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.
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