Beinn Dearg - A very dry North West

The cold, clear, calm conditions continue and what snow that has survived the thaw is bullet hard. Up in the North West there is very little left and even the gullies in north faces are generally not complete. Despite the lack of snow, the traverse of Beinn Dearg (of the recent re-measurement fame) in Torridon was good fun. The rock was warm, in complete contrast to the baltic conditions in the glens, and the easy enjoyable scrambling added a bit of spice to the day. Less fun were the steep grass and heather slopes up to and back down from the ridge.

Sgur Mor - Fanniachs

We went over to the Fanniachs today for a Boxing Day run. I haven't been back for a while as I have already bagged all the Munros, but I have realised the error of my list-ticking ways. The running was superb, helped by excellent weather. Snow cover was extremely patchy and varied between soft and bullet-hard depending on the aspect. A temperature inversion was forecast and it did seem warmer on the summit. Sitting around in a thermal in December just isn't normal behaviour for me.

The main face had plenty of snow in the gullies, but unfortunately I have no idea if any of the routes were in nick.

Beinn Fhada - West Ridge

A bad weather forecast in the east and heaps of snow in the west lead me to the conclusion that a walk or a scramble in the west would meet with the best chance of success. Seen from the bottom of Glen Shiel, the west ridge of Beinn Fhada is enticingly jagged and it is something I have wanted to do for a while now. According to the books there is one section of the ridge that can be problematic in poor conditions. So I decided to be prudent and packed a 20m rope just in case.

From the car we headed up steep grass slopes of Beinn Bhuidhe before we hit the snowline at 450m. Beyond this the snow rapidly became deeper and once up on the crest it was proper winter conditions. The ridge was fantastic. Long, surprisingly narrow, sinuous and with superb views both to the north and south. With about 4 inches of fresh snow covering everything, the slabby 'bad step' lived up to it's reputation. However, using the rope as a backup, the difficulties (about a 10m section of steep slab) were soon down-climbed and the remainder of the ridge was uneventful, although spectacular.


The way back was via a very well constructed stalkers path down into Coire an Sgairne, and then Gleann Choinneachain, continuing all the way back to the car. The glen was surprisingly steep-sided, much more like the kind of glen you see in Glen Coe with deeply carved ravines. The crags backing the coires were well plastered with snow and looked like they could offer up some good routes - once the snow has consolidated.

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?

Glas Bheinn - gully climbing - Loch Arkaig

Another great day out in the northern highlands! I headed out with Dave to the start of Loch Arkaig to do a walk over Glas Bheinn, Geal Charn and Meall na h-Eilde. Glas Bheinn has a steep east face and is more craggy than indicated on the 1:25 000 map. We headed up the forest trails up Gleann Cia-aig until we could cross over roughly in line with the summit of Glas Bheinn. Just to the left of the highest point a gully cut through a broken buttress and from a distance looked like a easy romp. Getting closer, there seemed to be a steep icy step leading into a fairly well defined gully. The upper slopes of the gully had avalanced previously so the snow was hard packed and although water was still running behind the ice, there was enough to get over the 70 degree section. The gully continued with a few easier angled steps with a mixture of ice and frozen turf, before the final sopes were reached. From my experience about Grade I would be fair under the conditions, and with heavy snow fall could easily bank out. The buttresses to either side could offer up some fun, short routes in the lower grades.

The rest of the day was spent wading through snow around the two Corbetts. The views were some compensation to the hard work, but I certainly haven't felt that tired for a long time.

Glen Roy - Beinn Iaruinn

Last Sunday I headed out with Dave to Glen Roy to get in some winter walking and take advantage of the recent dump of snow. Surprisingly this coincided with a spell of cold, clear weather. The freezing level was very low and the drive past Loch Lagan in bright sunshine and azure skies was fantastic. We stopped in a layby to enjoy the weather and listened to the ice of the loch cracking and snapping in the morning sun.

The last time I tried to get up Glen Roy was in similarly cold weather and the twisting road was difficult to drive and I gave up. Today the conditions were worse, but we eventually reached the start of the walk despite a couple of near misses on the iced over road.

Glen Roy is noted primarily for the parallel 'roads' which scar the hill sides as though someone had forgotten to rub out the contour lines when building them. They mark the level of by-gone lochs caused by ice blocking outflows. On the way up the first hill, Beinn Iaruinn, we crossed a few 'roads'. They really were very level and uniform. Altogether much more impressive than any photos I had seen.

The snow was lying ankle deep almost from the road and was very deep in the rare places it had drifted. I was absolutely shattered and the climb up was hard work with powder snow disguising the extremely slippery rocks under foot. It was cold enough that the ground was completely frozen and my boots stayed dry despite the constant wading through snow.

Once we got up on to the plateau the going seemed much more straight forward although the slight wind was bitterly cold. Unfortunately high level cloud hid the Grey Corries from view, but the panorma over to Creag Meggy and the Window were superb. The low temperature made sure we didn't linger for long and we headed south to another summit (a Graham) before dropping back down to the road. All day I had been nervous about getting back out, but a few more cars had used the road so the drive back was a bit of an anti-climax.

After another fall in Inverness on Tuesday morning I headed out with Dave to get in some night ski-ing at Abriachen. Conditions were variable but as a whole very good and all good fun.