walkhighlands

The Top Ten in 24 hours (nearly!)

Munros: Aonach Beag (Nevis Range), Aonach Mòr, Ben Lawers, Ben Macdui, Ben Nevis, Braeriach, Cairn Gorm, Cairn Toul, Càrn Mòr Dearg, Sgòr an Lochain Uaine

Date walked: 13/08/2023

Time taken: 26 hours

Distance: 75.7km

Ascent: 5572m

After doing the 3 peaks challenge solo in May I was looking for another challenge. I had loosely thought about doing the 10 highest munros in one trip for a while and had even sketched out a rough plan including avg driving times between locations and an esitmate of the time taken to do the hills. I would be running as much as possible and trying to cover the ground as quickly as possible. I had done all of the hills before which gave me some confidence that in fair weather navigation shouldn't be too much of a concern. I then began to wonder if the whole thing from start to back to the car at the end could be done in 24 hours?

My plan (coming from the Glasgow area) was to tackle Ben Lawers first, drive to the Sugarbowl car park and then tackle the Nevis 4000ers last. The weather was set to be reasonably fair with some rain expected overnight 13/08 into 14/08. My thinking was if I set off from Glasgow around 6pm I would get the best of the light and also the roads would be less busy. I recalled that Lawers had a very good path and would hopefully be easy to follow in low light/darkness. I would hopefully be down and back the 13km or so and in the car shortly after 10pm. Then roughly 2 hours to the Sugarbowl car park.

The length of time for this section was less certain. I optimistically thought the 34.5km or so coukld be covered in around 7 hours. The plan was to veer off the path up the right handside of the Chalmain Gap and then summit Braeriach traversing along to take in Sgor An Lochain Uaine and Cairn Toul before cutting down steep slopes to the Lairig Ghru. I would then go up the other side of the glen and take in Ben Macdui and Cairngorrm before returning to the Sugar Bowl. I guesstimated it would then be around 7am. Back in the car and around an hour and 40 mins to Ben Nevis.

I would then set off up the Tourist track over the Ben to take in the CMD, over to the Aonachs before heading down into Glen Nevis for a lonely 13km or so trek (probably in darkness) back to the car. Again I optimistically thought this 28km or so could be done in around 7 hours. Although shorter than the Cairngorms section it would likely be rougher underfoot and involved more up and down.

This would meanI would be back at the car early afternoon and well wtihn 24 hours right?


Ben Lawers

The drive to Lawers seemed to take longer than usual. There were a few campers in the car park but otherwise I was alone. I didn't take much with me as I anticipated a quick up and down here. The late evening light was starting to fade so I had the headtorch on from the start. The light faded quicker than expected and rain slowly started and was suddenly torrential. I had stupidly thought I could preserve my eyes by wearing my glasses for this section (not wanting to put the contact lenses in too early). Big mistake. The glasses were useless by now and I was struggling to focus on the GPS. I got hopelessly lost for about 10 mins at around 1,000m. I managed to compose myself and eventually found the summit of Beinn Ghlas. A short time later and I wasa on the summit of Ben Lawers 1/10. The torrential rain seemed to ease as I made my way down the hill and had all but stopped by the time I arrived back at the car. All in this had taken around 2 hours 40 mins. The time in the dark and getting lost had put me behind schedule already.

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Cairngorm 4000ers

I didn't stop for long when I got back to the car and the drive to the Sugarbowl car park was fairly uneventful. I set off at 2:18am. There was going to be a couple of hours in total darkness which I had anticipated.

I was confident about this section as the paths leading to the plateau are excellent and should be easy to follow in the dark right? Nearly! I made pretty steady progress for the first few kilometres but struggled to find the start of the path up the right hand side of the Chalmain Gap. When I evenutally came upon the Gap I scrambled up the side and found the path quite easily. I'd quite enjoyed hopping over the boulders in the Gap a few summers before but didjn't fancy this much in the dark.

The ascent up to Braeriach was fairly uneventful. I did have the suspicion of being followed but don't think there was anyone else going around at this time! Daylight was beginning to break which allowed me to turn off the headlamp. I am usually an early starter to used to battling low light at the start of the day - you always have the reassurance that it will be lighter soon!

The progress once on the plateau was quite slow. I had forgotten how rocky it was. That being said I managed to get to Sgor and then on to Cairn Toul in fairly good time. Now there was a decision to be made. Should I head toward Devil's Point (a route I was familiar with) but would add on a few kilometres and crucially, mentally see me heading in the opposite direction. I aimed for a fairly direct line into the Lairig off Cairn Toul. It was very steep and unforgiving and i always seemed deceptively close to the bottom of the glen then realising I wasn't. I had a slip on some sharp rocks and shed a little blood. This got the adrenaline going again and I was bouyed by being able to see a clear line up Ben Macdui which I'd never seen without clag before.

