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Well, if you opened this report expecting to see cracking photos of blue skies and pristine snow, I’m afraid you’ll be a bit disappointed….
Family/home commitments over the last few weeks and the next few to come meant that it was today or nothing until the end of April.
Early omens not good as I drove down the M8 to find the Erskine cut-off closed, then having to come right back up to Paisley for a detour – contemplated going home to bed at this point....maybe should have....
Parked in the wee lay-by just west of the Allt Dhuinn Croisg bridge on the Glen Lochay road NW of Killin, through the well signposted gate and headed up the easy grassy slopes following the early stages of the usual Meall Ghaordaidh track.
Weather not too bad so far, ie I could still see Meall Dhuinn Croisg to the east and glimpses of the hills to the north.
Followed the track fairly close to the west bank of the Allt, past some shieling remains and had to cross a few smaller burns on the way but these didn’t pose any particular problems.
At around 540387, headed off almost due north towards the western side of Carn Shionnach.
Steady walk up towards the summit of Beinn non Oighreag – only problem was that the weather had closed in and I couldn’t see much at all.
Part way up, stopped for crampons, ice axe and waterproof (surprise, surprise...getting wet, windy and chilly
).
There isn’t really a cairn at the top of Oighreag, it’s more a few rocks on top of a bigger rock. Walked on a wee bit but couldn’t see anything. Usual stop for photos of the great view, refreshments etc then headed off. At 909m, it’s only 6m short of the smallest munro of 915m.
Initially retraced my steps to around 541408 before dropping down to cross the Allt na h-lolaire and then up to the 815m top between Creag an Tulabhain and Cam-Chreag. Very useful line of rusty fence posts from just to the side of the top of Oighreag which continued a fair bit of the way towards Cam Chreag. They did disappear from time to time but very handy given the weather conditions.
This was probably the hardest part of the day. The drop down from Oighreag was steep in places necessitating leaving the fence line from time to time – deep, soft snow didn’t really help either. Then came the climb up towards the 815m top through some crags. Couldn’t see at all with frequent white out so decided to stick to a fairly straight west line. In better weather conditions, it may be possible to go slightly further north and then head SW up what looks like easier slopes on the map but that wasn’t for today (didn’t want to chance it).
After a few attempts and some backtracking, eventually got to the 815m top. If there had been some views, I’d have wandered up to Creag an Tulabhain. From here it was a relatively straightforward walk SW to Cam-Chreag where there’s a strange looking rock.
Again, only problem really was the frequency of near/complete white outs. Some of the time there were rocks/boulders appearing but other times it was purely white all round, up and down. A wee bit worrying as there were crags to the south. Continually having to stop/start to check compass direction and the extra time taken to get up to the 815m top were also adding unplanned time to the trip.
After Cam-Chreag, walked NW for a bit before going SW to the summit of Meall Ghaordaidh.
Meall Ghaordaidh has a trig point surrounded by a circular dry stane dyke which gave some shelter from the biting wind.
Didn’t stay long as it was cold and headed off down the normal track from Glen Lochay. On the way down I met two walkers on their way up – the first people I’d met all day. Discussed the fantastic weather and views before going on our merry ways.
Continued down the usual track and joined back on the main track which is marked by a wee cairn.
Had a couple of stops on the way down for refreshments and to remove crampons and extra clothing as it was getting warmer out of the wind. Got back to the car just behind the two walkers I’d met earlier – turned out that they’d decided not to go to the top because of the weather and had come back a more direct route down the side of Ghaordaidh which is why I didn’t see them earlier. Not sure if this is quicker as I had some stops but it might help to get away from the boggy path.