Snowy Beinn a'Bheithir via Schoolhouse Ridge

[thorburn7]

Been driving past this great mountain for years and finally got round to tackling it as the first footing of 2018.
Had been debating which mountain to choose with the other ramblers in the group and originally were going to head for Ben Lui. But I had already done those Munros and was shamelessly trying to persuade the guys to pick something so I could increase my Munro count.
With the promise of clear skies, a great view of Loch Linnhe / Loch Leven and the added bonus of the schoolhouse ridge my jedi mind tricks had succeeded.

Left Greenock at 5:30am and made the 2.5hr journey up to Ballachulish. Excitement was pulsing through us as we set off towards the fabled Schoolhouse ridge with the snow capped Beinn a'Bheithir looming above.

We gained a good deal of height before the sun rise.
1 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

From our vantage point on the ridge the view down to Ballachulish was great, the snow capped Mamores could be seen in the distance with the Pap of Glencoe evident as usual.
2 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Bidean nam Bian in the distance with a few rays of light from the rising sun reflecting off the summit.
3 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Group photo on the schoolhouse ridge just before the hands on scrambling begins. Conditions were pretty good with not alot of ice so managed to get up quite easily.
4 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Scaling the Schoolhouse ridge. This is great bit of scrambling and a probably much easier in winter than the likes of Curved Ridge or the Aonach Eagach.
27140304_10155661374543122_1478397546_o by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Photo of me on top of Sgorr Bhan (Munro top) with Sgorr Dhearg in the background. The ridge was looking immense from here.
5 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

After a quick chocolate bar and drink we made our way onto the ridge to start the ascent of the days first Munro.
8 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Summit selfie on top of my 122nd Munro.
10 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

From the summit of Sgorr Dhearg we got some spectacular views but best of all was that of the next target of the day - Sgorr Dhonuill
9 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Me posing on the descent from today's first Munro with number 2 in the background.
13 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

On the ascent of Sgorr Dhonuill looking back from where we came.
14 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Final destination in sight. Summit of Sgorr Dhonuill looking magnificent from here.
15 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

Summit number 123. Sgorr Dhonuill. Great day out with this bunch.
18 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

View from the final summit looking north towards the Ballachulish bridge and Loch Linnhe.
16 by Matthew Thorburn, on Flickr

We descended down into Gleann a'Chaolais quite quick as we slid on our bums most of the way. This is the best reason for climbing mountains in winter! haha

Down through the forest and then back to the car by the road.

No outing in Glencoe is complete without visiting the Real Food Cafe for dinner

[Mal Grey]

Great photos, and a grand day out. They're great hills these.

That ridge is one of the best winter ascents I've done, as it wasn't hard enough to be properly scary but felt like you were properly mountaineering Navigation of the curving ridge to the first Munro afterwards WAS proper scary though, thanks to a proper and complete whiteout, total compass trust and pacing. Found the trig point OK, but was even scarier leaving it on a bearing, not being able to see more than 10 feet ahead...

[spiderwebb]

Stunning pics, one of my favourites these two. Was hoping to catch them on a good day a couple of weeks back but the weather wasn't playing ball. Very jealous