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Wednesday, the 22nd of April was the hottest day of 2015 so far, especially if you found yourself roasting on a mountain slope...
The four Fannichs adventure should have worn me out, but it didn't. Yet my foot was not in its best state so Kevin ordered an easier walk - a pair of Grahams, perhaps? Yeah, sure, but why did he choose the craggiest Grahams in northern Scotland???
Shios & Shuas have been on our shortlist since we first noticed them sitting on the summit of Chno Dearg a couple of years ago. They seemed interesting enough to investigate them closer! Last spring, we had a better look at the duo from the neighbouring Munros, especially from Creag Pitridh, which raises directly above the two Grahams. Even though these are relatively low hills, surrounded by bigger peaks, they are asking for a full traverse on a long, sunny day, just to appreciate them fully. And that's what we did.
There's no WH route for the Laggan twins yet, but enough info on possible approaches. We opted for going up Binnein Shuas first, then traversing to the lower twin and finally descending to the eastern end of Lochan na h-Earba for the easy walk back along the track. If using this track in both directions, it's possible to cycle most of the way, but as the whole circuit is only just over 20km, we thought it was perfectly doable on foot, even blistered ones
It was a fantastic morning, blue sky, warm sun and so quiet when we stopped in the layby next to the bridge over River Spean, it was hard to believe we were only in mid-April! There was one car parked here but no soul in sight. The river looked... divine!
Our route:
The first stage of this walk is the same as for Loch Laggan Munros, on a good track:
About 100m before the track divides next to a small reservoir, we left it to climb straight up the grassy slopes of Binnein Shuas. It seems like this slope would be quite a bogtrot in wet weather, but on a hot, dry day, it was easy going, with somewhat familiar crunch-crunch sound under our feet.
Up Binnein Shuas:
The reservoir from above:
We aimed for a large rock slightly to the right and when we reached it, we turned back to face an interesting view towards the west - Loch Treig Munros on the horizon:
It was only 10 am and we were already boiling alive! Kevin, lucky chap, wore his Craghoppers trousers with detachable legs that day, so he simply unzipped the lower halves and voila - he was now wearing shorts
I had to roll up my trouser legs and of course, smear +50 factor all over my skin. As we pushed up, I wondered why some Grahams had to be so steep... Luckily we had enough water with us!
Boiling... with Beinn a'Chlachair behind:
The last 150m of ascent offered "some isolated pockets of scrambling" as stated in Graham book. What it means, basically, you can make is as easy or as hard as you wish! Plenty of steep walls to tackle, but also grassy patches to omit all difficult sections. Weird world...
I fancied a wee scramble just to practice (AE this year possibly, so I need my training!) so we decided to take this wall face on:
We traversed to the left, where we found a good set of footholds to climb up the wall. I managed, no problem... All right, I cut my thumb (the rock here is very sharp!) but felt like I had confidence in finding way up scrambling routes.
Looking down the slope, a good illustration of how strange this hill is, a pure mixture of rock and grass:
Back on easy grass, we admired the western panorama, from Chno Dearg, distant Nevis, Glen Spean and Beinn a'Chaorainn to the right:
Creag Meagaidh and Loch Laggan:
Spean Reservoir and the very distant hills of Moidart on the horizon:
The summit was reached quickly now and I was happy to pose for my Graham No. 30! Not a huge number and I don't inspire to complete them, but this was about enjoying a good quality hill rather than just bagging:
A man in his shorts
The summit is a great viewpoint, especially to the east, where the twin Graham, Binnein Shios, is framed by two lochs:
The western panorama of high Munros once more:
The summit cairn from the east:
After a loong break on the top (we felt like we had all the time in the world to enjoy this duo!) we carried on east. The ground was still a mixture of grassy slopes and rocky walls and in bad weather, your route-finding skills would be put to the test. I loved the view to the east, with the lower twin stealing the show, but also had fun peering over rocky outcrops and trying to deduce the best way down
When walking around this outcrop, I spotted a plastic carrier bag on the ground. Instinctively, I bent over to pick it as rubbish to dispose of (thought it was just a piece of plastic carried here by the wind), but to my surprise I found a pair of gaiters inside. They looked hardly used and it seemed to me that the owner must have had a break here, under the rocks, and he simply forgot to pack them back in. I have posted a notice in "Lost and found" section and I hope that whoever lost the gaiters will contact me.
So far, I only found out that Foggieclimber did Binnein Shuas that day as well (he even photographed us from the distance on the summit
) but he's not the owner of the gaiters.
Back to traversing the Graham, the descent to the east is a bit confusing. I remembered from previous reports, that the easiest way down is via a long gully, but we actually found TWO gullies cutting the slopes and were not sure which one?
