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Participants - Frigate, Morecambe Monkey , Pigeon and Gavin99
Following an evening in the Kinlochewe hotel sipping (
) beer and chatting to other early arrivals for the WH meet we managed to get ourselves organised at a reasonable hour and set of for the drive over to Craig .
- Setting out on the long walk in
- On the stalkers path up to Bealach Bhernais
The walk in is fairly long but on a good track ,along the way we passed a few tents set up on the riverbank in the wide glen , this looks a fine place to camp . Eventually we reached a suitable spot to cross the river , this posed no problems , thankfully we didn’t have to use the shoogly looking wire bridge contraption ,we did miss the start of the stalkers path (my fault ) but after a bit of heather bashing we soon found it and followed it up to the Bealach Bhernais.
- Kev ,Pat and Pigeon at the bealach , the ex-Munro Sgurr nan Ceannaichean in the distance
After a rest and a quick bite to eat we set off towards the west ridge of Sgurr Choinnich , this looked quite steep from below but was fairly easy going apart from a couple of short rocky scrambles .These wouldn’t cause any worries in summer but the snow and ice made them a little bit more interesting , we soon passed them with a bit of care .
- Our ascent route up the west ridge of Sgurr Choinnich
- Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich, we will visit you soon !
- Morecambe Monkey negotiating some steep snow
As we climbed the views opened up , looking south to the Monar and Mullardoch hills , all new territory for me .The star of the show was Bidein a ‘Choire Sheasgaich , showing as a jagged pyramid, definitely high on the to do list now .
- Bidein , what a stunning looking hill !
- Pat and Kev making progress
- Kev tackling one of the trickier wee sections
Above the rocky sections the gradient eased and we soon found ourselves on the level summit ridge .The snow had been soft enough to kick steps so far but a narrow and icy section of ridge had us stopping to put on crampons for the final approach to the summit and its ramshackle cairn.
- Along the summit ridge
- Munro number one and a well earned rest
After a few minutes spent lying in the snow eating and admiring the views the cold started to bite so we set off down to the bealach leading to our next target. This was steep at first but soon eased and before long we were at the low point at 866m with only 180m or so to climb to reach Munro number two .
- The way ahead to Sgurr a'Chaorachain
- A steep descent to the bealach
- A look back at the great cliffs above Coire Choinnich
We stopped to take off our crampons before setting off uphill , a mixture of short grass, rock and soft snow making things easy underfoot . Once on the summit we were treated to great views down to Loch Monar and the great sweep of hills to the south . It was a busy little summit with a few walkers lounging around in the sun , one of them was kind enough to take our photo (minus some of our feet
)
- Four happy campers on Munro number two
- My first ever view of Loch Monar , beautiful
After more lying around eating and enjoying the sun it was time to head off down . We had taken a close look at the recommended NW descent on the walk in earlier and didn’t like the look of it , we had a chat with three English lads who confirmed that the northern slopes were very icy so it was on with the hardware again and off down the longer and more gentle NE ridge . This was the best part of the day for me , wandering downwards over rock hard snow in the sunshine , surrounded by Scotland’s finest scenery , magic .
- A lovely descent north from Sgurr a' Chaorachain on ice and hard snow .
- Our descent route down Sron na Frianich
Eventually the snow ended and we headed off down steep heathery slopes to pick up the track near Glenuaig Lodge , all that was left was the 8km walk back to Craig . This was a bit of a grind in winter boots but the thought of meeting the gang ( and drinking more beer ) back at Kinlochewe eased the pain a bit , we were definitely glad to reach the car park .
- Nearly back to the road , a grand view back to Sgurr nan Ceannaichean
Thanks to Kev ,Pat and Pigeon for the company , a great day out , and thanks to all at the WH meet for an ace weekend