Seeing lost souls..

[weedavie]

This was a standard route but hey, there was incidental interest. I'd decided to carry snowshoes. They add a couple of kilos to a winter pack but I wouldn't need crampons or ice-axe. The snowline was about 600 metres and only one person had been ahead of me since the fall. Judging by the depths of his steps he could have used the snowshoes. I was skipping along the frozen surface.

Anyway I left the track to go straight line and then with a variable surace, it was worth putting the snowshoes on. I met a handsome ptarmigan before the summit.

From about 600 metres away I could see someone leaving the summit. At the summit I tried to get a photo of a Brocken spectre but it wouldn't quite form.

I could also see two figures in the distance heading west as I intended to go.

The mist now closed in and I took off the snowshoes and belatedly took out my compass and started counting steps. From time to time I came across the footsteps of the two figures I'd seen. Then just before I started dropping into Glen Mhairc they disappeared, and I never encountered them again. I suspect they were the two walkers who were benighted and then rescued on Saturday morning.

As I dropped into the glen I was stumbling. So it was snowshoes on again and from there to the summit of Beinn Mheadhonach they really paid their way.

Hard snow, soft snow and drifts as I got lower down just got glided over. Last time I crossed the burn in winter, it was tricky with iced rocks. Now there was an ice bridge and the distributed weight on the shoes gave total confidence.

Going back up, I eased over drifts, then the crampon and the nifty device for raising my heels made the ascent like going up a staircase.

You could barely see across the glen from the summit and there was no urge to linger. As I descended an eagle rose from the glen then did a majestic exit towards Beinn a'Ghlo. I took off the snowshoes, located the hobbit bridge, then stumbled back to my bike at the Marble Lodge bridge.

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[dogplodder]

I've never used snowshoes and thought they were useful on the level but not so much on any kind of gradient. Did you find any difficulty when the slope steepened? I suppose it would depend what kind of snow it was.

[Alteknacker]

Very interesting & timely report - I'm just considering whether to get some snow shoes. Sounds like they really worked for you.

What type are they?

[weedavie]

I've never used snowshoes and thought they were useful on the level but not so much on any kind of gradient. Did you find any difficulty when the slope steepened? I suppose it would depend what kind of snow it was.

The only consideration about snow is that you need enough. They're fantastic going steeply uphill because of the crampon

and the little bar you can raise that keeps your feet level while the shoe is pointing up.

I've never really worked out how you traverse a steep slope. While going steeply downhill is good it does take care, practise and a bit of nerve (you feel they're going to act like skis.)

But they're good in soft snow, excellent in powder and really satisfying on breakable crust, as they distribute your weight and let you glide where others are plungeing through.

[weedavie]

Very interesting & timely report - I'm just considering whether to get some snow shoes. Sounds like they really worked for you.

What type are they?

They are MSR Lightning Ascent, which it looks like you can get for under £200, less than I paid 8 years ago. They weigh about 1 kilo each and they're bulky, though my Deuter 45 litre bag has fittings for them which takes away annoyance. They're dead easy to step into, of the four straps you see, only the heel is a bit footery.

It means they're not the pain to take off and put on that crampons can be. As I've noted elsewhere, I chiefly use them walking solo because of the resentment that builds up because I'm faster and not breaking snow.