Up on MacRainich's rock with Shaz

Creag MacRainich - a nice wee pad, I told Shaz. Great starting point of 300m so only another 510m of ascent from the layby at the head of Glen Ogle. And indeed, it was easy-going until we started heading up through the crags, which has seen recent mini-avalanches. We treaded carefully but Shaz was a little spooked so after we eventually tagged the summit and retreated in the snow, we chose another route which involved post-holing and tweaked knees. Shaz described a leafy, crisp day oiut but the hills had other ideas. We returned to the car, chastened by our 'short' day out but it was fine to get out and 'chill'. We had magnificent views across to Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin, which had a mass of snow. When will Winter ever end?

Up the Sow

On my way to Macduff, I decided to stop off at Dalnaspidal and make a quick ascent of the Sow of Atholl. I had driven past it often enough but today, I'd add it to the collection. It was a cauld wind and I layered up before making my way over the track, bridges and began to the climb over the heathery tussocks. Easy to start off with and a lovely day but the threat of snow was evident and as I got to 600m, it began to blizzard. There were no route-finding problems but I could feel the snow accumulate on my beard and my self-portrait extolled the benefits of having such fuzz during Winter. I touched the summit and returned promptly. As is typical, I was halfway down and the snow stopped and the sun came out. Nice to get out and blow away the cobwebs though and at 2 hours 20, a nice wee jaunt.

Cir Royale

Stunning part of Scotland.

Beinn Bheula - a hidden gem

Take 2. Totally lost on this the last time out but parked up and headed along the logging track once more. Took a right across a new bridge and made for the waterfall. From here, it was a straightforward loop. However, this was a cracking wee hill due to its isolation with not a soul about and some scattered plane wreckage just below Creag Sgoilte crags. A Grumman from the 1940s apparently. The walk back through the firebreak was spooky though. Felt somebody was right behind me the whole way out. Surprisingly mild for this time of year.

Beinn Luibhean dash

Had the day off and fancied a wee dash north to tick off this hill. It would mean I had grabbed all the Arrochar alps at both Munro and Corbett height - needless to say I do love this area and it's only an hour from the door. There are some good things to life in Glasgow. I had a leisurely brekkie and was off out at 0915, with a start at 1015. It was 0C but it didn't feel it and there was sna in the air. I saw two punters heading on to Beinn an Lochain and hoped the cloud would lift for them. I decided to skirt the forestry and head initially for the bealach between my target and Beinn Ime but I headed further South and on to hill proper, once past the 'no-go' forestry area. It really made for a quick ascent but a biting wind was blowing from the West. I didn't hang about today and really pinged it up to the summit, where I took a couple of self-portraits (one with the 10 second timer, which wasn't as I planned) and one to show the hoar sticking to my beard (enough!). Beinn an Lochain looked quite bleak. Chilly. I stuck on my crampons as it would be a little slippy heading back down and was back at the car in quick time. The hardest bit was the path back to the mobile mast as the recent thaw and freeze had made the path into a dodgy escalator. No matter, it had been a good wee stretch of the legs and I was on my way home for lunch by 1300. Q a grey day weather/photo wise but good to be out all the same.

