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By way of a bit of a contrast to my last two reports... Was staying at the Kintail Outdoor Centre, a National Trust owned facility near Shiel Bridge, for the Granite City Hillwalkers hogmanay meet. Forecast was poor so noone fancied getting up early to do anything. As it was I woke fairly late too and despite the low cloud decided to tackle A' Ghlas-bheinn on my own. Didn't get away till 10am so no question of including the Falls of Glomach. Weather was as predicted: driech, but mild. It never actually rained, just the odd period where it was a bit damper than other periods. Took a few snaps before I disappeared into the cloud (at around 400m) but after that I didn't bother.
Strath Croe - A'Ghlas-bheinn (well, the base of it anyway) straight ahead
A'Ghlas-bheinn - just the bottom bit again
Waterfall shortly before Allt a Choire Chaoil crossing
First difficulty was the river crossing before you head up the Bealach an Sgairne (the Allt a Choire Chaoil). Didn't fancy the ford point so after several minutes faffing about found a narrow point below the ford where you can climb down a bit, step on a large boulder and jump across. As it turned out I needn't have worried about wet feet as I soon discovered that my new boots leak. I shall return to this subject but not today.
So up to the large cairn that marks the top of Bealach an Sgairne. The route so far had been simplicity itself with obvious paths to follow. But visibility was now 200-300m and increasing patches of soft wet snow obscured the path. The way up wasn't at all obvious now as the mountain presented a series of crests & false summits. Lost & re-found the path several times and topped out in driving drizzle at 1:30pm. Took one last photo and set off on my way down. In the wrong direction. Eventually got back on track and then picked up the Falls of Glomach path. This is a good (& snow free) path so going was good. Once below the cloud the view of the side of A'Ghlas-bheinn was fairly dramatic with tons of little streams cascading down the mountain side. I was almost tempted to take out my camera but was fairly wet & miserable by this time. Initially missed the last footbridge (near Dorusduain) in the gathering gloom as you have to almost double back on yourself. So just made it back without recourse to a head-torch at 4:40pm.
A bagger's day if ever there was one. An alternative way back is to head NW off the peak over A'Mhuc and make straight for the footbridge over the Allt an Leoid Ghaineamhaich where it meets the forest. Fellow GCH'ers did this the following day. Shorter but heavier going. But in poor visibility I think it was sensible to make for the Glomach path.
