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Today was an outing with the Scottish Hillwakers Group - destination Beinn Mhanach.
I had emailed the organizer the night before to inform him i would walk to the summit of Mhanach with the group but wouldn't be returning with them, i would be heading NW to take in Beinn Chreachain
The forecast wasn't favourable but to our delight the mountain gods had provided clear views, low winds and even some bright sunshine
!9 of us set off from Achaladair farm at 9am in SE direction (NE face Beinn Dothaidh to the right)
The bealach between Dothaidh and Achaladair was soon in site.
We reached the bealach which provided stunning views over to blackmount and Glencoe/rannock moor.
Next we walked under the East face of Achaladair in a Northenly direction
Looking North to Beinn Chreachain (Eve, in this photo, would be bagging her 100th Munro at Mhanach)
The pace was leisurely, as common with large groups, but having such fantastic conditions it wasn't an issue
A few hundred metres under the face of Achaladair we headed East, more or less in a straight line to Mhanach. The ascent was gradual and presented no problems at all.
The sun was to the South of us which made for some great photos.
Mhanach was now within our grasp
Looking West to Achaladair
At the top Eve was presented with a bottle of Whisky for reaching the ton
Stunning views in all directions - Looking East down Loch Lyon to Lawers range.
During the walk to Mhanach 5 others had decided to join me on to tackling Chreachain
So off we headed NW to the ridge linking Achaladair and Chreachain
Looking back to Beinn A Chruin
On the ridge - looking South to Achaladair
During the day we had crampons on due to some steep and icy slopes, but the going was generally ok with the snow nice and crisp.
Our final summit was soon in view
Looking west over Rannoch Moor before final ascent to Chreachain.
Crampons requried for final ascent - which didn't take long.
The views where stunning from here, what a day
North to the Mamores, west to Glencoe, East to Lawers and South to Crainlarich
East to Lawers
North to Mamores
We didn't hang around as it was now 4pm - we had an hour of daylight left. We desended down the steep slopes, in a westernly direction below Meall Buidhe, the NE face of Achaladair to our left - which was impressive looking from this side. The last hour was in darkness across open moorlands before picking up a landrover track 2k from the finish - we decided not to use our headtorches
Got to the cars at 6pm and headed to the Bridge of Orchy hotel for a beer. Some of the guys (and girls) were staying the night as walking tomorrow. After that we headed to Tyndrum for dinner at the Good Food Cafe. Banter was flowing and a good time was had.
I left at 8pm for the 2 hour drive home to Glasgow which was torture due to the thick fog for most of the journey - i got home safe though
360 from Chreachain
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjCbAwEbr_Y&hd=1[/youtube]
