Angel's Ridge

A few snaps from yesterday's outing to do Angel's Ridge (the NE ridge of Sgor an Lochain Uaine). Weather cleared up a bit later than forecast but still a cracking day out in the heart of the Cairngorms. Biked to Derry Lodge, then a 27 km round trip from there.

On the approach

Corrie Dee and the Falls of Dee

Getting started on the ridge

Braeriach finally emerges from the cloud

Cairn Toul and the Lairig Ghru from Devil's Point

Torridon Meet

A few photos of the damp Torridon meet a few weeks ago. From the Saturday we have a round of Beinn Alligin by most of the meet, and a trip to the south of the glen by Ann & John. On Sunday a few folks headed up into the corrie of Beinn Eighe in search of the Triple Buttress.

The venue, Mol Mor

Up Alligin

Across to the Horns

Towards Maol Ceann Dearg

Up Sgurr Ruadh

Getting wetter on the way up Bienn Liath Mor

The sun finally broke through later on and the cloud almost cleared Liathach

 SUNDAY

Sunday dawned dry but...

No Triple Buttress, just a wet quartet

Sunshine Supernova

At last, after months of endurance-testing slogs in the cold and rain, last Sunday was a warm(ish) sunny day when it was actually pleasant to sit out on the tops and take in the views. A few snaps of an outing from Ivercauld, up the Stuic Buttress, over Lochnagar and down by Prince Albert's Cairn ( and a very near miss with an adder).

Stuic Buttress from the approach

The steep bit

Topping out, Lochnagar behind

Looking back from Lochnagar

Fine panorama over the Dee to Beinn a Bhuird & Ben Avon

Western Scrambling

With last weekend’s forecast good for the SW and poor for the NE, Ann & John took the long Friday night drive to Roy Bridge with an eye on some easy mountain climbs. Forecasts being just that we awoke early on Saturday for the long approach to the NE Ridge of Aonach Beag, to find it shrouded in the only cloud around. A hasty change of plan got us under the clear skies of Ardgour for a route on the well-named Garbh Bheinn (rough hill). 

Pinnacle Ridge is the right skyline

An hour later we were at the base of Pinnacle Ridge, a grade 3S scramble. There is some uncertainty about what the S stands for in this system but some of the more printable ones are scary, serious and slimy. Still being geared up for our harder previous choice of route this didn’t bother us too much, but we were soon glad of it.

 

The lower section

The rock is very rough gneiss with lots of good holds, but in places there is a lot of exposure. Typically this seemed to be worst at the one part where the holds ran out at what the guidebook called an awkward move, which was an inelegant belly flop onto a ledge clutching handfuls of heather and loose soil. Difficulties soon eased and the rest of the ridge was very pleasant with straightforward but varied scrambling in a great situation. 

 

Upper, easier section

Nice slab to finish

As always the view from the summit was stunning in all directions, and we were slightly relived to see that Aonach Beag still had a cap of cloud, so good choice there.

Since it was still a bit early to call it quits on such a fine day we decided to complete the full round of the corrie, in itself a bit of a classic day out with two more Marylins to do. 

View west up Loch Sunart from the summit

On the steep pull up Beinn Bheag I was beginning to regret the choice given the heat and a pack weighed down with rock gear and a rope. Luckily Ann recognised the signs of brewing discontent and shut me up by producing a bag of Tangfastics. Sorted.

Wandering along to Beinn Bheag

The angle then eased and we had a pleasant tromp around to Sgorr Mhic Eacharna in what we realised was early evening light. Luckily the bogs were all dry and springy so the descent was fast and dry, and as a final highlight we found a nice stand of the increasingly rare lesser butterfly orchid.

 

Towards Glencoe from Sgorr Mhic Eacharna

Down Loch Linnhe to Lismore

Lesser butterfly orchid

Sunday brought more fine weather but sore legs confined us to a supposedly short day out in Glencoe. We went for Barn Wall Route on Aonach Dubh but ended up on who knows what, certainly not a grade 3 scramble. Lack of gear placements and increasing steepness led us to quit before things got silly, the first abseil retreat we’ve done for a very long time. And before you rush up there on a salvage mission, I still remember enough tricks to have not left any gear behind.

Glencoe

Reiff Meet

Not much text this time, just a quick round up of the meet to Reiff.

