Woke up around 3am and found to my horror that it was snewing. This fuelled various nightmares about being trapped 15 miles from a proper road and having to resort to cannibalism to survive. When it grew light I was happy to see that the snew was very wet and wasn't lying on the road anyway - whew! I decided that we'd do Gairich today, meaning we could walk from the tent and leave it pitched with the car beside it - for some reason this is much more acceptable to me than leaving the tent standing on its own. As we started out the sky was starting to clear, with blue patches spreading. Forecast was for snew showers, but these didn't come our way.


Such a photogenic hill, Gairich

I was a little worried, looking at the steep peak section of Gairich, that avalanche risk might be substantially raised by the overnight snew. We'd gone prepared with snowshoes for the long flat section and indeed these were helpful. My memories of Gairich are of very squelchy bogs, but the going wasn't too bad today, some of the ground was frozen. As we dropped to the first bealach, crossing the Allt Torrain Dharraich we heard the piercing, glacial scream of an eagle, and could make out the receding shape of the bird round the hillside. Upwards by the fenceline then onto the long back of the mountain, snowshoes on when the snew became deeper than was comfortable in boots alone. Across the loch were Spidean and Gleouriach, looking as if they were holding a lot of snew on their south slopes. Ahead rose the slightly intimidating "summer head" with laden steep slopes. We lunched in a hollow then spent some time looking for the best line up.




Gleouriach & Mialach

Pressing on, leaving our snowshoes and poles by a convenient rock just before the steepness began, we armed ourselves with axes and started up the slope. We made for a crag line where it looked possible to cut along protected from the snow-laden slope above. However, once we reached the crags, we were faced with the possibility that we might descend into an unseen cleft - didn't look a great place to be after all. I cut down and round to the left, not much liking the soft thick snew with evidence of snowballing around. Heaving myself over some rocky outcrops we haltingly made progress between 750-850 metres. There were a couple of times I thought about turning back, mostly due to the perceived avalanche risk, but after last weekend's no summits I was more reluctant than usual to give up. I was relieved to feel the snew firm up as I approached the summit, where we were blessed with fine views of the Glendessarry mountains and onward towards Knoydart.
Hmmm...

Glen Kingie

Our way in



Made it


General relief

We now had to retrace our steps, which was a little bit hairy in places, but soon enough we were back at the rock where we'd left our snowshoes and could enjoy the walk out knowing there were no risks attached. The sky was blue, the sun warm and we ended up walking in baselayers. Had some fun building a small snew guardian on the way down. Back at the tent we were able to sit in the sun enjoying a salty snack until the shadows lengthened and the sun fell below the horizon.
Allison descending one of the steeper sections

The Ben rears its head


Mialach



Overnight there was a hard frost, which pleased me as I reckoned this would firm up the snowpack on our hills. Up fairly early just after 7 and ready to start up Spidean Mialach by 8.30. Rhododendrons have really taken over the hillside - tenacious little fellows, ousting even gorse bushes in their pursuit of hillside domination. The path was iced over, a little difficult to follow where the snew was thick, but we pressed onwards. I wanted to climb the Sim of Meall a'Mheil on the way, which was achieved by a steep snowy ascent. Wind was considerable at 600m which didn't fill me with comforting thoughts as to how it would be at 1000m.
Sgurr na Ciche

Some of my favourite hills

Approaching Meall a'Mheil



Mialach - still reasonable visibility, but not for long

We came off Meall a'Mheil, avoiding the cornicing, and looked for the safest line up Mialach. There looked to be a shoulder between Coire Dubh and Coire Glas where there was at least some ground showing through the snew - however by the time we got above 650m we had entered {{The White Room}} and saw nothing from that point on. It was a little hair-raising, walking into blankness with no idea if there were drifts above that might give way. As we climbed some windslab started to come away - not much but enough to rack up the tension. The main concern was the summit of Spidean being a narrow triangle, with steep drops on the other two sides...I was relieved to see some rocks under the snew in the last 50m or so and we made it to the almost buried cairn solely by GPS. High wind, cornices and {{The White Room}} - a triumvirate of devils which meant there was no sense in trying to make for Gleouriach today.
Gleouriach

Spidean Mialach - in the white room

We turned back, found our footprints had almost all been erased by the wind in the couple of minutes we'd been at the top, and stepped off again into the white, following the GPS route down. Came out of the clag about 700m, stopped for lunch then headed back to the car. There's no sadness at not getting along to Gleouriach today - this part of Scotland is somewhere I'm always happy to re-visit. Just need to choose a good day next time

Some visibility again - around 750m

More weather coming in

Rhododendron take over


