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Munros: Ben Wyvis.
Date: 20/11/2016.
Distance: 14km.
Ascent: 990m.
Time: 5 hours.
Weather: Perfect.
I wasn't going to go up any hills this weekend, but on Friday, Gregor mentioned he was keen to go up Ben Wyvis sometime. Sunday looked like a good forecast, so I picked Gregor up shortly after 10am. Before going, I'd had a good preview from the house, and knew it would be a fantastic day if the weather held.
Wyvis from the house:
We opted for the normal route, as most other ways up take a bit longer. The car park was just about full but I managed to squeeze onto the verge. How many times had I smugly driven past this car park knowing that wherever I was headed, the parking would be much easier? In fact I hadn't been on the normal Ben Wyvis route since 2008, being more interested in exploring the longer, boggier approaches more recently.
Heading up the glen:
No need to say much about the ascent - it's pretty obvious. We had decided to leave axes and crampons behind as I didn't expect any real ice or consolidation on the hill. I was mostly right, but low down, the path through the woods was like a skating rink!
An Cabar:
An Teallach:
Gregor doing some bouldering:
Near the top of An Cabar:
Before hitting the plateau, we had a leisurely break near the summit of An Cabar. While there was a bit of a breeze on the way up, it was pretty calm on the plateau.
West across the Fannaichs:
On An Cabar:
Looking towards the summit:
East:
Cromarty Firth:
Ben Mor Assynt:
Torridon and Fannaichs:
Anvil clouds building in the NW:
On the plateau:
Beinn Dearg:
Across Strathbran:
It is certainly one of the busier hills in the north, although not on the same level as Ben Lomond. We had another long stop on the summit, which included a couple of home-made mince pies that Gregor had brought along. The conditions were good enough for skiing - we had noticed some tracks on the way up, and one soon appeared at the summit (it was actually Francis, who I know, but I didn't recognize him immediately due to the amount of blinding lime-green ski-wear!)
Approaching the summit:
Coire na Feola:
Summit picnic:
Beinn Dearg group:
Wyvis had been a good choice, as many of the hills further west had started attracting cloud, with massive anvil clouds building above them. We dropped back down the same way.
Looking back to the summit:
Clouds over Beinn Dearg:
SE from An Cabar:
Folk on the plateau:
Gregor descending An Cabar:
There were some pretty speedy hillrunners out today. One guy who passed us on An Cabar as we were descending had been to the top and caught us up by the time we were at the foot of the steep section. We also bumped into Mountainlove, Yorjik and Yorjik Jnr. here, who had had a good day out.
Sun going down:
An Cabar from Allt a’ Bhealaich Mhoir:
Lower down, it was back onto the skating rink again, where both of us had a couple of near misses. But somehow we both managed to stay upright all the way to the car. A fantastic day out. Ben Wyvis is a pretty good hill actually - it just suffers a bit in comparison to almost everything to the west of it.
Last light on Wyvis:
