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After my previous trip ( The Saddle via Frorcan Ridge 12 days ago ) with a lack of snow I was looking forward to do something under the snowy conditions as the snow covered most of the hills in the last a few days finally.
I was not sure how much snow will be in the mountains and also about the condition of snow if heavy, wet, soft or icy so I decided to go to the Lawers area and start with Meall Tarmachan, then I will see how is the conditions and how much time I will still have to continue and connect at least the near Corbett Meall nam Maigheach on the North or in case of more remaining time and easier conditions maybe the two Munros opposite over the Lochan na Lairige which would be easier to finish even in darkness if necessary...I was really optimistic about
Otherwise I was decided just to finish the ridge from Meall nan Tarmachan.
The weather forecast was promising, especially for the first part of the day...very good visibility, no much windy..., then light snow and moderate visibility later afternoon...
Well, Meall nan Tarmachan chosen - this option offered some variety of routes and number of hills which can be decided during the walk, depends on the weather, conditions and time.
- Meall nan Tarmachan from the distance in the morning. My car refused to go uphill - stuck on the snowy narrow road shortly after the junction from A827, I managed turning back and then I found a small car park next to A827 after 1.5 km towards East. There is space maybe for 7-9 cars and the car park was empty in the morning ( free of charge ). Because I did not get to the Lawers car park by my car, this circumstances meant another extra walk of 3.5 km ( each way, 7 km in total ) to the usual start point and also the delay dispute my plan to do Meall nan Tarmachan and the Corbett Meall nam Maigheach or the two Munros opposite. I used shortcut via initial path from the car park, then via grass and some boggy areas, fortunately partly frozen
- Meall nan Tarmachan closer now...
- Looking back...sunrise over Loch Tay
- Lawers hills touched by the sun, no much snow on the ground in the lower level
- Climbing Meall nan Tarmachan, more and more snow on the slopes. Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers in the background
- Really deep snow in some areas, sometime I got in up to my waist, but more times between ankles and knees "only"
- First top ahead, after loosing more and more energy and time in the deep snow...Meall nan Tarmachan behind
- Towards East
- ...and towards West, the ridge
- Lochan nan Lairige, the dam and the Lawers hills from higher level
- Looking back...the sun over Loch Tay
- The sun over Loch Tay
- ...and once again a little zoom, the sun lighting on the hills in the distance. Three walkers below , walking up in the snow...
- Another top ahead, Meall nan Tarmachan behind
- The view from the top, towards Meall nan Tarmachan. The ascent looks steepy, time to prepare crampons as the snow is icy, hard and slippy in the steeper parts
- Another view towards the dam and the Lawers hills. Crampons removed as the snow was deep again
- Climbing up...
- The final very steepy ascent, the snow was hard, icy and slippery...steping very carefully, big support by ice axe here, especially in the higher level...
- Looking back down, all the tops done on the way. Loch Tay in the distance
- The summit of Meall nan Tarmachan
- Looking back from the summit, there are two of the three men - one is almost on the top of the steepy ascent, another one is going around to find easier way I think, not sure where is the las one - probably climbing up, hidden somewhere ...I met them on the previous top where I spent some time to add some energy by food and prepared my crampons . We spoke shortly, they wanted to do the ridge...I kept my plans still opened until the summit
- The dam from the summit
- The views towards the ridge
- Some dilemma on the summit, if just continue the ridge to finish the circle as usual route or risk it and try to connect at least the Corbett. The snow made it worse to see any best way for the descending towards North, hard to recognise where is rock or a cliff further, but the time was not bad yet...I decided to risk it and try to connect the Corbett somehow there...
The report continues in the post ( comments ) below.......