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Another weekend, another attempt to spend a few hours outside, preferably on higher ground. We heard something about storm Jorge, but to be honest, we were so hill-deprived that it didn't really matter. Saturday looked slightly better in forecast, so we picked an easy Graham just in case weather turned sour. Also, with the thick layer of soft snow on higher mountains, we wanted to stay away from any avalanche-prone slopes. Therefore, a local hill, Carn Mhic an Toisich, seemed the best option.
I once called this Graham "obscure by nature". As of today, there are only 61 claimed ascents of this hill on Walkhighlands and it is at no. 201 on the list of "most ascents". We had visited it in 2017 following
the route from Bhlaraidh (at the moment, the parking area we started from is used to store felled trees so not available), but I was always tempted to repeat it in full winter conditions via Eve's Road (so appropriate!) from Dundreggan. Both routes follow good tracks, neither is particularly scenic (unless you enjoy walking past wind turbines or along powerlines) but the hill itself has a nice, wide ridge, lovely to follow in deep snow.
There is a good layby to park next to the start of Eve's Road:
The path through the forest is well waymarked:
I was eager to check the local legend: a pair footprint shapes in the ground, allegedly left in 1827, by a local preacher. Supposedly, nothing ever grows on them...
The path is not always obvious and if it wasn't for the markers, we might have had a problem to find it:
Higher up the path joins an ATV track:
2020-02-29 mackintosh hill 008 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Once out of the woods, we joined a wider track, built for the construction of Beauly-Denny powerline. Not the wildest of landscapes, but at least it offered easy going:
We spotted a small herd of deer on the nearby slope:
Soon we entered the snow zone but so far, so good...
About half way up, we noticed a nasty shower following us, but we were in luck today. It passed along Glen Morriston and never reached us.
Get ready, Armageddon is coming
The track crosses the high ground west to the summit of Carn Mhic an Toisich at about 550m, which leaves only about 120m of ascent off-piste. Naismith for this route (if returning the same way) is 4hrs 20min and on a good summer day it would indeed be a half-day walk, but today, we were in for some good snow-swimming! Even on the track higher up, we marched in 4-5 inches of fresh, pristine snow. And it was only going to get deeper as we progressed...
Kevin ready for a snow-battle:
Icicles and pylons:
At some point, I worked out a strategy: walking alongside the track was actually faster than on the track itself
At the height of 500m, we decided we were fed up with it and went off-piste. First we had to probe the ditch to make sure we didn't end up waist-deep in a hidden trap
Once on the slopes of Meall Ruigh Uisdein, it was relatively easy walking to the first top on the ridge. As we left the power pylons behind, a short snow shower came, leaving us in a temporary whiteout...
Where is everything???
Thankfully, the shower went away as quickly as it arrived and soon we were basking in sunshine!
Only now we could appreciate the white world around us. The passing cloud still obscured some of the surrounding landscape, but I must say, Carn Mhic an Toisich is much better a viewpoint than one might think. And in winter conditions...WOW.
Lookink NW towards Loch na Beinne Baine:
We haven't had a good winter so far, so maybe that explains why we were so overexcited about a simple Graham, but just being able to walk in the snow (tough as it was!) made us much happier!
Panther snapping photos:
From Meall Ruigh Uisdein we traversed to An Suidhe, the middle top. Walking was slow in places...
...but we were enchanted by the shape of the summit of our target hill. It looked very distant from An Suidhan, but it was just an illusion. In reality, it's less than 1km from the middle top:
The winter wonderland around us:
The mountains of Affric, Sgurr na Lapaich prominent in the middle, Tom and Toll to the right:
View east to Loch Ma Stac:
The summit was windy...
...so we just took more photos of winter wonderland, before descending a few meters to find a sheltered spot for lunch. I spent some time removing snow from my gaiters, Kevin just slurped his tea. We had good views east towards Meall a'Chrathaich, sadly this side is spoiled by a recently built windfarm:
To return to the powerline track, we had the great pleasure to walk along this snow-covered ridge:
View south and footprints in the snow:
Zooms to Sgurr na Lapaich:
We took time on the way back, not only because snow was deep, but simply to enjoy the white world as long as it lasted... With spring coming soon, we might not get another chance!
Kevin got his share of snow games:
2020-02-29 mackintosh hill 220 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Back on the track:
It was a lovely day indeed, despite strong wind gusts on the ridge!
Eve's Road is indeed a convenient way to climb Carn Mhic an Toisich. It would be possible to combine it with the route we used in 2017, but you'd need two cars for that.
So that's all for now. I'm carefully optimistic for the coming weekend. Maybe another hill... even if it's just a Sub
