Birthday Beinn, and a decade of Walkhighlands

[malky_c]

Corbetts: Beinn Liath Mhor a'Ghiubhais Li.
Date: 21/12/2019.
Distance: 9 km.
Ascent: 550 m.
Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes.
Weather: Cold and mostly sunny, some breeze at summit

It's always nice to get a birthday hill in - not something I manage that often. This year it looked promising, provided that I managed to avoid drinking too much at the works night out the previous evening!

I also noticed that it is just over 10 years since I started posting reports on Walkhighlands. In that time I seem to have written up just about everything I have done in the hills, for better or worse. That was certainly not my intention when I first put up a report - I thought it would just be nice to share a few photos with like-minded people and provide some coverage to a couple of the less reported-on hills. It's always interesting to look back on some of those reports and notice that whatever else was going on in my life at the time (some of it not good at all, some of it brilliant), the hills have always been the same, and have provided the same feeling of safety and escape.

Anyway, lack of a hangover and a promise of some sunshine had us heading for Sail Mhor shortly after 11am. Passing Aultguish, the weather didn't look quite so promising out west and we were running a bit late, so we decided to stop off at Beinn Liath Mhor a' Ghiubhais Li as we passed. This was a good move as there was abundant sunshine here.

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Beinn Dearg hills

We followed the rough track through forestry at the foot of the hill before breaking out onto the heathery hillside. After a short section of steepness, the gradient levelled off and we traversed the lower shoulder before ascending the final summit cone.


Please fall in!


More views of Beinn Dearg


Leaving the forestry plantation


SE over the end of the Fannaichs


Sgurr Mor


An Coileachan

There were some small patches of snow left, but on the whole, most of it had melted earlier in the week. The breeze at the summit was enough to have us getting our warm layers out for a stop. Last time I was up here, the views were limited and the weather awful, so I hadn't realised just what a good viewpoint it was for Beinn Dearg and the Fannaichs. If I had, then I might have been back sooner!


Ben Wyvis


Beinn Dearg


An Teallach


Sgurr Mor


South across Strath Bran


Centre of the Fannaichs


Back towards Inverness


Summit photo


Some birthday/Christmas summit photoshopping...


Corries of Beinn Dearg

We largely descended the same way, albeit cutting a corner to skip out some of the forestry track. Back at the car it was almost dark and I realised we would have been pushed to get up Sail Mhor in the amount of time available (it probably would have resulted in another fun descent of the slabs next to the Ardessie Falls in the dark, rather like our last visit coming off An Teallach in October).


Back to the summit


Last light over Beinn Dearg

The Aultguish and Inchbae were shut, so we stopped off at the Allangrange Arms in Munlochy for a birthday meal - a great day out .

[arjh]

A belated happy birthday and thank you for all the wonderful reports over the last 10 years. It really is appreciated, particularly as being at the opposite end of the country my access to Scotland is fairly limited and therefore I need to maximise my time in the mountains when I do get there. I can pretty much guarantee that any Scottish mountain has a malky report on this site somewhere

[Sunset tripper]

Happy birthday from me also Malky. I'm pretty sure I've read most of these reports over the 10 years - always good info and quality. I agree about the hills and great outdoors in general being a constant even when times have not been as great as I would like.
Here's to the next 10 years. All the best.

[gld73]

I did this hill in full winter conditions, a nice one for that as there are no nasty crevices or cornices to be caught out by!

I appreciate your 10yrs of postings Malcy, I'm ticking off quite a few of the marilyns in the area which don't have detailed walk routes, but I've found there's usually one of your reports to point me in the right direction of where to start from and what to expect on the way!

[BlackPanther]

Happy Birthday, New Year and 10th Walkhighlands Anniversary!

I will celebrate my WH decade in November this year - hopefully I'm still alive and meowing. At the moment I feel half-dead after a really bad case of flu. Poor Kevin is still coughing. We haven't been able to do any hillwalking since late December. At least I can browse WH and feel jealous

Beinn Liath Mhor a'Ghiubhais Li was my first Corbett. We revisited it last year and would be happy to do it again. A good one for full winter conditions (if we have any snow this year!).

[dogplodder]

I'm another who often checks your reports when planning a trip so thanks for all the time you've put into that. Apart from the help it is to others it's also a great personal record of past days out.

And a belated happy birthday!

[mrssanta]

some gorgeous views there I agree. I do like those walks where I can point to mountains and actually recognise them! and another saying thanks for all your reports. I like to look back through mine and remember some of the good times and the times when we survived against the odds!!