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With the hope of 'clearing' clouds and snow in the forecast Gammy Leg Walker and I met in Perth and drove up to Loch Laggan to do two of the less popular hills in the area. With clouds and rain having been constant from St Andrews it was good to see the early morning sun from layby for Beinn a'Chairainn and Beinn Teallach. It seemed as though we might get lucky with the weather today. We set off up the forest track at 9:15 and survived the boggy fire-break that leads out onto the hillside. From there it was a plod and a half up over Meall Clachaig and the up the lower southwestern slope of Beinn a'Chaorainn. The snow was fairly deep in places which zapped our energy with every step. From the pic below you can see how deep it was by the look on Gammy's face on one of his many tumbles. It seemed to take forever to get to the top, even though it was only 2 hours and 40 mins. Sadly the blue sky had vanished about 3/4 of the way up and we navigated by gps for pretty much the rest of the day until we got back below the clouds. At the summit there were loads of climbers who had come up the coire on the eastern slope. Most of them followed our footsteps back down, but only after one asked 'Is this a munro?'
After a lunch break it was off down the ridge to the bealach. The gps was pretty helpful here, but I couldn't keep Gammy off his arse. He spent a lot of time looking at the sky today
After my own tumble I put the microspikes on and carried on, and even though Gammy was dying to try his crampons they really weren't needed - a bit more ice and we both would have had them on. At the bealach we took a break and then made our way up the snowy ridge to Beinn Teallach. I was feeling pretty good at that point and the microspikes were handy. Gammy had a look of disdain on his face from time to time and I can only imagine he was cursing American at a few points
Most of the hill was covered in cloud but it did thin out a bit at the top. There are two summit cairns at the top, we touched both but neither of us could determine which was the highest. After more soup and coffee we used the gps to get back below the cloud as we made the easy descent off Beinn Teallach. I say easy, but I mean easy for those of us who stayed upright most of the way down
Once down we crossed the stream and continued along the nasty bog ridden path back to the forest track. We were both glad to see the car. Today's walk felt much longer than 10 miles. We discussed stopping for a pint on the way back to Perth, but instead we both agreed that McDonalds seemed like a better option. It was a tough day for the most part, but we still enjoyed it and we both agreed that doing this walk in winter is the only way to go.
Many thanks to Gammy for the company and the Big Mac.
Mmmmmmm Big Mac
