Ridiculous week part 5 - the third brother

[Beery Hiker]

HalfManHalfTitanium was taking a day off on the Thursday of our Invergarry week. The rest of us headed up past Loch Cluanie and the Inn, leaving the car at the layby at the Allt a'Choire. After following the path up the stream we headed up through the mist on a steep grass slope.
DSCF9540 by HH, on Flickr

Before long the south Cluanie ridge appeared above the cloud
DSCF9541 by HH, on Flickr

DSCF9542 by HH, on Flickr

Further up the slope we had a nice view back up Coire Tholl Bhruach towards Sgurr a'Bhealaich Dheirg

DSCF9543 by HH, on Flickr

Soon we had passed points 843 and 854 and were heading up towards Sgurr an Fharail, where we could look back at the corniced ridge
DSCF9544 by HH, on Flickr

... and over Loch Cluanie
DSCF9545 by HH, on Flickr

Soon we were at the first top. At this point two of our party rested while we donned crampons for the snowy summit ridge.
DSCF9546 by HH, on Flickr

After crossing some deep snow and scrambling up the rocks we reached the snowy plateau of Aonach Meadhoin
DSCF9548 by HH, on Flickr

where we could look past Sgurr a Bhealaich Dheirg towards the Cuillin
DSCF9549 by HH, on Flickr

north towards Beinn Fhada and Sgurr nan Ceathramhnan
DSCF9550 by HH, on Flickr

and back towards Sgurr an Fhuarail with A'Chralaig behind
DSCF9552 by HH, on Flickr

Returning to Sgurr and Fhuarail, the upper section of the icy north ridge looked deceptively easy
DSCF9553 by HH, on Flickr

But soon we were in the shade on deeper snow with an icy crust
DSCF9555 by HH, on Flickr

looking on towards Ciste Dhubh
DSCF9557 by HH, on Flickr

All that remained was the boggy walk back towards the Cluanie Inn
DSCF9558 by HH, on Flickr

in the shade, with the prospect of evening sunshine ahead
DSCF9559 by HH, on Flickr

The walk back was enlivened by a dispute over whether to take the short cut over the stream to the track on the west side. This gained some of us a few minutes at the expense of some very wet boots. At the Cluanie Inn, HalfManHalfTitanium was waiting for us, and was able to save us the walk up the road to collect the car.

[HalfManHalfTitanium]

Great to see the "story" of the day I missed. Looks like another glorious day on the hills.

Some excellent photos in there too. I especially liked the one westwards from the summit with Skye in the distance, and the one of the snow and ice and the party descending the north ridge. The three figures, the curving shadow, and the ripples on the snow make it a truly Alpine-looking photo!

[litljortindan]

You certainly hit the weather jackpot. Don't know if I could manage walking over consecutive days like that now but maybe I'll try alternate days if we get another spell like this.