Remote Bagging

Last weekend Ann & John decided to make use of a reasonable forecast to delve deep into the area west of Linn of Dee on an overnight camping trip. Deciding an early start on Saturday would do, we duly woke to pouring rain instead of blue skies. So after a less tan early start we got up to Braemar where it was even wetter. Luckily the toy shop now has an excellent cafe which proved a perfect spot for some last-minute stalling.

With time running out and overheard reports of sun 30 minutes south, we geared up and did the cycle into White Bridge and were rewarded by the rain stopping. The original plan had been to cross the Geldie Burn but two days of rain had left it quite high and it was enough watching a foreign backpacker tackling it. Fed up with sodden boots on just about every walk this summer we decided to head up to Geldie Lodge to see if it was crossable there. It wasn’t, if anything it was worse. 

 

Towards Beinn Bhrotain from near Geldie Lodge

This brought on a change of plan. Instead of the grand circuit we had in mind we decided to press on over the watershed to the Feshie and follow it upstream. A short steep pull up an attractive little corrie got us to the northern slope of Beinn Bhreac, possibly the most remote Corbett, and a fine camping spot at 750 m.

Along the Feshie

Impressive peat-topped moraine

Tent up just before sunset

A chilly night meant we were too buried in our sleeping bags to hear the early alarms so didn’t wake until the sun turned the tent into a welcome oven. After a quick breakfast we did the dash up Beinn Bhreac with minimal gear as we lost the sun to a cloud sheet. Yet another forecast for a good day that that was turning out wrong. A fine summit though, and we contemplated that we were probably some of the most isolated folks in the country at the time.

 

Heading up Beinn Bhreac, Cairngorms behind

Summit of Beinn Bhreac

Chair-like cairn on An Sgargsoch

Heading back north we collected the tent for the ascent of Carn Ealar, Normally considered pretty remote itself, crossing it on the way home felt a bit odd. Then came the big drop and 300 m back up to An Sgargsoch, another prized remote bagging target. The choice of descent routes was tricky; out north to the Geldie and hope it had dropped or east along the Bynack Burn and a certain soaking lower down the Geldie but not far from the bikes. In the end we went for the middle route – a traverse of the undulating ridge between to two other options. This proved generally easier going than we had feared and soon got us to our river crossing. What an anti-climax. It had dropped 20-30 cm and we got across dry. A fine end to a pleasant little trip and great to be in the tent again.

Knoydart Meet

Photo captions only for this entry folks...

Team AMC on the pier in Inverie

Mat demonstrates his mountaineering carrier bag during the moist cross-country section of the walk-in

Druim bothy, home for the weekend. It's a private bothy run by the estate for groups.

On Saturday the largest party traversed Ladhar Bheinn to get to the pub...

Weather closing in at Mam Barrisdale

Just before we hit the cloud

Summit ridge

Getting into Inverie after it had got proper wet

Pub tea, Old Forge style

Sunday's hill was Beinn Bhuidhe, just above the bothy. Much better weather and would have stayed dry if I hadn't fallen in the burn on the way up. Not having the Monday off, Mat, Joe, Amy and Olly headed out to the ferry.

After Jess' first Munro on Saturday, here she is on her first Corbett

Inverie bay

Sgurr na Ciche making a brief appearance

Monday was back to low cloud and wet, so those of us left headed out to the ferry, except Bruce, who walked back out the way he came in - to Loch Arkaig.

Back to Back Last Munros

The Whit holiday weekend brought not one but two last Munros for the AMC.

On Saturday Steve Wright finished on Sgurr a Bhealaich Dheirg, the middle of the “Three Brothers” in Kintail. The day started bright but the weather was on its way and Steve had to almost run the final few metres to beat the cloud to the summit. After a short celebration, which included the unique experience of Laphroaig-flavoured Prosecco, we headed over the most easterly Brother before descending to the Cluaine Inn for a well-earned pint.

