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We planned this trip months ago when we discovered that our daughter's school had a teacher training day on Thursday 28th March. Having a plan A B C etc is always a good idea. The original plan had been to walk up from Achallater farm in the morning, set up camp in Coire Daingean, pop up Beinn an Dothaidh and Beinn Dorain before bed, and next day climb Beinn Achaladair, Beinn a'Chreachain and possibly Mhanach, camp a second night and then home in time for Easter. So far so good. Nothing wrong with thinking big!
So there was much anxious watching of snow and weather forecasts in the last few weeks as the winter seemed to go on and on forever. We also found some quizzes on avalanche awareness and theoretically did quite well, although without any decent snow to go and practise on. We've had the ice axes and crampons for a few years now, but it's usually been a case of searching out a patch of leftover snow to use them on!
Anyhow a wee post on here at the beginning of the week and nobody said "don't go you fools!!" The weather forecast improving every day, so here we are on Thursday morning setting off from my brother's house in Milngavie, me, Rudolph and Coldwetandhungry off on a winter adventure!
As we drove up the A82 it was overcast with snow flurries so a late second breakfast in the Green Welly was in order, and it was nearly noon by the time we set off from the car park at Achallater farm, still a little overcast but not snowing any more.
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- Looking over Loch Tulla just after setting off
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- looking West from the railway bridge
By the time we reached the railway crossing the sun was beginning to come out, and we stopped and removed fleeces. Not long after crossing the railway we reached the snowline and found out how much hard work we had let ourselves in for! But as we trudged upwards the day got better and better with fantastic views opening up behind us.
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- beinn an Dothaidh
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- amazing icicles and the snow-covered burn
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- Horizontal lines on lower slopes of Beinn Achaladair. Does anyone know what these are?
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- Rudolph and Coldwetandhungry having fun
Bit of a scary moment at about the 500 metre mark where we made a poor route choice and found ourselves on a steep slippy bit, which necessitated a stop for refreshments and putting fleeces back on, but after that we were on our way. The footering about on the gpx track shows where we dumped the bags at a potential camp spot and went looking for a better one.
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- view from first potential campspot
Rudolph found a great spot which he described as "perfectly flat" and I reckon in summer it would be a horrendous bog. Immediately on arriving at the spot I put my foot right through the snow into running water, so we avoided that bit, opening up the wee burn with ice axes and poles, and poking around the snow to find a flat bit that was definitely grass all over!
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- small burn visible to the left of the picture. we never expected a campspot with running water - perfect!
We reached our camp a little after four o'clock and by the time we had pitched the tent it was obvious that we had done enough for one day. It was certainly interesting putting the tent pegs into the frozen ground. But what a spot, what a view!
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- using ice axe to tap in the tent pegs. the best ones are the three-sided ones which don't bend and can be shoved in with a boot, but the wires needed a bit of tapping
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- pretty good view eh!
We had our rather uninspiring rehydrated tea and played about in the snow a bit with a bit of sliding about, then went to bed pretty early as soon as it was dark.
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- oooh lovely
It was a very clear, cold night, we were told later it was minus 8 in the glen, so must have been pretty cold where we were, but fully clothed and wrapped up in down I was fine. Rudolph took his fleece off and was not quite warm enought but cw&h was neither cold, wet nor hungry!
I was up in the night, as one does, and felt I might just die of indecent exposure, but it was worth it to see the fantastic stars in the clear sky with the moon just hiding behind a mountain.
The morning revealed a sunny, sparkly, freezing cold day. Perfect for tackling a few munros, we decided to go north with the aim of climbing Beinn Achaladair, Beinn a' Chreachain and possibly Mhanach if we were up to it.
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- the Happy Cups in the morning waiting for the water to boil
Nice early 8am start which we would never have acheived from a house as we are all too fond of our beds, but with an early tent night it is a good way to get an early start.
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- Ben Nevis with her hat off
As we climbed up the ridge the views just got better and better, and we were fascinated by the amazing hoar and ice formations on the rocks and snow surface. Unfortunately the pics don't come out well, but they reminded me of the pinnacly bits on York Minster all intricately carved and lying on the ground.
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- we think this must be Cruachan and surrounding hills
We made good progress and reached the top of Beinn Achaladair a little before ten o'clock, just at the same time as a wee cloud! Oh well, never mind.
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- r and cwh on the top
Next job, to descend to the bealach an Aoghlain and up to Beinn a' Chreachain. Now this is where it got interesting. It was a wee bit steeper than we were comfortable with coming down here, and it got us thinking about our route home to the tent. We decided that the safest way would be to retrace our steps and that Bheinn Mhanach would probably be beyond us. CW&H was nursing a cold and it was all just getting a little too exciting. We took our time descending, doing a bit of bum sliding and ice axe arrest practice as we went, which was fun. We decided to head up the next hill and see how it went, but it wasn't long before we made the decision to quit while we were ahead and come back for the other hills another day. So back up Beinn Achaladair we trogged, within about 30 metres of the top, and back the way we came. One night of camping was enough adventure for now!
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- looking down Glen Lyon
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- cliffs at the back of Beinn Achaladair from near the point where we turned back
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- the Bold Mountaineer ?
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- looking south along the ridge on the way back
Another problem we had on our walk was water. CW&H had hers filled with hot, so it was fine, but mine and Rudolph's platypuses (platypi?) were filled direct from the burn. Even with blowing back up the pipe, the water froze in the bladder and blocked everything up. So by the time we got back to the tent we were really grateful for a hot cup of tea.
We timed it about perfectly to strike camp, stuff everything in rucksacks and back down to the car by quarter to six. Off to the real food cafe for a good nosh up, and a quick phone call to my brother, yes of course we can come and stay the night again! He's a good lad, he even went out in the morning and bought lorne sausage and black pudding for our breakfast.
