Beinn a chaorainn...sdcf ..fair weather i wish!!

[doogz]

TRIP REPORT: Show trip details

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Beinn a Chaorainn

soulminer and myself

sunday 4th jan 2009

weather ...atrocious

time 3.5 hours


Well SDFC and WJ not only you can fall ar&e over tit on the hills ..after my escapades in the last week we opted for an easier route...see chrism....report..so 60% chance of good viz and off we trotted minus N who cried off late on saturday evening..

something wrong when we got to glencoe and the clouds were dripping gloomily over the tops and there was just....something ...something not quite right...you know the feeling....still on we go and the usual suspects are pulling in the cars at the car park at fort bill....

a coffee in a deserted mcdonalds and up to spean bridge with the ben and cmd ....just...visible from the road...round into the A87 and its not nice...
no hills available to see for the next 4 miles or so maybe all the way to the track for the beginning of our walk...

outside the """""frost""""is surprising me further as its only minus a half of a degree???????

stoopit Doogz.....its blinkin snow thats narrowing the road as we get to the dam wall and head to the cottages just a bit further on...

suited and booted ..new batteries in the GPS ..just in case...

off up the track the snow is now falling a wee tad harder and when we go up thru the firebreak an climb the deer fence its worsening all the time ...visibility from here is about 50m or so ...not too promising for our good wee easyish walk

meet two ladies waklking down the side of the hill who inform us its..
worse up there a bit?????

worse it cannae get worse..its bleedin cauld and wet andsnowy and cloudy and misty now its blinking scarey as the easy grass ascent is hiding a far more dangerous obstacle under its 1"coating of snow....ICE...lots of ice

still we take my notes out...take a bearing and its a general pick your way round the icy burns...dave seems to be relishing the challenging conditions ...my mind is wandering back to last tuesday and the previous sunday ...ah well this ....."could clear by lunch?""""

up and up and the ladies from the walking club forecasdt of worse weather is now a reality as we head into the dreaded 10m vizibility range...still another check and at around the 850m mark its really awful as the wind is driving the snow and ice particles hard into us as our never ending trudge upward goes on...900-920---950...now we can really only see around 10ft-15ft as the worsening weather is starting to give us a belt of its anger..
we top out at the 1049 m secondary top and its not too far to gonow,,

take the bearing a quick picture and well be off..



we know the coire is to our right and we set off into the shortening gloom stealthily to keep us from the deep hole waiting to gather any unnoticing ,foolhardy ,gung ho hillwalkers...

find a few recent footprints inthe new snow and ignore them totally if we are goin we are doing it ...not following someone else who may not know where they are going

5 mins later and up is the same as down is the same as left is the same as right..aha some folks on the summit are surprised to see us wander out the gloom from about 6 feet
summit wi the walking club maybe fort william HWC...dont think they want their pics taken...he he

time to make the descision...TWO walkers ...ONE descision

go or return...my mate chats to the rest of the hillwalking group while i am doing the counting and calculating..time distance...drop reclimb...

dave stops his chat and says ...we gaun back then doogz

"nae point in fudding aboot tryin tae fun anither hill...we kin come back anither time

straight talkin is ma pal dave no messing around and its fair play when you add the conditions to the worsening weather and get a dual yup that will do for today...
the other six also decide to abandon the rest of the walk into worsening weather and set off at the same time as us back doon

so backtrack tight on the route track on the gps and back across the plateau to meet the drop down...its all of a sudden a bit colder than 10 mins ago so we make sure we are past the coirie and pick up the pace on the grassy slope ...down ...down...down where is the bottom of the cloud on our way up it was around 750m where the ""views ""were at their best we were below that and the mist had rolled around the hill and hugging it nice and tight ..

we opted to try and miss the boggy drop between the forest of mud and ice and headed further over to pick up a path to the west of coire clachaig and now we could see a wee bit better and the river came into view and the snow had lessened ..so wee drink and opted to pick the river path if we could find a wee crossing ..""if we just drop down here........aaaaagh """"" legs now above my head and ground racing toward my upper end head shoulder neck braced for the next thump...wham right onto my shoulder and tricep and elbow...


drat it would have been better landing on my head ..would never have felt a thing landin on that big lump o wood...

