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Corbetts: Meall a' Ghiubhais
Date walked: 18/12/2010
Time taken: 5 hours 35 minutes
Distance: 9 km
Ascent: 930 m
Weather: Snow to sea level, mixture of sunshine, cloud and bitterly cold wind.
With the weather shaping up to be not too bad, I had plans to do the Quinag this weekend. What could be better? An impressive but fairly straightforward trio of hills with stunning coastal scenery and not too much ascent, plus some snow and sunshine to boot. Seemed like a great idea, so I contacted HighlandSC to see if he fancied coming along.
As with all plans, as soon as they start to shape up, spanners are inserted into works. So it was yesterday, with the best weather constantly switching between Saturday and Sunday, and the car suddenly not being available first thing. Also, there was a suggestion that the real sunshine and blue skies would be found to the south of Ullapool, so it seemed like a good reason to re-think. I had a barrage of other ideas, and we settled on Meall a' Ghiubhais. Although this has been ticked off in my Corbett log for quite some time now, I became aware that I hadn't actually visited the proper summit. On the previous visit in 2001, my dad and I arrived at the marginally lower NE summit in the clag, and hurried back down without checking the map
. I had also missed it off an ascent of Ruadh Stac Beag earlier in the year for some reason (daft, as I had a
perfect day with loads of daylight to spare). With the weather looking good in this area, it seemed like a great chance to get to the proper summit and enjoy some views down Loch Maree and over to Torridon.
I picked HighlandSC up at 8.30 and we got on our way. The trunk roads were well cleared, with the journey to Garve being just as fast as it normally is. However, once onto the Achnasheen road, things slowed a bit as there was a full covering of snow on the surface all the way to Kinlochewe. Regardless, we were able to make steady progress, and were ready to start walking at 10. The Kinlochewe Mountain Trail carpark concerned me a bit though - there was a short slope down to it and the snow wasn't far off the underside of the car when I stopped! I'd put a shovel in the boot and decided to worry about it when we got back.
Looking across Loch Maree to Beinn a Mhuinnidh, another of today's possibe destinations:
...and over to Slioch:
These conditions could cause problems later:
We opted for the most common route onto the hill - via the Kinlochewe Mountain Trail. I had used this on my last visit as well, although it had been summer then, so much easier to see the route. With the snow right down at sea level, the section of the route where steps have been cut into the rockface was somewhat awkward, with the steps being almost invisible and the rocky slabs either side very slippy under the unconsolidated snow.
Beinn a Mhuinnidh again, a short way up the Mountain Trail:
...and Slioch again:
Another guy caught us up on the steepest section and powered past after a quick greeting. Following his footsteps wasn't a whole load easier than breaking trail, and we soon lost sight of him. Views were beginning to open up to the west, but it was also obvious that cloudier conditions were moving in from the west.
Looking NW to the trio of Beinn Araigh Charr, Meall Mhennidh and Beinn Lair:
Today's destination from near the viewpoint cairn:
Reaching the high point of the trail took us the best part of two hours - much more awkward than in none snowy conditions. Even a bit of consolidation would have helped matters. Typically, the aforementioned cloud moved in just as we reached the summit, bringing a light breeze with it and whipping up lots of soggy spindrift. Amazing how rapidly a day can change! Rather than stop for lunch, we pressed on towards the hill, the path being practically impossible to spot at this point. Soon after starting the next ascent, we passed the guy we had met earlier coming down. He had decided to quit due to the change in weather, as he had really wanted the views. We briefly thought about giving up as well, as the views were certainly the main motivation for doing this hill, more than anything overly exciting about the route.
We decided to plod on for a bit though, as we still had plenty of daylight left, and there was some potential for the weather to change again. It certainly didn't change then, and we were left with an energy sapping ascending traverse of the SE slope of the hill, with ankle to shin deep powder. A bit annoying, as my walk on Meall Dubh a couple of weeks back had given me more than enough of these conditions! To spice things up, there was the occasional patch of icy snow underneath the new stuff, but never enough to be worth getting out the crampons.
HighlandSC battles through some more spindrift and deep snow:
Not far from the summit, but will it stay clear?
HighlandSC was rather feeling the burn in his legs with all the extra snow, so at about 840m, he decided to fall back a bit while I legged it up to the (correct) summit. As it happened, I was only away from him for under 10 minutes. Was it worth it though? The cloud refused to shift and the wind was really howling around the cairn, so not really. I got the hell out of there as fast as possible!
By the time I reached HighlandSC, he was only 5 minutes or so from the top, and there was the occasional swirl of blue sky. He debated carrying on (I would have quite happily gone back up if it had cleared), but ultimately decided that he'd had enough. As we retreated (at about 4 x the speed we had got up there!) things did clear a bit (as they always do...), but we weren't too bothered. It was just nice not to be forging a path upward through fresh snow any more. There were a few decent photo opportunities on the descent back to the trail, with A' Mhaigdhean looking particualry inviting.
Across Beinn a Mhuinnidh to some of the Fannaichs (getting more sunshine than us
):
Changing camera batteries on the descent:
Rocky NE face of Meall a Ghiubhais:
Those sunny Fannaichs again:
Beinn Lair, A' Mhaigdhean and Slioch:
The trail took a bit of finding, and was similarly slithery to the ascent, but the NW leg was a little easier going as it was less rocky. The hills to the NE of Loch Maree continued to provide good scenery, as did the gorge next to the path. We arrived back at the car just before 3.30.
Moon over Beinn a Mhuinnidh:
NW along Loch Maree:
Last shot of Beinn Mhuinnidh:
The weather didn't quite meet my expectations,but there were still some good piecemeal views, and the exercise was good. I was due at my staff christmas party later on in the evening, so it was good to work up an appetite
(incidentally, last year's
pre-christmas party appetizer was a cracker).
All that remained now was to extract the car from the carpark. I had visions of lots of shovelling and pushing, but in the event, I got a decent run-up at the exit slope and just about made it back onto the main road. The only incident of note on the way home was a tractor and trailer which managed to get itself stuck at a 45 degree angle in a ditch at Corriemoillie. However, before we had a chance to offer any assistance (not sure what we were going to do with a single garden spade, but anyway...), it had wheelspun its way back out.
