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Sunday began with an early start which felt particularly painful as there had been a long and brutal game of Monopoly (still unfinished) the night before. But the promise of blue skies and sunshine had us pile into the car and run for the hills, literally!
As it got light along Loch Lomond the views were beginning to be magical, and coming through Bridge of Orchy and up onto Rannoch Moor I was struggling to keep my eyes on the road. We paused a couple of times for pictures, including the obligatory famous view of the Buachaille where we had a brief comfort break.
The big buckle
Coming though Glencoe was equally stunning. We already had more nice pictures than from our last trip and we hadn't even started walking yet! We arrived at the Grey Mare car park in Kinlochleven, booted up and added several more layers as it was pretty nippy before heading off up the path at 8am.
The path leading through the woods was rocky and steep and before long we were having to shed layers and re-hydrate. During one of these pauses we were passed by a man who said he was doing our route with 5 others. It was comforting to know that there were others on the same mountains as we knew there were likely to be some tricky moments ahead
We kept plodding on and eventually came out of the woods. The terrain eased a little and we were able to look back on the most incredible view down to Kinlochleven and beyond.
a view
Me spoiling the view!
Shadows
We continued on and encountered some very icy sections of path, but fortunately both managed to stay on our feet. Na G was visible on the left, and ahead of us was our route up onto Sgurr Eilde Beag behind which the beast of our first target, Binnein Mor, was hiding.
We were into the snow by now but several people had been up in the previous few days and had trail-bashed for us, making the route clear and walking somewhat easier. The snow was pretty crunchy and not hard to walk on except the odd occasion where one foot sank into a previous deep Yeti footprint!
Give us a wave!
Loch Eilde Mor
We continued on, crossed a stream and followed the zig zags upwards. Looking back, we could see that the other people were heading up to Na G first. Wondering if they knew something we didn't, we continued
Footprints behind
As the path steepened, the day began to get hotter. The sun was beating down on us. I was stripped down to a tshirt!
I was regretting leaving the sun tan lotion in the car (to be honest I'd never even thought about taking it, it was still there from summer. It's not the sort of thing I would think of in February, certainly not the February we've had!
) The views were absolutely stunning; we could see for miles and miles.
What a view, with me blocking it
We continued up the path until the footprints split. One set headed directly up, the others continued round the corner. We went for straight up - get it over with quicker
At least we had the sun on our backs now and it didn't look too bad....
Up there!?
What we should have done was put our crampons on before heading up. But we didn't. Rookie error. Lesson learnt: always put them on before you need them! What followed were some slightly anxious moments and we were very relieved to reach the top, which would have been much much easier with the crampons!
Me plodding upwards
Sgurr Eilde Mor
Now on top of SEB, we could see the rest of our walk ahead of us. The pointy summit of Binnein Mor was pointing to the sky at the end of the very narrow looking ridge and Na G was glinting in the sun off to the left. We added a few layers as it was a little chillier up high, had a quick refuel and photo moment and headed off towards the beast
Binnein Mor and ridge coming into view
What a day!
Enjoying the views
We knew we would need crampons and axes for the ridge out to the summit of Binnein Mor, so paused before the final ascent to the ridge so we would have time to get used to wearing them.
We finally reached the ridge, and it didn't seem anywhere near as narrow as it had from afar thankfully
so we merrily set off down it, drinking in the views.
There was one slightly exposed icy bit but thankfully the crampons made us feel wonderfully secure and we powered on to the summit. We had been warned it was very pointy and it's true, it's very cosy up there!
I felt on top of the world!
That's some view
Nevis and CMD
r
We took many many pictures, then I got out my new toy - I'd "accidentally" bought a GoPro camera during the week so got a full panorama of the views. It was incredible. My camera work, however, needs some practise
Link to VideoAfter a while we started to get chilly, so had a quick drink and headed back down the ridge. As we got closer to it, we started inspecting the ridge out to Na G.
Me leaving the top
Surveying the ridge
It looked pretty narrow. One edge had a drop with a bit of a cornice, the other side was almost as bad in places!
We decided to stop to refuel before tackling it. We met a group of people going the opposite way who had come across unscathed, so we felt a bit more confident!
I finished off my sandwiches accompanied by spectacular views, and we saw a guy climbing up on a pair of skis. He was coming up at some speed - clearly superfit!
The time had come - we headed across the ridge. There were a few very very narrow sections where anyone standing nearby might have heard "don't look down" being whispered, but the majority was enjoyable, and the evidence of footprints was comforting. We walked the last few metres to the summit of Na G and enjoyed even more fabulous views.
Looking back we can see the whole ridge
Na G summit!
Inspecting the Ring of Steall
Loch Leven
I'll admit I was having such a great day that I didn't want to head down yet, so took more pictures than necessary here, but eventually we figured it was time to go and headed down the ridge, following the footprints of all the other people who had come up this way.
With our crampons still on and the snow conditions great, this was a nice descent.
However, it got very steep for several sections towards the bottom and we felt confident that we had tackled the walk in the right direction!
Trying to show how steep it was!
Eventually we met up with our outward path and had to lose the crampons at last. It was very warm now we were lower down and it seemed some of the snow had melted. Unfortunately, the icy patches had not melted and I had my now traditional Bambi moment although by some miracle I managed to stay on my feet
Looking back down Loch Leven
We followed the path back down towards the wooded section where it became steep and was quite hard work for tired legs. Eventually we reached the car at 4 and it was a relief to take the boots and packs off and finish off our water. As I was on driving duties today, I stuffed a sandwich down my gullet, made a brief stop in the Kinlochleven Co-op for ibuprofen (back playing up again), water (ran out) and chocolate (hey, we had earned it!) and headed home, admiring the lovely views again.
It was an absolutely perfect winter day, could not have faulted the conditions in any way. Feeling a little red-faced today (sun burn in February?!) and a whole lot tired, but absolutely worth it
