Scorchio!

Saturday saw Naomi, Ann & John tackle the high level round of Glen Muick, starting off up Broad Cairn and going round to Lochnagar. Despite being a route we do quite often this was the busiest we've ever seen it with people all over the place. Ironic given that as hill-walking days go it wasn't the best - too hot and too hazy. Mustn't complain though. For the record it was 19 C in the shade on top of Lochnagar.

Still a bit of snow in the Cairngorms

Lochnagar from the Stuic Butress

Then it was back home and a big BBQ with the lazier members of the AMC (except for Mark and Judith who had done Beinn a Ghlo...

BBQ

A sneaky holiday post

Sick of the scottish dreich, Juliette and I decided to try hillwalking in the "sunshine" this year and so while out visiting my folks in France, nipped out for an ascent of "La Frau" - a 1925m peak near to Montsegur.

Juliette in the woods

Starting out up the GR7 we all seemed well, despite our map being a print from google maps,  the start of the day was through some forestry land - and in true form as we got higher, the paths resembled less and less what we had on our map - eventually forcing a retreat once we started heading down hill, when there definitely should only have been up!  Luckily Juliette spotted a terrace above us in the woods that turned out to be the path we were after and so after our initial humming and hawing we were off again!

Juliette with Montsegur in the background

The Skull

heading up towards La Frau

Once we got out of the woods and onto the hill proper, the views north and east were fantastic and the hill had a couple of interesting cliffs with caves.  Unfortunately, the temps were in the high 20s, and being a pasty scots lad, that's pretty close to the point where I burst into flames!  Luckily by applying 1" thick coating of suncream and hiding under a sunhat of sombrero proportions I survived to the summit!  I was extra suspicious as at this point we spotted a Bearded Vulture (Lammergier) following us.........




The views from the summit over the Pyrenees proper were stunning, with still a lot of snow in evidence, and someone had nicely left a skull-on-a-stick in the cairn too.

The Pyrenees from La Frau

The descent was substantially quicker than the ascent in the heat at we were back at the van, and our big container of water in virtually no time - a good few litres were quaffed to replace that lost on the hill!

The Summit c/w skull on a stick

Still, back to Scotland, drizzle and midgies - but at least no shortage or water!

May Weekend in Barrisdale

A small group of AMC headed for the White House in Barrisdale for the May week end  and hoped to avoid the forecast snow showers.

With there no longer being a boat to hire from Arnisdale we all walked in from the road end at Kinloch Hourn along  the loch which gave spectacular views of Ladhar Bheinn and fine walking through pine and silver birch trees with primroses and bluebells dotted along the track side.

The Whitehouse

On Saturday the day dawned bright and sunny.  Bruce headed up Ladhar Bheinn while Mark, Ed, Kathryn and Judith set their sights on Luinne Bheinn and Meall Buidhe.

The weather stayed fine all day in Knoydart while there were snow showers visible inland [certainly were, see previous post - Ed].

The Luinne Bheinn party headed  to Mam Unndalain and up the rocky ridge to the Luinne Bheinn summit which gave great views round Knoydart, to Skye, Rum and Eigg.  From there we walked round the ridge to Meall Buidhe where we met numerous parties from Inverie.

Barrisdale Bay

Eigg and Rum

From the summit we dropped into the rocky northern  Choire Odhair with the aim of trying to find a ledge under the slopes of Luinne Bheinn to take us out directly to Mam Barrisdale without losing any height.  Ed had been reading an article in the Scottish Mountaineer about this descent route. There were no difficulties in finding the route and it took us out where we wanted with a short walk down the track back to the White House.

Plotting the route

Saturday evening saw the party expand with Evan and Louise arriving to enjoy the good weather.

Sunday was another fine day with Ladhar Bheinn, Luinne Bheinn and Sgurr A Choire Bheithe being ascended by various parties.

Kathryn on Ladhar Bheinn

Food was up to its usual meet standards despite having to carry in all we needed – we even managed to bake a chocolate cake in the hut Rayburn!

On Monday we all walked back to Kinloch Hourn in the sunshine and enjoyed tea and scones in the tearoom.

It was a great weekend with good company, excellent weather and a fantastic location.

