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We have run out of new Munros for "winter quickies" in the northern half of Scotland. So now, if we want to do some crampons & axe fun, we either have to repeat a mountain or drive 2.5 hours down south to the likes of Bridge of Orchy or Aberfeldy. As long as we can afford our fuel bill, it's fine by us. Cinnarizine pills for travel sickness don't cost that much, though the lady in our local pharmacy is beginning to look at me suspiciously
Maybe she thinks I'm poisoning my husband or collecting pills for future suicide
Easter Sunday was a superb day weather-wise so we packed up and drove south to Crianlarich. I spied with my adventure-sensitive nose an interesting name on the map. Twistin' Hill.
Yes, the twisting ridge. It's a part of An Caisteal, a Munro usually climbed with it's companion Beinn a'Chroin. Our plan minimum was to explore Twistin' Hill and reach the summit of The Castle. if possible, we would continue to the second Munro. Sadly, during the traverse to Beinn a'Chroin, we assessed the conditions and decided that even with winter gear, the scrambling section leading to the second Munro was a bit too risky, but we had no regrets, dropping down the glen from the connecting ridge. We still have so many mountains to climb in this area (virtually everything south of Bridge of Orchy) that we can easily add Beinn a'Chroin to another day or repeat both hills in summer conditions. I liked the twistin' part of it so much that I'd be happy to return to An Caisteal for more explorations.
There's a proper off-road layby at the start of the walk. We geared up and headed for the passage under railway. Two other lads started around the same time, but they were a bit faster than us and soon they were marching up the lower slopes of An Caisteal, while we still fiddled with cameras down in the glen
The underpassage:
The slopes leading to Sron Garbh (the "gate" to Twistin' Hill) right in front of me:
We left the track as soon as we spotted a good line of "attack". The day was glorious, beautiful blue sky above. No wonder Kevin stopped every five minutes to take photos and we walked at a speed of a pair of lazy tortoises
100m above the track, we came across a barb wired fence and spent some time performing gymnastic figures to cross it without tearing our trousers... only to discover later, that there was a gate about 100m to the right
The initial climb is a bit of a slog:
...but our efforts were rewarded even on early stages, by fantastic views:
Cruach Ardrain & friends:
Brother Lui:
Meall a'Bhuiridh and Creise:
From 500m up the ground was frozen solid despite the warming sun above us. We encountered first patches of snow, we managed without spikes at the moment but we knew higher up it would be crampon country!
The northern panorama from just below the top of Sron Gharbh:
We located the path leading up Sron Gharbh, this is the start of fun on the ridge and as the picture below shows, I was already in fun-and-games mood!
The other pair were just above us, on the path to the first top, so we followed:
Too many hills down here I don't recognize, but they all look fantastic!
From the top of Sron Gharbh, we eyed the Twistin' Hill ridge and WOW! it looked absolutely amazing! reminded me of Tarmachan Ridge which we climbed in similar conditions:
We took far too many pictures from different spots along the ridge as we walked it, so apologies for so many in this TR, just found it impossible to pick the best ones
Cruach Ardain:
Glen Orchy mountains with Beinn Dorain to the left:
South-west to the mountains surrounding Loch Lomond:
For the first 500m the ridge is almost flat but closer to the summit of An Caisteal the angle steepens. We followed the path as long as we could locate it, but at some point it simply vanished under another snow patch and we gave up. It was a superb day anyway, great visibility and we simply followed the ridge for the rest of the ascent.
We reached the height of 850m and here we decided it was crampon time. Snow patches were hard, with maybe 1cm of soft snow on the surface which was a deadly mix to walk on without spikes, especially on steeper sections.
It's spikey time!
2018-04-01 an caisteal 087 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
We found some rocks to sit on and took a 10 min break, drank some tea and had a snack before fitting crampons on. Behind us, a magnificent panorama of northern Scotland...and the twistin' ridge:
I was glad we didn't pick Ben More duo for today as they look very steep!
As soon as spikes went on, it was so much easier to keep balance on the snow and I was enjoying the final 150m of ascent, suddenly a song by Dire Straits was playing in my head:
"Yeah, we're gonna be so cool
Twisting by the pool!"
There were no pools in sight and even if there were some, they'd be frozen solid, but the annoying tune stayed with me for the rest of the day!!!
