The
reasonable forecast for last weekend was enough to get John into
action to go and bag the final Munro of his second round. The hill of
choice was Sgurr Mor in Knoydart, a tricky little beast to get to at
the best of times. Sadly it wasn’t the best of times and the
walk-in to Kinbreak bothy on Friday night was a bit more epic than we
had planned for. Despite the almost full moon the path was elusive,
leaving us with the choice of bog or semi-frozen argo tracks, which
have proliferated hugely in this area since our last visit. Wet, cold
and fed up after 2½ hours we arrived to find the bothy in good
condition. A swift dram and a cheesy oatcake were enough to see us
into our pits.
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| Sgurr Mor (C) by moonlight |
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| Not our latest DIY - Kinbreak bothy |
Saturday
dawned fine so off we set, surprised at just how much snow it looked
like there was higher up. We had been expecting a healthy dusting but
as we ascended the Corbett of Sgurr an Fhuarain we were soon ankle to
knee deep, with deeper drifts. Luckily most of it was just powder,
but the patches of soft slab were hard going. Elevenses on the summit
were a welcome rest and for the first time we noticed that the
weather, instead of getting better through the day as expected, was
closing in a bit.
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| Ascending Sgurr an Fhuarain, Gairich behind |
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| Sgurr Mor in sight |
A
quick but cold scoot down the west ridge got us to the base of Sgurr
Mor with just one more climb left. Again this turned into a bit of a
flouter through deep snow near the summit, which we made just before
the weather really broke down and the showers became a couple of
hours of continuous snow. Celebrations were limited to a quick lunch
and a very wee dram huddled behind a rock, before heading off the way
we had come to get down as fast as we could. Despite the rapid
descent we didn’t make it back to the bothy until just before
sunset, a result of the slow going on the tops.
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| Last few steps |
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| Turned out nice again... |
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| Kinbreak bothy |
I
would like to say that the party then raged until well into the
following morning but with just two of us there, sub-zero
temperatures and a defective fire log we turned in by 9, just as the
snow outside really started falling.
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| Finally got the fire going |
Expecting
to wake up on Sunday to deep snow outside we were surprised to see
just a dusting. It looked like it had melted for a while before
freezing hard. We tromped up the glen for a bit before getting back
to the car over the Corbett of Fraoch Bheinn. Being a bit lower than
Saturday’s hills there wasn’t as much of an issue with deep snow
and it all felt a bit easier in the fantastic conditions. A great way
to end a fine and significant weekend away. What next?
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| Gairich on Sunday morning |
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| Topping out on Fraoch Bheinn |
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| Looking back to Sgurr Mor |
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| Flouter time |
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| The peaks of central Knoydart |
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| Across to Ben Nevis |
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| View east down a foggy Loch Arkaig |
