free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
This bright idea was the brainchild of Martin who is determined to increase his Munro tally and make the most of his infrequent visits north of the Border.
After umpteen messages on FB we agreed to meet up on the Friday before the WH meet, that I couldn't make due to weekend 'doggy sitting' duties
I had also posted our intentions on meets thread and George (dibs) popped up out of the woodwork and was keen to join us. As George stays in Dunfermline (just up the road from me) we arranged a meeting point and then headed west. I had arranged for us to meet up at the Glencoe Visitor Centre at 10am for a coffee, the later start was designed to miss the heavy early morning rain.
It was raining off and on but nothing too serious. We parked up in the car park close to the start and got ready for action.
No danger of dinging doors
My camera was in my rucksack for the start of the walk whilst the rain was drizzling down, so there are no early photo's. Having said that there isn't really anything to photograph until a fair bit of height is gained.
Definitely a bit more water than usual
Plenty of water coming off the high ground
Splashing uphill
New hydro track?
First stop for fuel
Good view ruined
First glimpse of Sgurr Eilde Mor
Looking across to Binnein Mor
Loch Eilde Mor in the background
Loch Eilde Mor & Loch Eilde Beag
Looking south to Glencoe
Schiehallion zoomed a wee bit
Above zoomed a bit more
Interesting pose
Sgurr Eilde Mor summit
Someone rushing to have his photo taken
Nearly there
Wimped out, which was understandable as it was very gusty
Zoomed
Descent off Sgurr Eilde Mor, mini version of the "great stone chute" on Skye
Next target Binnein Beag
After the descent of Sgurr Eilde Mor, there is quite a bit of descending down to about 600m before the long trek to the foot of Binnein Beag - which is the smallest of the Mamores. Having said that it doesn't matter what angle you look at it from it still looks an impressive little lump
Looking across to Binnein Mor and the long ridge that goes along to Sgurr Eilde Beag on the left
What is Martin pointing at?
Start of the ascent of Binnein Beag
Looking across to our next target Binnein Mor
At this point we were surveying all the ascent option of Binnein Mor, I had a couple of routes on my phone (thanks simon b for one of them), however we binned the idea of scaling BM from the east. We decided to head to the right, if you can see the 2 small patches of snow and another to the right - our plan was to ascend between the snow patches. My concern was the ridge, for obvious reasons we had no idea what the ridge was like underfoot, it was also very blustery
Looking back towards Sgurr Eilde Mor
Binnein Beag summit
Looking across to the Ben with it's own cloud
Descending off Binnein Beag
Now it was time to tackle the high point of the day, we knew it was going to be tough and guess what, it was
Martin had a cunning plan to pace himself uphill, count to 50 steps on one leg, it was a good plan however the 50 was almost down to single figures as we neared the ridge
Looking back to Binnein Beag
We are going to head to the right of the 2 snow patches, it doesn't look steep but George will tell you otherwise
Indicates the angle of ascent
Waiting for the stragglers
Posing on the ridge in front of the Ben
Looking up to the summit of Binnein Mor
Looking back down the ridge towards the Ben
Looking down on the 'tiny' Binnein Beag
Almost on the small summit of Binnein Mor
Posing again - yawn, yawn
Final target at the end of the ridge Na Gruagaichean
More posing, had to hunt around for this snow
Great shot of the ridge up to BM
The ridge along to Na Gruagaichean
Loch Leven underneath the cloud
Summit of NG
The way down, Kinlochleven in the distance
The shoulder down
For anyone who hasn't been in the Mamores the descent off Na Gruagaichean is easy to start, there are a couple of useless cairns at the end of the shoulder, unless you want a suicidal descent you have to head west. There is an intermittent path so it is a matter of surveying the way down that suits your ability, our descent wasn't easy but that was purely because of the very damp grass, which certainly when descending is a recipe to end up on one's backside
My camera was back in my rucksack as it was snowing as we descended the shoulder, so here are a couple of shots off my phone
Looking north to Coire na ba
Looking down on Kinlochleven & Loch Leven
Considering the doom and gloom weather forecast we were very lucky to get views on all 4 summits, a huge thanks to both my colleagues I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did
This was mine and Martin's first Munro since Gill's compleation last year. I have to say it really is a treat to walk on paths
My legs are fine today, however I can't say the same about my feet, I have friction like burns just below both ankles as a result of soaking wet feet AGAIN
I have contacted Salomon with a view to getting my boots replaced as the stitching is coming apart and to describe the boots as waterproof is a bit of a joke
Next for me will be a solitary Donald - Moorbrock Hill that needs to be visited, probably next Friday