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This eventful day has already been described in detail by Nigel (old danensian) in
his report and I doubt if I can add anything new to the tale, but here it goes...
After bagging a couple of very steep Grahams on Friday (TR still to come) we arrived in Kinlochleven ready for some more action on Saturday! Initially, we had Streap planned, but I couldn't find anybody to join us... Then Rod said he and Nigel were brewing an idea of bagging 3 Corbetts just across the road from Streap, so we jumped on board, not realizing what we were signing up for! I was keen to have a tasty bite of the Corbett cake
Weather in the morning looked good with low winds and blue sky. Little did we know that later on, we would be walking the ridge in snow showers, but that's the beauty of Scotland for you!
Nigel, Rod, David and Penny squeezed into one car and set off from Kinlochleven at 8am, we left five minutes later. For most of the drive, we were stuck behind a stick lorry doing 40mph
and you know the road from Ballachulish to Fort William - no chance of overtaking on the bends! I was almost in the state of banging my head against the windscreen... Eventually, the lorry turned off somewhere in Corpach and we could speed up!
Struggled to find the car park in Callop as it's not marked anywhere, then saw Rod waving at us from a minor track that looked like an entrance to a farm... no wonder we couldn't find it in the first place!
Thankfully the rest of the group were kind enough to wait patiently for us
and we were suited and booted soon, ready to go! We knew the day was going to be long so i packed my torch - just in case! Of curse, we didn't intend to stay up on the hills for that long (the quiz was to start at 9pm or so) but you never know...
The initial stage is easy walking, on tarmac road:
I left the pleasure of taking photos to my husband and joined the rest of the group:
As we looked back, there was a shower right over the summit of Streap and we knew this was going to reach us at some point, but at this stage most of us were still in optimistic mood
A good, dry track leads all the way to a small hydro dam. From this point, we turned to an obvious path. The WH description says "the going becomes quite boggy in places"... I suggested that the authors forgot one word in this sentence - most. The going becomes quite boggy in MOST places. it was like walking on the surface of Spongebob the Squarepants
Despite the squelch, we were still making good progress. In front of us, the long ridge of Druim Tarsuinn was hidden behind a curtain of showers:
To reach the slopes of Druim Tarsuinn, we had to cross Cona Glen, it meant loosing about 100m of ascent and crossing the river. Then it was the matter of which line of attack was the best? We discussed options and decided that we would follow the edge of a small plantation and then the left side of an obvious gully.
Navigation conference
Rod picking the easiest line of descent on the slippery grass:
Negotiating the wet terrain:
Down by the river. I was concerned about the crossing, because the day before we almost drowned trying to find our way across Allt a'Muidhe, but my fears were unfounded. Our planned line of ascent (along the gully) can be seen in the middle of the photo:
At the edge of the forest, the ground became very muddy and studded in weird artifacts, some of the group found that amusing, Penny found it painful when her boots filled with water
But I must say, she pushed on without complaining. Me in her place, I would've been a very grumpy cat!
So we marched on, along the fence and up the gully. The ground lower down was still quite squelchy...
...and as we gained height it got steeper and steeper:
We took a short break by a wee waterfall, for a quick snack and squeezing water out of wet socks...
Lovely spot this:
Looking north across Cona Glen, back to the path we used on the approach, the ridge of Streap on the horizon:
About half way up the slope we crossed the stream and followed the easiest line of ascent, still steep and tiring, but we were gaining height quickly:
Once on the long ridge of Druim Tarsuinn, walking was easier and drier. Kevin stayed behind for a short photo session:
We reached the summit with big smiles - the first Corbett done and dusted! Views from this peak are amazing, but we didn't get much chance for photos. A cold, intense snow shower arrived from nowhere and it stayed with us for another 20 minutes...
First summit bagged!
The long ridge of Beinn Mheadhoinn to the south, another shower passing by:
After a quick lunch by the cairn, wrapped in umpteenth layers, we began the long march along the western ridge of Tarsuinn, thus consisting of countless lumps and bumps. The snow shower passed and we could now see our second target Corbett:
Up one of many bumps on the ridge:
3 min stop to admire the views...
