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Cha b’e là na gaoithe là nan sgolb "The windy day is not the day for thatch-wattles"
Weather wise the Gaidhealtachd has been akin to something from the apocolypse recently with hurricanes/rain/gales/hurricanes/gales /rain /rain and more gales
I m no a lover of the Con Dems nor that foreign parliament in London, so when Colla's pension is being robbed he is going to strike and head to the hills........ until he can place where he buried that rifle
So Wednesday my picket line was air a mhullach Gaor Bheinn. or "Gulvain" as the Sassainach would have her called
but there is no V in the Gaelic alphabet and since we named her i ll stick to Gaor Bheinn "the mountain of noise "
I m only an hour from Ceann loch Ial, so off we set at 7.45am and aye it was windy but not to wet ,the forecast predicted the rain /snow was coming in later in the day. so i was keen to summit for midday at the latest
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- Gleann Fhionn Lighe is Gaor Bheinn
It is a long way in through the Gleann Fionn Lighe but pleasant enough ,with good track and skittery bridges...... I hit the last one near Na Socachan and came off the bike managing somehow to poke my walking pole into my eye
.....well myself and the dog had the fright right enough, my my eye although still in the socket was pretty sore and after a sit down and a roar... we set off up the hill .
Tha an t side math gu leor fathast ..... the weather was ok dry but the céo was hanging at about 600m so i did nt expect any views however there seemed plenty snow above 700m so i was keen to get into it .
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- An rathad Suas
Its a slog right enough up to the Leac a Chaigin steep and unrelenting and I hit the snow field at the predicted 700 it was thick enough but pleasant to walk in although i could see cáil / nothing
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- A cú anns a ' sneachd
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- Sneachd agus abair seallaidh !
The wind was stirring by now so i was keen to cráic on and reach the false summit /trig point and after poking about carefully to get my bearing i reached it as the wind hit gale force at 12pm
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- Cárn Gaor Bheinn
I had to make the decision whether to go for the true summit the wind was howling and hail was stinging the old face and you could see about 10mtrs decision made i took a quick fixed bearing from false to true summit and dropped down onto the bealach and mercifully but temporarily out the wind
Bha an gaoith a tighinn bho deas .... the gale was blowing from the South East so periodically along the druim to the true summit the wind was horrendous and a wee bit scary with heavy hail/snow/rain showers
The dog kept dropping to the lea on the final narrow expose ridge onto the true summit there were cornices formed out of the snow and a good drop to the West ,so he went on the laritt , i found it hard to keep my feet on this last ridge but finally made the big cárn and the true summit and hid behind it to get a breath
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- Cárn Mor 982
By this time it was temporary white out, we huddled had tea and cold boiled eggs waiting for the lull to nip back along that cáic wee exposed ridge When the lull came we took our opportunity and after taking a bearing back to the false summit we reached it without any great hassles with another lull bringing better visibility.
At the false cárn the wind had got to horrendous stage again and it kinda drove me off the hill to the SE because i could nt see anything i did nt notice until i dropped into the sheltered corries rather than down the shoulder i had come up
I got a wee bit confused and misread the GPS which confounded my initial mistake so i came safely down out the céo to a where the feck is this kinda view
...... in the East corries !! . It cost me 25mins heading along very wet ground to get to the origonal start point at Na Sochachan......the bike was gratefully mounted and we made a quick soaking getaway out to Ceann Loch Iall.
So ,tha sin e mo caraidean .. its a long haul Gaor Bheinn be careful of skittery bridges and exposed summits if you venture onto her this Geamhradh and take the bike for the haul in and out.
Epilogue
By the time i started driving my súil / eye was shut and by the time i reached home i could nt see ,a trip to the docs today and i now resemble long jon silver another day off...... but no no hills
