was easy to spot ahead and progress up the hill.

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Looking ahead.

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Looking over to Stob Dearg.

Conditions underfoot were becoming very icy, so I stopped to put my crampons on. I was well away from the main ski area, but there was a run (possibly a bike run covered in snow) that the odd person was coming down.

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While the weather was much better than I'd anticipated it had closed in when I reached the summit.
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(The summit cairn).

At the summit I joined up with someone else walking on their own who was heading onto Creise. The ridge was broader than I thought it would be, so worried I had about cornicing were unfounded.

The weather cleared up as we headed along the ridge and the east face of the Creise plateau was heavily cornices and the last 100m was very steep; I'd to use my ice-axe to secure myself / pull myself up for the last few meters. At the top we met a guy who was heading back the opposite direction, and as I'd a Glasgow Warriors hat on we'd a short chat about his recent visit to Scotstoun stadium.

We stayed well back from the right-hand edge and quickly reached the summit.
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Back at the bealach I went over the edge first. I decided the only way to get down was backward. My second set hit some soft snow and I lost my footing and in a blink of an eye was hurtling down the steep slope at a rate of knots toward the large boulders below. Fortunately, because I was facing inward I was able to plant my ice-axe quickly and come to a stop before I'd travelled too far.
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(about to step off the edge)

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(looking back up to Meall a'Bhuiridh)

Once back on the ridge the weather cleared up again giving a wonderful view of Creise.
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Going back to the carpark I took a more direct route down, while at the same time staying far eough away from the skiers.
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Bmg99
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Posts: 68
Munros:87   Corbetts:3
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Re: Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh

Postby mrssanta » Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:53 pm

scary moment there but I'm glad to hear you survived!
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mrssanta
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Re: Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh

Postby ancancha » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:22 pm

I always fancied getting over to Creise along the ridge from Meall a'Bhuiridh, often checking it out when up skiing, but never quite managed it.
Sound like it would need to be a summer outing for me :crazy: Glad you escaped with a nice tale to tell :D
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ancancha
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Re: Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh

Postby Bmg99 » Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:57 pm

ancancha wrote:I always fancied getting over to Creise along the ridge from Meall a'Bhuiridh, often checking it out when up skiing, but never quite managed it.
Sound like it would need to be a summer outing for me :crazy: Glad you escaped with a nice tale to tell :D


Ancancha - as I came off Creise there were three guys just coming onto the plateau with skis on their back backs. They were heading to the south-east for some off piste skiing. I couldn't quite work out if they where mad or brave.
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Bmg99
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Posts: 68
Munros:87   Corbetts:3
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Sub 2000:5   Hewitts:3
Joined: May 31, 2016

Re: Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh

Postby Bmg99 » Tue Feb 06, 2018 10:00 pm

mrssanta wrote:scary moment there but I'm glad to hear you survived!


Thanks. Sometimes practicing skills like using your ice axe can seem a bit silly, but I'm glad that I'd done so and knew what to do.
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Bmg99
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 68
Munros:87   Corbetts:3
Fionas:2   Donalds:1
Sub 2000:5   Hewitts:3
Joined: May 31, 2016

Re: Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh

Postby ancancha » Tue Feb 06, 2018 10:26 pm

Bmg99 wrote:
ancancha wrote:I always fancied getting over to Creise along the ridge from Meall a'Bhuiridh, often checking it out when up skiing, but never quite managed it.
Sound like it would need to be a summer outing for me :crazy: Glad you escaped with a nice tale to tell :D


Ancancha - as I came off Creise there were three guys just coming onto the plateau with skis on their back backs. They were heading to the south-east for some off piste skiing. I couldn't quite work out if they where mad or brave.


Ski touring is fabulous fun :wink:
Many moons ago, and not with the nice wide ski touring skis of nowadays, I skied off a massive cornice at the back of Aonach Mor, with I hasten to add a group who really knew what they were doing :!: I had to do it or lose face, but it turned out to be a lot of fun :crazy: A great experience 8)
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ancancha
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Joined: Jun 30, 2014
Location: Killadysert

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