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Three months since the wee guy last attempted a Munro, things such as his broken wrist and then the deep snow / avalanche risks had put his mountain climbing well and truly on hold.
So…...with a good forecast, most of the snow away we talked mum in to letting him out.
He wanted to do a single and relatively easy Munro as a warm up to his 2013 adventures so we decided on Beinn Narnain and if feeling up to continue on out to Beinn Ime. Car loaded on Friday night we were up and away sharp on Saturday, low cloud as predicted but fine and virtually no wind. The forecast was for the cloud to lift and break as the day went on. We were soon parked up in the car park at Succoth and suited up ready for the off, there must have been about 20 to 30 folks in that car park,
luckily for us they all carried on for the Cobbler. We followed the WH route which was relatively straight forward and very dry / hard underfoot (still frozen, bonus).
It’s quite a direct route so height is gained quickly. We soon had the warm layers off and the t-shirts on, was this really March. As we ascended we only met one other climber who was up for a week from England, he was heading north but had stopped off to break up his journey and decided to climb Narnain.
The cloud began to lift and clear and as we approached the top of the steep ascent to the lower summit of Cruach nam Miseag we got our first glimpses of the unmistakeable Cobbler. It looked very impressive as it drifted in and out of the clouds. We sat and observed it for a while and watched the 10’s of people heading up to it.
I suggested that we could climb it on the way out but Kyle said he wanted to climb it properly with ropes and stuff
(worth pointing out at this point that his grandpa Peter was a very keen climber and claimed a few 1st winter ascents on the Cobbler), so no Cobbler today then!
It was around this point that we started to see a few patches of snow, nothing major and it’s all good experience for the wee guy. He enjoyed negotiating them kicking in steps and steadying himself with the ice axe (mum will be having kittens when she sees the photo’s)!
The higher we got the better the weather. The sun was doing its best to push through the clouds. The final push involves a wee bit of scrambling, all good fun and certainly keeps you warm, Kyle loved it.
After the scramble is a short walk to the trig point and then the large cairn. Wee Guy raced to the summit, his 29th Munro to date, Epic achievement!
- TEAM DANSON
- Munro number 29
We met four guys here who had left the car park ahead of us but ended up missing the route we took and so had walked up from the Cobbler side, we took some photos for them and they obliged to take one for us. The wind was increasing and quite cool so we found a good shelter stone and got settled for lunch. We stayed for a while and ate plenty. Kyle decided that we would head for Ime at this point, I was a little surprised but could not refuse the wee mountain explorers request. We got our bearings and headed off the summit and down towards the Bealach a Mhaim. This is a very steep descent and was a little slippy in places due to the patchy snow. Kyle and I used the tried and tested method of descent, bum sliding (great fun). Soon at the bealach we started our climbed for Ime; however the wee guy decided at 879m that he didn’t actual want to do a second Munro! So, we turned back (frustrating as we could see the summit)
, but as I always say to him, these hills are not going anywhere and it just means we have an excuse to come back again!
So that was Kyle’s first Munro of 2013, I am sure there will be a few more to come and yes Beinn Ime will be conquered!