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Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]


Postby HighlandSC » Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:07 pm

Route description: Ben Wyvis, near Garve

Munros included on this walk: Ben Wyvis

Date walked: 14/08/2009

Time taken: 7 hours

Distance: 15 km

Ascent: 1020m

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Date - Date: Sat 15/08/2009
Hills - Ben Wyvis
Route - One way route - ascending An Cabar and descending down Tom a Choinnich.
Weather - Poor/Horrible (varying rain all day, WIND, surrounded by cloud most of day)
Attendees - Me & Colin
Time - 7 hrs 30 mins
Distance - 15.5 km
Ascent - 1020 m
Max Altitude -1046 m


Image


Benwyvistomachoinnich.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



Route - ascending An Cabar and descending down Tom a Choinnich.

Would it clear?
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Maybe...
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Maybe not....
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Me, spoiling the best view we would get all day!
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We both agreed our newly purchased walking poles made a great difference (especially descent and through the bog later on!). As shown here they are also useful for pointing at rare gaps in the cloud.
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Things cleared a little as we approached the summit (Glas Leathad Mor), but it was still raining and extremely windy! - little did we know the worst was yet to come.
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Great we made it, now lets get out of this rain and wind
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so the 2 man shelter get's it's first outing. I can't praise this thing enough, what a joy to get comfortable and have lunch on a wild wet and windy summit. How we laughed looking out the window of our newfound warm cosy house as the summit cairn took a battering...
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Lunch over, shelter packed away, and we leave Glas Leathad Mor and head towards Tom a Choinnich. We checked the map, took a bearing and headed off...well Colin headed off ahead as I thought now's maybe a good time to also switch on GPS just in case we lose ourselves completely. We had agreed before proceeding to do a 100m or so at a time, always ensuring we were en route. Novices that we are, I was impressed with our so far self taught skills, at no point were we far from a retreat to a known location (there's a lot of poles/trig points/cairns betweens these 2 tops) and we made ourselves aware of what we were likely to find if we strayed too far the wrong way.
Image

Visibility worsened from here on, and the wind was so hard it made the rain proper face stinging stuff, you just couldn't face into it. Suddenly the huge expense of all this rain gear all made perfect sense :lol: (maybe one more trip like this and I'll even be convinced I wasn't robbed £17 for a waterproof map cover!....but it to was still invaluable).

The camera was left in it's pouch as we concentrated on battling on, we made it to Tom a Choinnich, then caught a lucky break in the cloud and could see the line we wanted to take on the descent - along Allt a Gharbh Bhaid and into the Garbat Forest. We navigated the breaks in the forest back to the main path and to the car park.

Relieved to make it down and ready to for some bog walking to the forest..
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We came down here..
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Then went down there...
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Eventually connecting with the main track, and looking a bit drained I must say!
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Crossing the bridge over Allt a Gharbh Bhaid
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The track then connects back to the main path and it's a short walk back down the path to the car park.

Job done. A great adventure this time. And a lot learned since our [click to view =>]stroll in the sunshine on the same mountain 2 weeks before.

My first real test of rain/strong wind/navigation/bog/cloud/poor visibility/jumping streams/quite a long walk. All brilliant fun, very enjoyable, and a cracking adventure.

Til next time....
Last edited by HighlandSC on Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:57 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby mountain coward » Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:25 am

Great report - was wondering what that would be like in bad viz. So it needs wellies rather than walking boots right? :lol:
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby Paul Webster » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:14 am

HighlandSC wrote:Til next time....


Will it be Ben Wyvis again :lol: :wink:
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby HighlandSC » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:56 am

:lol: No!!

Cairngorm plateau :) (with a teacher...)
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby munrowalker » Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:11 pm

HighlandSC wrote:We went up Ben Wyvis again


Again, is it that good a hill? Remember there are 283 others :D :D :D :D :D :D
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby HighlandSC » Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:34 pm

:lol: Has someone made a list of them?
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby HighlandSC » Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:56 pm

Finally worked out how to export the GPS track from my phone....looks a bit odd!! (we teleported from An Cabar to Glas Leathad Mor - then flew in a straight line back to car! :lol: )

Apart from the blank space, it's pretty much right.

EDIT 07/09/2009: Main post now updated with correct route map/profile

IGNORE THIS ONE (Just laugh at it...)
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Last edited by HighlandSC on Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:04 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby Michelle » Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:09 pm

Teleportation- neat trick that!! :lol:

(I suspect this is also how Doogz manages some of those rather impressive hill times!)
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby munrowalker » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:13 pm

HighlandSC wrote::lol: Has someone made a list of them?


Yup, and thinking about adding the Munros and Tops, Corbetts and Tops, Grahams and Tops, Donalds and Tops, Marilyns, HuMPs, Murdos, Hewitts, Nuttalls, Buxton & Lewis, Deweys, Wainwrights, Birketts and County Tops!

How sad am I!
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby alanm » Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:25 pm

munrowalker wrote:
HighlandSC wrote::lol: Has someone made a list of them?


Yup, and thinking about adding the Munros and Tops, Corbetts and Tops, Grahams and Tops, Donalds and Tops, Marilyns, HuMPs, Murdos, Hewitts, Nuttalls, Buxton & Lewis, Deweys, Wainwrights, Birketts and County Tops!

How sad am I!


Whats a HuMP?? :lol:
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby Alan S » Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:19 am

good report again
if you dont mind me asking how much did you pay for your bivvy bag and where did you get it ?
ive been meaning to get one for a while

thanks alan
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby munrowalker » Wed Aug 19, 2009 6:42 am

alanm wrote:
munrowalker wrote:
HighlandSC wrote::lol: Has someone made a list of them?


Yup, and thinking about adding the Munros and Tops, Corbetts and Tops, Grahams and Tops, Donalds and Tops, Marilyns, HuMPs, Murdos, Hewitts, Nuttalls, Buxton & Lewis, Deweys, Wainwrights, Birketts and County Tops!

How sad am I!


Whats a HuMP?? :lol:


"Marilyns have a minimum drop (reascent from another Marilyn) of 150m on all sides. They were supplemented in 2007 with the HuMPs (Hundred Metre Prominence) which reduces the minimum drop to 100m. There are currently 2994 HuMP"http://www.biber.fsnet.co.uk/database_notes.html
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby HighlandSC » Wed Aug 19, 2009 7:32 am

alan sherry wrote:good report again
if you dont mind me asking how much did you pay for your bivvy bag and where did you get it ?
ive been meaning to get one for a while

thanks alan


See http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1581
I've just put up a post with info about them.
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Re: Ben Wyvis (via Tom a Choinnich) [rain/wind/cloud....]

Postby alanm » Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:10 am

Whats a HuMP?? :lol:[/quote]

"Marilyns have a minimum drop (reascent from another Marilyn) of 150m on all sides. They were supplemented in 2007 with the HuMPs (Hundred Metre Prominence) which reduces the minimum drop to 100m. There are currently 2994 HuMP"http://www.biber.fsnet.co.uk/database_notes.html[/quote]

I see. Thanks very much. Flipping heck thats a lot of hills!
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