Strathfarrar Six

Last Saturday an elite team of AMC-ers gathered in Cannich campsite for Ann’s official birthday meet, kept deliberately quiet as it clashed with the club meet that we couldn’t make. Capitalising on the availability of transport the route of choice was the traverse of the fine ridge of six Munros (four Summits, two Tops) on the north side of Strathfarrar.

The Mullardoch hills from the first ascent

Ann, John, Mel, Steve and Morna met Rod (on another early start from home) in time for the charade of the opening of the locked gate that passes for an access arrangement to the glen. Then, cars suitably positioned, we headed up onto the eastern end of the ridge. This seems like the more unusual direction to tackle the route but none of us had done it that way and it has the advantages of getting the bigger climbs over with sooner and better views. The pull up to the first summit was a tad tedious but things improved once we had some more extensive views. There was a lot less snow around than the previous weekend but the biting northerly wind made up for that. 

Final summit in sight

The cloud finally got us

The traverse of the next few hills was very pleasant but uneventful until second lunch on the final summit, when the thickening cloud finally touched ground and the snow started. After marvelling at the unusually thick snow flakes that looked more like cake decorations, we dashed along the final bit of ridge and dropped into the shelter of the corrie, where it was more like summer. Then back to the campsite for a chilly but dry BBQ and birthday cake!

Sunshine in the West

Saturday 28^th April

Former AMC member Stuart Mcleod (AKA 'Mental') and Mark set off to tick 3 Munros in Glen Etive – Stuart is counting down to his last one later this year. 

After leaving one car at the bottom of Glen Etive we headed a few kilometers up the road and in the morning sunshine headed up  Sgor na h-Ulaidh.  From the top we had fantastic views across to snow clad Ben Nevis, and to the back of Bidean, as well as most the rest of the West Highlands. 

View across to Ben Nevis from Sgor na h-Ulaidh

                                 

We then headed across to neighbouring Beinn Fhionnlaidh , enjoying a scramble up rocks/choss to the 841m top and from there to the summit. It was cold on the top so we headed down the south west slopes to have a late lunch in a sheltered spot beside the lochans below the summit. 

A long slog ensued across undulating land to reach the north east ridge of Beinn Sgulaird.     Unfortunately this meant descending to 250m before reascending.  This final hill tired us out, especially Stuart, who had spent too much time on cruise ships around the Galapagpos Islands lately, and consequently wasn't up to his usual fitness!  It was a late finish which meant  missing last orders for food at the Kingshouse so we had to settle for a liquid supper!

Sunday 29^th April

After an frosty night we awoke to clear blue, sunny skies.  However, due to the 25km and 2500m of ascent the previous day, we opted for an easy day climbing on Aonach Dubh. This crag is a 30  minute walk from the road and we did Curving Crack (S**) in 3 pitches. After enjoying lunch basking in the sunshine, we headed up Archer Ridge, the classic 3* V.Diff., another 3 pitches, before reluctantly heading for home. 

The West seems to have missed all the East coast rain and the ground and rocks are very dry and so worth a visit if you are looking for dry rock.

Stuart starting up Curving Crack

 

Brilliant Backpack Bagging

A brief window in what is turning into the wettest drought on record allowed Ann & John to make a bagging trip to the Northwest Highlands last weekend, with a target of tackling what many regard as the most remote Munro. Leaving home early on Saturday morning gave us a much easier drive than the usual Friday night performance and we were in Craig by 10.30, despite a stop for second breakfast on the way.

The track in through the tree farm was at least efficient and soon got us to the “interesting” bridge at the start of a stalker’s track up the first Corbett of the day, Sgurr na Feartaig. The path was excellent, just what we needed with full packs and we were on the spacious summit for a slightly late lunch. As predicted, the views were extensive and we were surprised by both the amount of snow and how much less there was on the more westerly hills.

Summit of Sgurr na Feartaig

A short steep descent got us to Bealach Bearnais and the start of the ascent of our second Corbett, Beinn Tharsuinn. By the summit our legs were feeling the day’s 1200 m of ascent but we didn’t have much more to do as the plan was to camp by a lochan just below the summit. This proved to be a fantastic spot, although not quite as sheltered from the easterly breeze as we had hoped. Although not strong, the windchill was a bit nippy given that the air temp was only just above freezing and the plan to bring our ½ season summer sleeping bags wasn’t looking too clever. We ended up sheltering in the tent for the soup course but only slightly behind cue the wind dropped and the clouds cleared, letting us enjoy the rest of the evening’s food outside with a stunning panorama over the west coast from Kintail to Torridon.

