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Our original walk was to take in Meall a'Chrasgaidh, Sgurr nan Clach Geala & Sgurr nan Each which is the walk on here posted by Walkhighlands.. But as you will find out later the walk ended up being changed due to my insistence that crampons were not needed......
So it was, we started from the parking area just passed the plantation on the A832.We got there at 8.45am and there was already 5 cars there so its best to get there early.
- Parking Area
We headed down the road toward a gate and onto a track.
- Beginning of track
After about a km on the track there is a new path on your left which crosses a bridge and takes you away from the boathouse next to Loch a Bhraoin and through the plantation.
- The new bridge taking you away from the boathouse
- The boathouse
This new path has been laid as there are plans to rebuild the boathouse. And it is a good option as the path past the boathouse is very boggy. At the end of the path is a bridge.
We crossed the bridge over the end of the Loch and started on the stalkers path. On the Walkhighlands route it says to go about 50m and turn off, but the track is only about 10m past the bridge. It is very boggy and has been made worse by the use of off road vehicles. This track does lead you to a bridge though which crosses the river (not on the os map) We didn't stay on the track long and decided to head up the west slopes of Meall a'Chrasgaidh.
- The view from the western slopes of Meall a' Chrasgaidh
This was very hard going and it took us around 2.5 hours to reach the summit. We were rewarded with some great views though.
- The cairn on the summit of Meall a' Chrasgaidh
After a quick respite at the summit we moved down to the col at about 810m and looked upto Sgurr nan Clach Geala. We couldn't always see the top due to the cloud hugging the summit but we decided it looked easy enough and headed up the northern slopes toward the 'ridge'...
- On way down from Meall a' Chrasgaidh with Sgurr nan Clach Geala in the background
It was on our way up we passed another couple coming back who said that the snow up top was so hard and slippy they didn't want to risk going up to the summit without crampons......
Oh.... Our crampons were in the car.... We did go up and have a look but it really wasn't worth the risk, so we headed back to the col where we had lunch and revised the route.
A quick look at the map later we decided to take on Sgurr Mor instead. So after lunch we headed up to Carn na Criche.
- View of Sgurr nan Clach Geala
This was a straightforward ascent with another descent on the other side before we finally started making our way up Sgurr Mor.
Due to the snow and ice this was quite hard going again as the path appeared and disappeared under the snow and where there was ice on the path it was quite slippy underfoot. The cloud kept coming and going and when we eventually reached the summit the cloud had almost completely disappeared and we had an excellent 360degree view..
- View of Sgurr nan Clach Geala
After another short break we did contemplate going onto Meall Gorm or Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich, but after checking the time and realising we had forgotten our headlamps as well as our crampons, we decided to head back to the car.
The descent from Sgurr Mor was as precarious as the ascent, but it was nice to almost step on a couple of ptarmigans...
We eventually got back to the col where we had lunch earlier and decided on the best plan of action. We decided to head in a WNW direction and see if we could find the track back (Bad choice). The descent was really boggy and wet underfoot and we both nearly ended up on our backsides on more than one occasion..... Between us there were 17 "Ooh's", 8 "Aah's" 11 "Whey's" and 1 "B*ll*x" from me as I slid into a wee burn..
It seemed to take an age to get back to the off road track we were on earlier and eventually back to the Loch. We were lucky to catch the sunset at the Loch whilst we washed off our boots and gaiters. A perfect end to a great day.
- Sunset at Loch a'Bhraoin
- The sun finally sets
- The track back to the car
We eventually got back to the car about 6pm.