Streap - an Alpine day out

Looking back from Streap along the ridge.

The settled weather conditions have continued pretty much all week, with most areas enjoying consistently cold weather and clear skies. On Wednesday I headed over to Streap to take advantage of a day off. The true summit of Streap is hidden at the far end of a long ridge bristling with knobs and knolls. Several summits have to be climbed over before the final ridge of Streap is reached.

There was ice on the path from the start and it seemed to take a long time, and only after a hard slog up a very rough hillside and corrie, before I reached the ridge proper having followed the route indicated in the SMC Corbetts book. The bright sun had softened the snow on the lower reaches of the mountain, but higher up some freeze-thaw had been going on. For the most part the snow was ice hard, yet soft enough on the surface to make crampons un-necessary. The ridge was complex, with much to-ing and fro-ing to find the best line.

The summit of Streap is on the left-hand side of the picture.

I was stripped down to my thermal top and enjoyed the sensation on being on a mountain in the middle of a sea of sharp ridges and soaring peaks. After a couple of hours I reached the final ridge up to the summit which was steep but not hard. The trickest section in fact was dropping down off the top, but soon enough the continuation ridge eased and walking along the edge of the hard-frozen corniced ridge was spectacular, but secure.

Back down in the glen it felt colder than on the tops and the frost on the trees hadn't melted all day. Even though it sounds melodramatic, today felt pretty alpine to me. Sun, blue skies, frozen snow and a long ridge... Who needs the Alps?