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Date. Sunday 23rd January 2011
Completed by. Dave, Julie and Wilson
Weather. Cloud but clear for short intervals, no wind but cold on the summits
Time. 7 hrs
Distance. 17.3 km
Ascent. 1661m
Hills.
Munro’s x 0
Corbett’s x 3
Grahams x 0
Beinn a Chaisteil Beinn Chaorach and Beinn Odhar
Starting from.
Auch… road edge of A82
Another week comes another walking plan. So I made the decision to do this Corbett circuit that I had been putting off for the last while.
Last year we did a 2-day wild hike in the Bridge of Orchy area, this was always going to be an ambitious round especially as we were trying to catch the 5 Corbetts that sit around Auch estate on the way out.
Suffice to say the route took its toll on our bodys, and because of that we only managed Beinn nam Fuaran and Cam Chreag on our final day when heading out.
So the time comes when the wife (jools) asks “what’s our plans for this week then”. She hates Corbetts, and I took great pleasure in telling her of my intended plan. HaHa.
I had planned starting with Beinn Odhar but while walking down Auch ‘s estate road it was mightily hard not to notice how steep the SW face of Beinn Chaisteil was. If we did this route anti-clock wise as planned we would more than likely have to try and find a route down from the summit via the SW face. I never fancied that so we decide on doing it clockwise by heading up the SW first.
This turned out to be a fantastic choice, the higher we climbed the craggier and steeper it got. We kept to the left of the main gully until we were about 650m up then headed diagonally for a bit till we reached a short snow covered SW ridge. From this point it was a fine walk up the ridge and around the Coire head to the summit.
- This was taken on the way out Beinn a Chaisteil
- Beinn Bhreac-liath
- heading for the short SW ridge
- summit in sight
- looking down the short ridge
- Wilson prior to the summit
- Beinn a Chaisteil summit
- over to Beinn Odhar from Beinn a Chaisteil
- we have no idea how this dog manages to see with hair like that.
No views at this point. We just carry on down the SE ridge for about 3km / 4km then head up onto the bealach that separates Cam Chreag and Beinn Chaorach, leaving a climb of about 180m for the summit of our second Corbett Beinn Chaorach.
- Beinn Dorain and Beinn a Chaisteil
- Towards Ben Challum from Beinn Chaorach
- looking to Beinn Odgar
NW sits Beinn Odhar our final summit of the day. Another leg burning, bone crunching and Knee jerking descent was needed.
I was now beginning to understand why Julie dislikes Corbetts so much.
On the descent I had to fit my knee support and take a couple painkillers combined with anti-flamitries. I was sure I heard her muttering under her breath something about being a wimp !
Eventually we topped out on the summit, the clouds had lifted a bit and we managed to see the views. What a fantastic viewpoint this was for all the surrounding hills. I lost count of all the hills I knew and of all the ones I didn’t.
- Ben Lui and friends
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- Beinn Dorain , Beinn Dothaidh and Achaladair. Also the SW ridge we ascended on Beinn a Chaisteil.
- Pano
- Julie and Wilson on Beinn Odhars summit
- A wee gem of a hill
- Beinn Dorain again
- over to Black Mount
- Stob nan Clach
- Beinn a Chaisteil
Pick of the day was going up Beinn a Chaisteil via the SW. This really is a gem of a hill. The SW route up and the SE ridge down was fine.
We ended up doing a bit of contouring around the hill as there were bulls in the field near the bridge ( NN 331 353 ) that we were going to use on our exit.