Ascent from Bealach Bearnais

Campsite. Lurg Mhor left, Bidean right

Tea-time view to Skye

It had been a while since we had done any sub-zero camping so I had forgotten one of the key rules about being very careful when moving around in the morning. Result – frozen condensation down the back of the neck. Then within minutes the sun hit the tent and brought some much-needed warmth, until all the condensation thawed and started to drip on us.  

A hearty breakfast got us warmed up and on our way by 8am to climb Bidean a Choire Sheasgaich, a very fine hill. After the unusual start of a 200 m descent we faced the imposing N Ridge. I remembered this as having a fairly obvious way up, not because it was easy to find but because it was the only way through the multiple bands of crags. Backlit by the sun, it certainly wasn’t looking very approachable but the route unravelled as we ascended and was straightforward. The views from the top were even better than those the day before as the very clear and cloudless conditions continued, giving us views east to the Cairngorms and west to Harris. 

NE from the summit of Bidean

Panorama of the Torridon hills

The wander over to Lurg Mhor was uneventful but the summit feels every bit the part of “most remote”, especially as we contemplated the very long walk out. Just below the summit we met the only other people of the whole trip, 4 guys who had taken the bike-in option as far as Ben Droniag lodge. We decided to contour Bidean as although not saving us much ascent we thought the descent would be very slow. This worked reasonably well and an hour later we were back at our tent for a lunchtime feast of cheese & oatcakes – yum. Then the real walk-out began – back over Beinn Tharsuinn, down to the Bealach Bearnais and out to the approach track, all in quite hot sunshine. We were feeling a bit frazzled by the car, part sun and part due to the 2000 m of descent we had clocked up. Ticktastic.

East from Lurg Mhor

Scrambling on the way to the east top

Purple saxifrage

Grin Up North

The Aberdeen Holiday Weekend saw a hardy bunch of AMCers take the long drive north to Achmelvich for a camping meet. Despite the record-breaking high temperatures of March, the weather had remembered it was still supposed to be winter and done something about it, delivering a weekend of biting northerly winds and heavy wintry showers. 

 

The largest group of John, Ann, Morna, Rae and Austin took advantage of multiple cars to do the traverse of Canisp and Suilven. Starting at the eastern end, the walk started innocuously with a squelch through the bog and an easy angled ascent of Canisp. Not until quite high did the views begin to open up, but that just made them seem all the more stunning. The only shower of the day hit just on the summit and had the group huddled in the huge summit shelter cairn, doing meercat impressions trying to get a view. 

The start of the ascent of Canisp

Conival

Descending Canisp, Suilven ahead

Getting between the two hills wasn’t too bad, and even the badly eroded ascent of Suilven was better than I remembered. Popping up onto the ridge was as spectacular as ever, and made better by leaving the shady wind funnel of the ascent for calm warm sunshine on the southern side. The short wander up the ridge to the summit had the same contrast of warm and sunny/cold and windy but we were lucky to have the best weather of the day for a long sit on the top of one of the finest mountains in the country. After that the long descent felt thoroughly worthwhile and the last part, through the birch and flowering gorse to Inverkirkaig, was a gorgeous finish. 

Approaching the summit of Suilven

Suilven from the descent

  A fine day was suitably rounded off with a visit to the justifiably famous Lochinver Pie Shop, where even Austin had only two (rather than the five Tesco pies he had for tea on Friday). A final twist was provided by Rod who, despite leaving home at 5am, managed to miss this team while they were doing the two-car shuffle in the morning and climbed Suilven on his own as a round trip from Lochinver.

Meanwhile, long-standing AMC members The Bartons, who haven’t made an appearance on a meet for many years, did a Corbett duo on Breabeg and Glas Bheinn.

Later on Saturday evening Jillian and Robert finally arrived after bagging a few Fannaichs en route, setting a new record for turning up late to a meet.

Achmelvich beach

Sunday saw a similarly random assortment of outings, especially as most people didn’t get the Monday holiday. Most of the Saturday Suilven team plus Denis, Jillian and Robert did some coastal exploring, Mark and Judith headed for Suilven, The Bartons went for Cul Mor and Beag and Austin was hoping to work off some of his pies and Denis’ port on the Corbett with the second longest name.