A large squadron of horse flies or something similar had been follwoing me for some time now - no doubt attracted by my pungent odour! almost as soon as I got to the foot of the glen I was mobbed by midgies. Not something I had experienced in the Cairngorms before. I had the headnet handy so slung this on and carried on.

I made good progress up Macdui's relatively gentle slopes and had a good view of the summit. I saw my first people of the day who were camping near the summit. We exchanged pleasantries and I was off toward Cairngorm which ended up being further away than it looked! It was looking like a not bad day by this point and I could see other figures in the distance.

By the time I summitted Cairngorm it was 10:47am and I was a long way behind schedule. I made good progress down the clear path and eventually found myself back at the Sugarbowl and the car. Once again I didn't hang about and refuelled whilst on my way to the Nevis 4000ers.

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Nevis 4000ers

It was a lovely day by the time I got to the Visitor Centre. I decided to try and find a space further along the road (and avoid the car parking charge) also thinking the further along the road I was the less distance back to the car at the end of the day. It was 1:42pm when I left the car. I managed to cut off a good deal of the path and joined the Mountain path slighlty further along. The path was inevitably busy but I made very good progress and in no time was at the Red Burn. There wasn't much doubt in my mind that I would make the round but the question was how quickly.

Eventually I summitted and immediately begin to look for the start of the route down to the CMD. There is a row of fence posts which I found eventually. Having only done the route in reverse it is far easier finding your way on to the Ben from the CMD than the other way round. I was quite tired by this time.

I made good progress on to the CMD but then had an inexplicable navigational error. Visibility was excellent and I could see where I was heading (toward the Aonachs) but somehow I initially was headed toward Carn Beag Dearg and then down steep slopes into Coire Leis. Clearly tiredness was having more of an impact on me than I realised. I had probably been awake for about 35 hours by now. I managed to compose myself after stopping for a good few minutes to refuel.

I wasn't familiar with the way off CMD toward the Aonachs but I knew there was a fairly unpleasant ascent from the bealach up to them. I had descended in icy conditions when doing the Aonachs the year before. It wasn't as bad on the way up thankfully! I remembered the traverse between the Aonachs being on gentle grassy slopes and began to relax.

I made my way toward Mor first of all as it was the outlier for my route. I reached the summit at 7:02pm. Clearly by now the 24 hour target was out the window. I reached the summit of Beag nearly half an hour later - itr was over! Sort of! The light was beginning to fade by this point. I trudged a slightly unfamiliar route down into Glen Nevis. I knew that I was more or less home and dry now - but not the time to be complacent. It was memorable watching the light fade as I gently jogged along the path toward the gorge. It was almost pitch dark very quickly. As I got into the trees my eyes started playing tricks on me. I was seeing small children and goblins. Not really when I went up to the goblins they were the top of fence posts or unusually shaped rocks. Fatigue had well and truly set in.

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My next mistake was thinking that once I got to the start of the road I was nearly done. I wasn't! It was a fair few kms of road and run/walk/run/walk to get back to the car. I was very pleased to see the car and later even more pleased to see Clydebank Asda. I must have been a sight hobbling around there in running gear with bloody knees at close to midnight.

I had taken just under 26 hours. Would I do it again? Maybe, I think it is doable for me in 24 hours. Time was lost on Lawers and if I was nearer the target time more effort could have been made. As I drifted off to an unsatisfactory sleep of around 4 hours before work the next day after being awake for aorund 43 hours I was quite content with my day's work!

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Comments: 1



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skullhead


User avatar
Activity: Hill Bagger
Pub: Prince of Wales
Mountain: Lochnagar
Place: Glencoe
Gear: La Sportiva mutants
Member: None
Ideal day out: Pacey scramble over rough terrain

Munros: 190
Corbetts: 13
Fionas: 1
Donalds: 1
Wainwrights: 1
Hewitts: 7
Sub 2000: 5



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Statistics

2023

Trips: 2
Distance: 94.2 km
Ascent: 7421m
Munros: 13

2021

Trips: 3
Distance: 92.8 km
Ascent: 2021m
Munros: 6

2020

Trips: 2
Distance: 51.35 km
Ascent: 3083m
Munros: 5


Joined: Aug 11, 2020
Last visited: Mar 27, 2024
Total posts: 16 | Search posts