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Having spent what had been forecasted to be an excellent Saturday for walking conditions, I spent it at home nursing a hangover. Sunday's forecast was even better and promised perfect winter walking conditions, so i was absolutely determined to get out. After some mulling over of options with Scoob and Fi, and after a few useful hints on the TH Facebook page, we decided upon the two Corrour munros, but to do them in a loop of the two ridges from the Rannoch side, adding in the corbett of Beinn Pharlagain, if time allowed.
Of course planning these trips is easy, actually getting out of bed at 4:30am then trying to force down breakfast when you can barely open your eyes is quite another. Then you have the added bonus of a completely iced over car
Nonetheless, I arrived in what i thought was good time at Kinloch Rannoch, forgetting of course that the actual start point is 16 miles further along a tedious narrow and twisty road
A Colin Macrae-esque 15 minutes later and I was a mere 5 minutes late. We started off up the Road to the Isles, which sounds like an ancient romantic through road, but is in fact (especially 15 miles later) a spirit crushing trod in B2 boots over loose hardcore/stones. Still we made good progress and the clearing skies offered us glimpses of what was to come.
Looking ahead to our route
Dramatic early morning clouds and colours
I forgot to take a photo of it, but the hydro scheme seems to have incorporated a massive secret bunker just after the bridge crossing. Either that or early preparations are being made for the inevitable falling out between Trump and Putin
We continued up and took the track that heads between the two ridges, soon leaving it to head directly up the nose of the ridge. This was quite easy-angled and the snow here not too troubling, indeed it was better than what i imagine would be a pathless heather-bash underneath. We gained height quickly and the angle of the ascent started to ease off just as the views really opened up. What a day this was turning out to be...
The view back south 
There were now long stretches of deep-ish snow on the ridge, which made for some fairly slow-going, however we eventually picked up the tracks of a walker further along which would their way round what I would imagine was some fairly boggy terrain underneath the snow. Still, any effort expended was more than compensated for by the now fantastic views everywhere.
Across to Schiehallion
There were fabulous views particularly to west, with the hills of Glencoe, the Mamore and Nevis to Easains all perfectly visible, looking like great islands in a sea of cloud. This was my first proper inversion and I could hardly take my eyes off it.
Pano of pretty much the Western Highlands
The Mamores and Ben Nevis
The ridge itself has a good few minor humps and hollows with the ice and snow covering a few small lochans and peat hags, but it's certainly an enjoyable stretch of walking, even more so in conditions like this. We saw a couple of other walks in the distance who were away back down to Corrour before we reached the massive summit cairn.
Approach Carn Dearg's summit
We soon reached the sizeable cairn, and stopped for a well-earned bit of scran and took a few more photos of the sensational views all round. It had taken near 5 hours to reach this point. The summit is almost exactly 10K from the start of the walk. The snow (and numerous stops and gawping at the views) had slowed us down more than we had expected. but there were still no concerns over finishing the round in daylight.
Carn Dearg Summit
A look back south along the Carn Dearg ridge
Heading to Mam Ban
The next target, Sgor Gaibhre
We headed down to Mam Ban in deepish snow for the straightforward ascent of Sgor Gaibhre. The advantages of winter walking shining through, as I suspect this little section is usually a bit of a bogfest. The ascent itself seemed longer than expected as we trudged up through the snow, finally reaching the summit 90 minutes after leaving Carn Dearg. The views again were tremendous.
Late afternoon light on Loch Ericht
We didn't stay at the summit long given the time issues and headed down the ridge, eventually to the final ascent towards Meall na Meoig, the true summit of Beinn Pharlagain, via numerous intermediate bumps and hollows. It was a hugely enjoyable walk on a wide ridge though with the snow covered hills around bathed in golden light.
The omnipresent Schiehallion
The sun drops ever lower...
We soon reached the final ascent to Meall na Meoig just as the sun was setting. It was an absolute slog on tired legs breaking trail through deep snow. However a couple of looks back as the pinkish glow on the hills eased the pain a little
However the summit once we got there, was worth the effort. The views from here, even in fading light were superb.
Light fading a little
The last light of the day
Again we left the summit sharpish. With the sun gone the temperate absolutely nosedived, and we needed to get moving. We headed down to the bealach with the other top of the corbett then headed down to the glen on west side of the burn towards the Allt Eigheach. Crossing this didn't prove too hazardous even in icy conditions and were soon on the initially snowy track.
However once the snowline was passed, the walk out on B2 Scarpas became absolute purgatory. However i still had the brilliantly clear starry night sky to take my attention from time to time. My feet though were in tatters by the time I got to the car. I also hadn't realised how cold it was, finding that my rucksack had gained a layer of frost, and my water bottle almost stuck to my lips when taking a drink
However this was just a tiny minus on what was without question one of my favourite days in the hills. Amazing views, cloud inversions and great company. What more do you need?
For anyone else wishing to do these two, I'd highly recommend this route over the time limited walk from Corrour Station. It's a great circuit in winter, if you don't mind walking the track by headtorch at the end.