An Caisteal is probably named after this castle-like rock near the summit:
View north - again:
Approaching the castle:
I was a bit concerned that we might have to scramble over the rocky section, but there was no such need and we simply traversed up to the top of the castle-rock, kicking our crampons into hard snow. Kevin stopped again and again to snap photos of every nook and cranny
Ridgy-ridgy ridge, oh how much I enjoyed twisting along your narrow edge!
2018-04-01 an caisteal 118 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
NOT a photo to send to my dad (he's oversensitive to me standing close to any drops higher than 1m
):
2018-04-01 an caisteal 121 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
The cairn at the top of the castle-rock is NOT the true summit. It lies a short distance further on, and the approach is easy-angled:
Not sure which hills are these but they must be Munros as the look very high:
Back to the castle:
Loch Lomond:
On the summit. Our first new Munro in 2018 and hopefully not the last! No. 218 for me, 61 for Wee Lucy:
She's into Munro bagging now for sure!
Kevin's no. 222:
We decided to stay here for a few minutes, if only to have some more fluids and sugars, and to record the views which were second to none. The Twistin' Ridge was fun by itself but the summit panos simply took our breaths away and for a short time we forgot about all troubles... How beautiful Scotland can be when covered in white!
The castle-rock and Glen Orchy hills:
Glen Etive and Glencoe mountains:
Some really big "munsters" waiting for us:
Eventually it was time to descend towards Beinn a'Chroin. But even as we started making our way down, we realized this would be a risky procedure. The re-ascent looked at least daunting:
The initial descent is very steep but we managed OK with spikes on the frozen path:
Lower down we carefully clambered down a couple of scramble-ish sections, it took time with spikes on and we didn't want to take them off just yet. The sun was blazing now and I was cooking in my black top
Some very intriguing shapes en route:
One more panorama from Kevin's camera:
2018-04-01 an caisteal 186 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
From the top of the last bump of Bealach Buidhe, before the final ascent to the second Munro, we watched the other two lads trying to make their way up. They managed to climb half way up to just below the line of boulders then tried to traverse below to the left-hand side, but after a few awkward moves, they gave up and started to descend. Then they attempted again a but further to the right but with no success, either. As we watched their efforts, we looked at each other and agreed, that we didn't like it at all. It was asking for troubles. We had hopes to climb both Munros, of course, but we didn't mind skipping Beinn a'Chroin. The main problem was the amount of fresh snow up on higher ground (on top of sheer ice below) and the acute angle of this slope. Plus the overhangs and a layer of ice covering the rock. Just wasn't worth the risk.
2018-04-01 an caisteal 195 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
We took the decision to descend to Coire Earb. The first section from the Bealach is very steep but we spotted somebody's footprints (probably from the day before) zig-zagging down a large parch of snow. With spikes on, we could carefully follow this line:
2018-04-01 an caisteal 202 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Despite only climbing one Munro, I was more than happy with today's adventure. Twistin' Hill and An Caisteal gave us more fun than we needed and I liked them so much that I will definitely return here for more explorations!
2018-04-01 an caisteal 199 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
The cliffs of Beinn a'Chroin from below:
2018-04-01 an caisteal 212 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
After 200m of descent, we left the snow behind, took off crampons and continued down the grassy slopes. Later, we found a large flat boulder and sat there to stretch our legs and have some more tea. Because we only did half of the walk, we finished earlier and could relax in the sun without worrying about a punishing schedule
Back in the glen:
2018-04-01 an caisteal 217 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Soon the other two lads descended the same way we had earlier. They stopped for a few minutes to chat to us and spoke about how steep and scary the difficult section was and how they decided "better not to spoil the day with a broken leg". A wise decision, in my humble opinion, better make it down safely than "do a Mallory" as we call it.
I don't know, maybe it was doable, maybe we just chickened out but the thought that we were not the only ones made us feel better about our decision. It was still a fantastic day and for a few minutes I was a queen in my castle
The return to the car was a pleasant stroll along River Falloch:
2018-04-01 an caisteal 219 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Beware, hills of Crianlarich, the meowing one WILL BE BACK!!!
2018-04-01 an caisteal 232 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
I must admit, that in the past I looked at the Southern Uplands as "mountains to tick off and forget" but the Twistin' Hill made me change my mind. There is potential for many fantastic climbing days here and I can't wait to return and explore the area a bit more!
We didn't wait long indeed to come back: the following weekend we climbed two neighbouring Corbetts, but before I describe that trip, there is one more to come: our adventure from Easter Monday. There will be ancient forts, empty landscape, steep slopes and complete silence... Welcome to the world of Caithness! TR pending