Saturday saw Denis, Richard, Mel and Lucy the dog tackle Ben Mor Coigach from the west. Much botanising was done, and Lucy returned duly worn out. Luigi and Manuela went climbing and although they had managed to blag a guidebook they didn't bother to use it, preferring instead to just climb lines they liked the look of. Despite the early morning clag John & Ann continued in their quest to get their climbing heads back on by doing the east-west traverse of Suilven from Inverkirkaig and were rewarded by clear conditions for most of the day. A dodgy "instant” BBQ threatened to spoil Saturday evening but Italian ingenuity won out and a fine and largely midge-free feast was enjoyed. Sadly Sunday was pretty much a washout with the promised rain arriving just in time for breakfast. 

The Summer Isles from near the campsite

Suilven beginning to clear

Eyeing up the ascent of Meall Beag at the eastern end

Looking back to the steep, exposed descent off Meall Beag

West to the summit of Suilven from Meall Meadhonach

Near the summit of Suilven

Fighting with the "instant" BBQ

 

Wot! No skis?

The Onich meet the weekend before last saw Ann & John trying to get our heads into gear for the summer. We decided on the traverse of Buachaille Etive Mor via the pleasant scramble of Curved Ridge.

Being the English Holiday Weekend and a good forecast we were up early to beat the crowds and were on the hill before 8. After the short walk-in past Lagangarbh and a lot of dredging the memory banks we duly arrived at the base of the route just in time for the cloud sheet to break up and the promised sun to come out. Having not done any real scrambling since An Teallach last May we took it very slowly until we got tuned into being on rock again. The first section was as I remembered, not very hard but no place for a slip. Enjoying the views of the Rannoch Wall (and wondering how I ever climbed on it) we made good progress to the upper section, which has some more technical moves but feels quite safe. 

Starting out...

Looking up to the Rannoch Wall

Route soon over we traversed around onto Crowberry Ridge and did the top section of that to finish on the Tower. A short easy scramble then got us to the main summit well before 11, so it was still almost deserted. 

Descending Crowberry Tower

Now the legwork began for the traverse of the three tops (I don’t hold with all this “revising” business). As always this was very pleasant, although looking towards Bidean we couldn’t help the nagging doubt that we had maybe quit the skis a week too soon. A few standing glissades on the way down had to do, complete with some largely unsuccessful but very amusing attempts at jump turns.

Time for walkies...

The southern two Tops, and Bidean back right looking temptingly snowy

A quick yomp down the Lairig Gartain got us back to the car nice and early, which allowed plenty of time for a celebratory stop at the Clachaig on the way back to the hut to catch up with the rest of the meet.

Unexpectedly Wintry...

The weekend before last saw Ann & John returning to decent days out after a summer of keeping on tick-over. We headed for the NE Ridge of Sgor an Lochan Uaine, right in the middle of the Cairngorms.

Driving up Deeside we got or first glimpses of how white it was high up, the result of a few cold days earlier in the week. Thinking this was just a usual early season dusting we set off undeterred for the long approach via Derry Lodge.

Up Glen Luibeg to Ben Macdui

Into the Larig Ghru, Devil's Point left

As we got higher up the Lairig Ghru the ridge looked great and the trek was starting to feel worthwhile. We had only climbed it once before, years back in thick weather so the stunningly clear day was welcome. We couldn't remember much except that we had been carrying backpacking gear, so a dusting of snow shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

First view of the ridge

As we got up the steep pull to Lochan Uaine it became obvious the snow was a bit more serious – wind blasted and refrozen, with plenty of real ice around. Suddenly things didn't look so promising and we discussed heading straight up the easier slope to Cairn Toul. This was disappointing after a 3 hour approach so we decided to give it a go and see how we got on, rarely the best mountaineering decision.

 

Looking up the ridge

Cairn Toul (r)

Heading up

Most of the way up was OK taken steadily with any trickier bit being very safe. Above us though loomed the much steeper and narrower top section. By the time we got to this we had been on the route for 2 hours and were staring to wish we were just up it. Luckily it wasn't any worse than the rest, just a bit more sustained and we soon burst back into the warm sunshine and incredible views all around.

On the top bit

 

Austin leaving the summit. Ben Nevis back right

A late first lunch was accompanied by meeting fellow AMC-er Austin, who had come in from the north over Braeriach, and was the first person we had met all day.

Cairn Toul and Ben Macdui

After enjoying the views we headed off to Cairn Toul, then Devil's Point not long before sunset. The long way out was livened up a bit by a very colourful sunset, and we got back to the car after 11 hours. Not had one of those for a while.