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2-day camp
Date. Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd May 2010
Completed by. Dave, Julie and Wilson
Weather. Hot with blue skies
Time. ?
Distance. 51 km
Ascent. 4260m
Hills. Munro’s x 6
Corbett’s x 2
Beinn an Dothaidh, Beinn Achaladair, Beinn a Chreachain, Beinn Mhanach, Beinn Heasgarnich and Creag Mhor
Beinn Nam Fuaran and Cam Chreag
Starting from.
Bridge the Orchy Hotel
Once again we packed our big bags for a couple of glorious days wild camping in the hills around the Bridge of Orchy. This was always going to be a large round for us with 6 munro’s and 5 Corbett’s planned…
Arrived and set off by 2pm on the Friday, weather was sunny but cool, perfect for walking. We eventually reached the Bealach separating the 2 Munro’s and then headed straight up to the top of Beinn an Dothaidh following the whole ridge and catching the high points as we went.
- Looking to Beinn Alachadairs ridge from Dothaidh
From here the views were fine across Rannoch Moore and beyond, and better still the fine ridge of Beinn Achaladair our next mission looked fantastic. It was a pretty steep drop of Beinn an Dothaidh, but once down there the gentle ridge walk up to Beinn an Achaladair was just what the legs needed.
- Steep descent off
We carried on to Meall Budhe before making the final climb on to Beinn a Chreachain. By this time we were really feeling the pace with the big packs and the warm weather taking its toll. We decide on setting up camp at Gleann Cailliche on the south side of the stream. It seemed a very long and steep drop before we reached the glen. Once down in the Glen we crossed the burn and find our spot for pitching the tent.
Saturday morning arrives and the weather is amazing… Rise 6.15am, sun bathe for a couple of hours. We eventually set off by 10.45 ish for the Munro Beinn Mhanach, we aim for a small looking hanging coire, from there it’s on to the final steep climb prior to the summit.
From here we head SSW down and then up on to our 1st Corbett of this trip Beinn Nam Fuaran. Weather still good, but come the summit 4pm ish the temperature seems to be nearing its peak, still the views are mighty fine with Loch Lyon and the surrounding hills looking superb.
- with the unexpected tracks that we took for heading to Beinn Heasgarnich
Beinn Heasgarnich next, we drop off the East ridge of the Corbett and down to the head of Loch Lyon. We planned to cut over An Stuc and then up to the ridge of Beinn Heasgarnich but our luck is in, and there is a track up the edge of Loch Lyon leading to the glen, from here we head straight up onto the North ridge, only 250m of ascent to go now before the summit is reached. The 700m of ascent have killed our legs we decide on a high camp at the 1029 spot height and hope for some fine views in the morning.
- Creag Mhor looking fine
Sunday morning woke at 5.30 am, rain is dinging it down; it eventually stops 3 hours later. Another late start but now we are moving towards Creag Mhor. Descending via Sron Tarbh we are soon climbing the slopes of Creag Mhor…. Steep to start with, then higher up it becomes very steep with plenty of crags to negotiate through… we decided on a slightly trickier route with some hands on scrambling.
- november 2009
- May 2010
We descend SW round the rim of the coire and on to Stob nan Clach, its from here that the long ridge of the Corbett Cam Chreag comes into view. Looking back now we took the wrong route up to the ridge, I assumed the summit to be nearer the SE end. We ended up on a rather challenging slog to reach the ridge. Even from the ridge I was not 100% sure of where the summit was so I dumped the bag and ran to the SE end of the ridge and stood atop the highest points. I’m sure that it was from here I realised that the summit was at the far end. So another 1km along the ridge we go to reach what turned out to be our last hill of the day.
It was now 4pm as we sat atop Cam Chreag, the other 3 Corbett’s would have to wait!
We decide to descend the N ridge for about1km past the summit and drop into the glen; we skim round the lower SE ridge of Beinn a Chaisteil and pass the waterfall. From here we are soon on the track and make for the underpass/bridge at the horseshoe in the railtrack where we take a well earned 10 mins rest. From here the last 6/7 km seemed unbearable… somehow we found the strength to march it at some pace along the west highland way route to the Hotel at the Bridge of Orchy in 1hr 10 mins.
Would still dearly love to shave some weight off the packs though, my pack is 17km and the wife is carrying about 12km. If we can drop a couple kg from each pack im sure this would be a major boost.