After some investigating, we picked the shallower of the two gullies (to the left when facing east) and it turned out to be a good decision, we had no problems finding our way down.
The gully from above, with Binnein Shios in the background:
First, we descended into the shadows on a snowpatch:
Then followed a tiny stream down a steep, but manageable slope:
There are some rocks to avoid, but nothing too tricky here:
Looking back up... Ouch, steep!
Binnein Shios waiting for us, what a magnificent view. One may say, these two are just Grahams, but first class Grahams nevertheless!
The descent route from well below. I guess going up this side would be easier than descending, but this is possibly the only non-scrambling route down this side of Shuas. Unless it is possible to somehow find a way down from the other gully, but it would be even steeper:
Once out of the shadow of Binnein Shuas, we walked in blazing sunshine again. The sun was so strong that it might have messed up my brains, as at some point I thought I could move a 2 ton boulder
We reached the bottom of the wide col between the two hills, here I discovered we only had one bottle of water left. I hoped we would be able to find water on the return walk
Binnein Shuas looming behind us:
Up again... The familiar crunch-crunch sound of dry grass, the sticky feeling of sunscreen and the smell of sweat
A bit like travelling on savannah?
Shios framed by two lochs, just like its brother earlier that day:
BOILING HOT!
Loch Laggan and the hills beyond:
The summit ridge is long and topped with many small bumps, Kevin climbed each one with his GPS to check which one is the true summit. I was more interested in the superb landscape, the views to remember:
Two lochs and a few Munros:
I guess this must be the summit? Or is it the next lumpy bump? I'm getting tired of this!
Found it eventually
And there's even a small cairn, suggesting this must be the highest point of this Graham.
I know that lying on the ground is asking for ticks to climb all over you, but I couldn't care less. Surprisingly, we haven't had any so far this year. Touch the wood, we may get lucky and stay away from the wee b*ggers for the rest of the season.
While I nodded off, Kevin spent time photographing. There was no hurry, still plenty of time left, and he wanted to take full advantage of the good viewpoint.
Monadhliath still holding on to some snow. Creag Dhubh to the right:
The western panorama:
The Cairngorms:
The Ben, the Aonachs and Grey Corries:
Not 100% sure but I think this must be Meall Chuaich, with Meall nan Eugan to the left and the Dircs of the Fara to the right:
Lunch served. Wish we could have ice cream for dessert, but fresh apples had to suffice:
Having bagged our 31st Graham we started descending south to Lochan na h-Earba. Funny, both lochs in the glen between the two Grahams and Creag Pitridh share the same name on 1-25k OS map. Maybe it was once one big loch?
The descent was easy on grassy slopes, we cut the corners and walked through the forest (the fence is reduced to rusting fenceposts so it wasn't an obstacle) and soon we were only a short distance away from the "upper" loch:
The causeway is definitely man made, so it is likely these two were once one body of water. It was quiet here, so tranquil:
Binnein Shuas could pass for a mountain in Sahara if not for the snow patches
Walking on the track proved less painful for my blistered foot and as soon as we reached the banks of Moy Burn, I run to fill my bottles... Water, water! Cold mountain water!
The track is a great help for tired legs... I tried to put less pressure on the left one, which harboured the blood blister. it was the nasty type deep-under-the-skin thing, it took ages to cure and even now I still have a purple tattoo on my heel.
But blisters aside, it was a lovely day...
View east along the "lower" Lochan na h-Earba, with Binnein Shios to the left:
We had enough time to study and admire the Ardverikie Wall:
Life can't be better than this...
The whole traverse took us 8.5 hours, which is a stupid time for two Grahams, but in such surrounding we simply couldn't bring ourselves to rush it... Besides, I knew from the state of my left foot, that I needed at least one day off to recuperate. So let the April summer last!
Summing up, the Laggan Twins are real gems, one of the best Grahams I've done so far and definitely worth saving for a good day like we had. All scrambling can be avoided and there are different combinations of routes to do here. One could descend to Loch Laggan to shorten the distance (there is a track along that loch as well, as far as I can remember), but in my humble opinion, our route is the best way to explore the Binneins to the full.
On the drive back home along Loch Lochy, we spotted rescue helicopter hovering over the slopes leading to Ben Tee. We stopped in the nearest layby to take a few snaps. Somebody must have been in troubles on the hill, we saw a person being winched to the copter, "escorted" by one of the crew:
Hope nobody was seriously injured in this accident.
So this was the last of hillwalking days during our April hols. The end of the week suddenly turned cold and very breezy. We managed one low level walk (in showers and freezing wind). Luckily, the next couple of weekends brought back sunshine, at least to some extent, and we added two new Grahams and a duo of Munros to our tally. TR's to come.