seriously i was pleased to thump down and be up on ma feet with all parts intact..we carried on down to the side of the forest and looked back to the descending gloom coming to swallow up the glen and hide its charms under a blanket of snow and cloud




we set off toward the deer fence and we opted to follow the posts with wee green tops along side the river alt a chaorinn ...and im glad we did it was pretty nice ..well made and well constructed path we found which when we return to do beinn teallach we will follow..
some pics of the frozen river




a wee bit further down the river is closed in by the narrowing forest and its much warmer...warmer than the pictures suggest




then at a wee junction which looks imassable due to the huge boulders blocking the way it is really the best part of what can be called a miserable day on our very normally lovely scottish hills




all the way to the car at the side of the road the posts led us ..not marked on the map but a lovely path for a low level walk ..

so SDCF the doog aint no fair weather walker and as for injuries we can meet up and compare scars,bumps and bruises..

at the car the fog is rolling down to the roadside as its time to go and now my wee heart is relly glad my big single minded head over ruled on doing the second munro...they will all be there another day ...i might not have been with a small incorrect placement of foot on what looked in innocuous grassy slope not looking worthy of crampons....




so mark one up for the doogz for 2009 and if i get two i will have a better start to this year than last years january total ..and what a year that turned out

sorry bout the lack of pics might huve been all pictured out on ben vane ..meall a bhuiridh/creise and the ben and cmd

heres hopin for some non foggy hills in january ..wont hold my breath though

CHEERZ


DOOGZ

[SimonP]

That was great doogz. Gave a real feel for what it's like in those sort of conditions. And you've joined quite a roll call of slightly bent SHillers . Glad you turned though, that didn't look like the sort of day to be pushing your luck.
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[chimpaction]

Another great report Doogz. Better safe than sorry to cut the walk short.

Here's what you couldn't see...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chimpaction/2745405705/in/set-72157606619622287/

[goth_angel]

Agree with Simon, definitely not the sort of day to push your luck. Respect for getting to the top.
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[sheepdogcatfish]

I would not have fancied that one Doogz. In fact, this pair (particularly the second hill, Beinn Teallach) are my least favourite of all the walks so far on Munros. We couldn't find a river crossing which meant a slog and grind up steep embankments, then down and back up in torrential bone-soaking rain. And that was after a right good knees up in the bunkhouse down the road at Tulloch.

Every time we pass that parking space and gate on the Laggan road, I remind WJ of these miserable hills

Not the best memories. I'm a fair weather convert now

By the way, these remarks are my own opinions and experience, and no doubt I'll be reminded they are in fact the 'gems' of this area

[Darthvader]

[Hendo]

Crap conditions for you Doogz, never mind, you made the right decision.
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Ne'er cast a Cloot till May be oot.

[GDub]

It must have been really bad to stop doogz, I suspect

[dotty]

Glad you got back safely, doogz. I would have missed your great reports. You definately made the right decision.

[JimH]

Rough with the smooth eh Doogz

When you manage to get out as much as you do i suppose you're going to get some bad days and you've had your fair share of them lately.

Still to do these two and i think i'll keep them for a good day.

Thanks for the advice.

[kets]

Hey opp Doogz me mate!

Ah you should have gone up these in the Friday (2nd)! I was on them then and the weather was truely fab If I had not lost the usb lead for my camera right now I would down load a few pic's so you can see what it really looks like Luckily though the Dark Lord and Chimpaction have rescued you, so you can savour the views

Seriously though the ice underfoot was bad enough on Beinn a Chaorainn before the snow so it must have been evil on Sunday...so well done on getting up.

Also you made the right call not to do Beinn Teallach in that weather. The route up is on the north side and I found that far icier on the way up than Beinn a Chaorainn I nearly got stuck in a field of frozen sloping bog/sheet ice which took some effort and nerves to get out of. And that was on a clear day...it would have been nigh on impossible to see them/get out of them with the dusting snow down...plus there where other big patches I avoided that I could see and you would not have been able to. So you would have had far more problems so once again a good call made Doogz

Oh well the hill will still be there and judging by my descent, the side you would need to come up to do it on its own is a peice of p15h...so I reckon a record Doogz time of and hour and a half to the top and back could be done A sweep stake anyone for how fast Doogz can do Beinn Teallach ?

Cheers
Kets
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<div>&nbsp;&nbsp; OMG Please! pleeeease! Just one....the one....bacon sandwich!</div><br />