Beinn an Lochain

My original plan was to head North and grab a couple of Munros but at 0445 I was wakened by a rather worried woman - she would prefer I did something more local and as SWMBO, I accepted and went back to sleep. At 0800, I rolled out of a surprisingly snowy Glasgow and made for Beinn an Lochain. I had heard much about this hill and it always looked very dramatic from the Rest and be Thankful. In fact, I had climbed Stob Coire Creagach a few weeks back to see what it looked like from the North - very dramatic. Rather than parking right opposite the starting point, I parked about 400m further South in a layby and began the walk. It was cold but beautiful. My sense of anticipation for this trip was strong and I was really looking forward to one of THOSE days where I knew conditions were perfect. The great thing about this hill is that the views all round are fantastic, it's quite steep and offers a quick ascent. Furthermore, I love craggy peaks and this one was superb. It's all very benign up to about 600m but you can make out the summit peak at the end of the hill. Coupled with views over to the Cobbler, Beinn Ime and tranquil Loch Restil down below, could there be a better peak in Arrochar? I love the Cobbler but I love Beinn an Lochain, so which is better? Only one way....At 600m, you begin to make acquaintance with the North face and it is possible to pick out some lines, if you're into rock-climbing. As the sun blasted the Eastern slopes, the oppressively dark cliffs on the North face loomed and as I got higher, the track got narrower and more exposed. Nothing too serious but care was needed especially as much of the path was frozen in places. From below, it looks horrific but a good path wends its way higher and higher. The final push was fantastic and not that exposed but it still offered an exciting end to a great wee mountain. For such a super hill, I was slightly surprised at how small the cairn was but the views from the top were breath-taking. As I sat and drank in my water and the vistas, I felt at peace. Until this old codger scared the living shecht out of me by shouting "morning!" He had come up the other side of the face and was double ice-axed up. He must have been near 70 and rather than offer an apology to my sweary exclamation, he just laughed. Aye, I would have done the same, I thought! I proffered my good wishes and began my descent off the South summit, down through the crags. It wasn't long before I hit the road and began the trek back to the car. This fantastic mountain deserves a great day of weather and having done it in Winter, I would wholeheartedly recommend this. Brilliant.

Attack of the Blisterons on Beinn Mholach & Meall na Leitreach

A bothy meet had been planned for a wee while and Daz, Graeme and I met up at Perth to be whisked North in Daz's new Honda. Talk about spaceship interiors, it wasn't long before he had has verging on warp speed up the A9. As it happened, I had just purchased a Fukifilm camera for some 10 Megapixel shots. Anything to perhaps win a £40 voucher on walkhighlands! We left the Enterprise at Dalnaspidal galaxy and began the long walk along Loch Garry with heavy packs but light hearts. Although the cloud was not lifting, our spirits were and we were just getting into the walk when Darren announced that the Blisterons were attacking in full-force on ankles. A curious species threatened to force Daz to turn round and abandon all bothy and peak ticks. Fortunately, he managed to hobble to Duinish and once he saw the rather lovely bothy and we deposited our future carbon footprints, the non-lady was not for turning. Wounds attended to and several kilos and skin layers lighter, we made for Beinn Mholach. An initially boggy/bunny ascent became much more interesting as we hit the snow and craggy asteroid belt. Then began the walk along the plateau before we eventually made out the huge cairn that resembled a dun. Unfortunately, cloud level was down so visibility was limited to only a few glimpses of Loch Rannoch and beyond. I would imagine this would be quite a good, wee hill in visibility but any day that it doesn't rain, does for me. Before we left to return to space-docking station for the night, I did take a photo of a cracking mini-species which had colonised one of the cairn rocks. Like a fanfare of trumpets sounding out its tune. The return to the bothy was fine and once the fire was on, we sat and relished the heat of the fire, the hot chilli beef jerky and some fine ale and uisge bheath. The jokes were terrible. At 0500, we awoke and breakfasted before heading out with headtorches to seek out the Graham, Creag a Mhadaidh before finally heading back over Meall na Leitreach to the awaiting Enterprise. I thought these two hills were quite uneventful or maybe it was a lack of caffeine which was turning me into a monosyllabic zombie - not even pain au chocolate could wake me from my dwam. CaM must be one of the most unfrequented hills in Scotland but it's large cairn and view down to Loch Errochty make up for its apparent ignominy. There was some discussion about whether we were at the cairn on the latter but we did a recon mission and found no other cairn, this had to be it! A swift return down the hill and the A9 had us back to Planet Pearth in no-time. Another fine hill expo with Dazulan and Graeme the vulcan. We made it so.