Final summit in sight

Race to the top

Tankard Time

The team

Down to the pub

 For some of us it was then a dash up to Kinlochewe for a pub rendezvous with Phil Hadland, an AMC member from way back in the last millennium. It was a bit like being at a wedding, with a handful of folks you know well but haven't seen for a while, and lots of people you've never met before. That was rectified a few pints later and we got an early night in preparation for Phil's 8am start.

Despite a foul forecast it wasn't too bad – windy enough but pretty much dry all the way to the top, where we were greeted by a snow shower. Much merriment ensued and most were slightly wobbly as we left the summit, which explains why we went the wrong way for a while. Error corrected we made a fast descent to get ready for the meal and ceilidh that Phil had very generously laid on for us in the village. Another fine night was had, although the quality of the dancing was a bit iffy...

The Man

Into the corrie

Final steep slog

Almost there

Nearly falling over the cairn

Another day, another tankard

Chuffed

Foody time at the Whistlestop

Dodgy dancing

Elphin Meet

For a change the meet to the SMC's Naismith Hut in Elphin was oversubscribed, people no doubt drawn by the area and the good weather forecast.

Saturday saw Denis, Mark, Judith, Bruce and Morna enjoy an ascent of Canisp. For good measure mark then continued to Suilven, traversed it and ran back to the hut. There's always one... Meanwhile Roddy, Joe, Rod, Ann and John did Conival and Ben More Assynt. The latter three continued over the South Top of BMA on a ridge that has apparently been compared with the Aonach Eagach in Glencoe. While it is certainly pleasant, it is in quite a different league. At the other end of the scale Luigi and Manu had a score to settle on Stac Pollaidh. They had abandoned an attempt on November Grooves this time last year due to rain, so the bright sun of the morning was very welcome.

Sunday breakfast brought the familiar sound of heavy rain on the roof, leading to a relaxed breakfast and an early return home for all.

Near the summit of Conival

Along to Ben More Assynt

The summit of Ben More Assynt

Onto the South Ridge of Ben More Assynt

Airy in places...

...with great situations

Easy tramp off at the end

Rum

Back to the blog with a report from last month of a trip to Rum over the Aberdeen holiday weekend. John & Ann had been waiting for a suitable weather window for this trip for a few years and this was our chance. John had never been into the hills on Rum despite sailing around it and anchoring there dozens of times. The only complicating factor was that the skiing was still excellent and we didn't want to give up on that. So a compromise was reached with us skiing on Aonach Mor on the Friday, then over to Rum first thing Saturday for a little backpacking trip around the island.
 

Warming up on Spikes

Up onto Stob an Chul-Choire

Aonach Beag looking tasty

First we headed out west and over the rounded Orval in warm sun- quite a contrast to the steep snow of the previous day. Not the most exciting walk but superb views, and our first two eagles of the trip. We descended to Harris and found a good spot as far east as possible, just off the end of the raised beaches. This was to maximise our chance of getting a sunset, which looked just possible from the azimuth data. We were well rewarded.

 

Rum from campsite near Arisaig

Canna from Orval

Easy going on Orval, Skye behind

Rum Cuillin from Orval

Harris sunset 1

The next day it was up early for a traverse of the Rum Cuillin. It lived up to its reputation as a cracking day out, the only downside being that we got fairly dehydrated in the warm dry air with no water up on the ridge. The 2l that we were each carrying wasn't enough for such a big day out and the first stream on the way down was welcome relief.

Morning visitors to the tent

Sgurr nan Gillean

The rest of the ridge

Towards Ainshval

Traversing the twin summits of Trollaval

Hallival and Skye from Askival

The Askival Pinnacle

Harris sunset 2

We got back to the tent just in time for another spectacular sunset and a welcome sleep. The final day was a walk out on the landy track to the centre of the island before a sneaky ascent of our final Marilyn on Rum, the featureless Mullach Mor. This gave us more good views before a descent to Kinloch and a very interesting tour of the castle.