A Weather Window on the Buachille Eite Beag

[Collaciotach]

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When Deirdre was born, Cathbad the druid prophesied that she would be beautiful, but that kings and lords of Alba and Eirnn would go to war over her ...
So mentioned is the Gleann Eite where Naoise and Deirdre hid from the wrath of Conchobar ,not quite the scene of the Fenian Cycle this Dúbhlachd (December) morning and no sign of the lover's ! ... i guess the gales may have blown them away such has the wind been in the Gaidhealtachd lately

I had noticed the "uinneag an t -side" last night and although the wearing of lead boots may be to an advantage i had decided to make the short trip to Gleann Comhann early with a view to being on the mullach of Stob Coire an Raineach before 10am as the rest of the day looked as we say "mossach" or ....ach well there is no direct translation of this word it just means kinda hellish

Arrived at the wee car park at with the cú and Colla suitably dressed we headed off up the lairig and clear tops to view indeed

Aonach Eigeach

Tha an gaoith laidir gu dearbh .... the wind was strong however a good path underfoot gave for good time although the cú in the tradition of Brann (Fionn Mac Cumhails dog) decided the hinds of the lairig were worthy of his attention and gave magnificent chase, while his master bawled hopelessly into the gale ... it cost Colla a good 15mins before he restored the pecking order of the day

that aside we soon made the bealach

bealach Stob Coire an raineach

"brann"

Suas

Uill nuair a bha sin a coiseachd ...it was hellish windy on this exposed spot, after a wee skulk behind a convienent rock i took a bearing to the mullach and started the trudge upward with good firm snow and no end of sleamhag ice underfoot. For the most part the gaoith tried to push us down the lairig Gartain ,by skulking to the Gartain side we avoided the worst gusts. There was good visibility right enough and nice views all round if you dared to take the súil off the slippy slope and quickkly we hit the mullach

Air a mhullach stob coire an rainnaich

Stob Dubh

Aonach Eigeach

Stob an broige

The chill factor on the top was well significant so we did nt hang around to long before heading back down the bealach ready to horse up to Stob Dubh

Stob Dubh

Buachille Eite Mor

Ach bha an gaoith laidir fhathast agus ..decision time do we head up the exposed ridge to Stob Dubh ? it was bitter and still blowing although in stages so aye we went for it
There was nice sneachd (snow) to give your boots a grip although the rocks were reóite (frozen) and the wee cárn before the druim was soon gained

cárn beag

An Buachaille Mor a ribhist

céo is reoite

By this time the wind was still strong but no quite bowling us off our cás and we had indeed hit the "window" with nice views 360

An drúim go Stob dubh

Gleann Eite

Good craic on this summit but it was still hellish baltic the wind was whipping the snow up and around us like something out a movie so again we did nt hang about and soon headed back along the druim

An druim air ais

Uill bha sin e ,tri uaireann air a bheinn agus bha an t side ..well the weather was now turning blizzard like just as the weather moguls said it would so we hoofed it down quick style blown about but unbowed. As we hit the bealach again in came the stormy ,squally ,blizzard

sneachd

Stob Coire agus Sneachd

We stopped briefly on the way down for a quick bite and a cup of tea as a group of fellas approached us
"hows the cráic" i asked "you on your way up?"

one fella replied

"yeah. no bad mate, weather is supposed to be hellish".........

" oh aye indeed its about to become hellish indeed "said Colla on his way down at 12.45

I hope they had a good time but im no so sure they was going to be as lucky as me ! as we say in the language of eden

Tachraidh na daoine, ach cha tachair na cnuic.
"Men will meet, but the hills will not "

Cheerie an drasda

An cú dubh "Murphy"

[LeithySuburbs]

Cheers, enjoyed that .

[kevsbald]

Great stuff - love the last dog pic.

[mgmt!]

fantastic report collaciotach, think you mentioned before your dog had a bit of patterdale in him so explains the boundless energy. you seemed to have made the right call with the weather too. slanj

[Collaciotach]

Great stuff - love the last dog pic.

the dogs ******** Kev ... gu dearbh

[Collaciotach]

fantastic report collaciotach, think you mentioned before your dog had a bit of patterdale in him so explains the boundless energy. you seemed to have made the right call with the weather too. slanj

Patterdale Westie x ...... boundless no doing feck all he is told

but a cracker ....slainte a bhalaich

[PeteR]

You're getting out on some great hills I see

If I had to complie a list of my top 10 hills then surely this one would be on it. Have walked it plenty times and in all but glorious weather Seeing it with the snow brings back memories of Boxing Day 2009 Superb. One day though the sun will shine when I'm up there.

[Collaciotach]

You're getting out on some great hills I see

If I had to complie a list of my top 10 hills then surely this one would be on it. Have walked it plenty times and in all but glorious weather Seeing it with the snow brings back memories of Boxing Day 2009 Superb. One day though the sun will shine when I'm up there.

Aye Pete she is no bad at all and a quick ascent..... after Gaor Bheinn on Wednesday