Loch Shiel and surrounding hills, the remotest of remote:
Black Panther turned mad:
The ridge drops to 520 m at Bealach Scamodale, quite a lot of descent and subsequent re-ascent
5 min breather on the bealach:
Looking back at Druim Tarsuinn from the ascent slope:
Now we headed for Sgurr Ghiubhsachain. The first 100m up were very steep, tiring for our legs, but higher up the angle eased off and we could enjoy some nice ridgewalking:
Showers were everywhere around us, passing through Cona Glen:
The ridge of the second Corbett has many false tops so every time we thought it was the summit... nah, there is more to climb further on!
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 097 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
The northern half of Loch Shiel, more showers floating about:
Still mad...
Ready for the final push to the summit of Sgurr Ghiubhsachain:
Druim Tarsuinn:
View south to all the false tops:
The ground near the summit became rockier but no real scrambling just yet:
Kevin was a few meters below me and he had the GPS so I shouted to him, how much ascent left? He answered: one twenty (metres). Sadly, I have a slight hearing loss in my right ear so the word ONE got lost somewhere in transfer, as a result I passed on the good news: it's only twenty meters to the top!!!!
But as we clambered over another false summit, it became obvious that something was wrong with our calculations...
That's definitely more than 20 metres!!!
Cona Glen and another shower passing by:
Wish it was 20 m... Still a long way to go!
Rod admiring Cona Glen:
The dark cloud thickened as we pushed on to the second Corbett:
Beinn Odhar Bheag across Loch Shiel - very moody:
Summit at last!!
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 149 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Photos and celebrations!
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 151 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
With wee Lucy on my Corbett no. 121
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 152 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Group photo:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 154 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
We enjoyed about 10 minutes of clear sky before the next snow shower came and spoiled the pleasure... Kevin managed to take some good photos. Needless to say, all of the three Corbetts we climbed are superb viewpoints.
Cona Glen once more:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 155 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Target no. 3: Sgurr Craobh a' Chaorainn.
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 156 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
The descent from Sgurr Ghiubhsachain was very steep and we took our time on slippery ground, some balancing skills required here!
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 159 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Looking back at the eastern face of Sgurr Ghiubhsachain, hard to believe we managed to negotiate our way down this, especially in given conditions!
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 162 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
One more Corbett left to do:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 165 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
The ascent up the southern flanks of Sgorr Craobh a'Chaorainn was straightforward, a bit wet but mostly grassy, at least until we got to this:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 167 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
We practiced some scrambling on the final stretch to the summit, different ways. I let Kevin find the route as he is better scrambler than me. At some point I felt a bit unsure as the rock was wet and slippery... Needed Kevin to give me a helping hand in one or two places, but managed to haul myself up to the summit ridge eventually
"Steaming" Sgurr Ghiubhsachain:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 170 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Corbett no. 122! (44th for Lucy) I didn't realize it then, but I have only 100 left to do now. 2/3 ow which are too far south for a day visit
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 177 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Rod preparing for the group photo:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 172 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Weather brightening again - view north...
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 178 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
...and south:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 186 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
SW to the countless unclimbed hills on our list!
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 183 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Garb Bheinn:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 185 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
NW to Loch Shiel and Glenfinnian:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 190 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Sunshine on descent:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 199 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
To return to the original path (down in the glen to the right) we had to drop steeply for over 400m:
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 202 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
...but nobody dared to complain at this point, having climbed 3 new Corbetts!
2017-04-22 walkhighlands 205 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Back on the wet path, we enjoyed some more boggy tuft-hopping before returning to more civilized area and the track to the car park
It took us 9.5 hours to complete the circuit and twenty... sorry, over 1400m of ascent over bumpy ground. But nothing can describe the sweet taste of satisfaction after taking a bite of the Corbett cake!
................................................
Many thanks to everyone in the group for joining forces on this trip, especially to Nigel for suggesting the route. If you have any "biting" ideas for future meets, we're in!
I wrote this TR "out of sequence", still have 3 more stories to post from our Easter holidays, plus 2 trips from the May Bank Holidays, so will be busy typing for a while!
