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.

More Baggin'

I am so looking forward to Christmas. Over the past weeks we have been rushing about desperately getting all our visits in to friends and relations before Emily sprogs in the New Year. Fortunately the conditions for climbing or ski-ing haven't been THAT good. By that I mean perfect, and I have been able to enjoy trips down to London and the Peaks without an over-riding sense of missing out.

It hasn't been all travelling though and I have still managed my aim of a Marilyn a week. The forested Bin of Cullen was made slightly more interesting as darkness set in just after I reached the trig point during my torchless ascent. My other hill runs have taken me over Beinn Mhor near Grantown which is a great viewpoint for the 'Gorms...

... and Dungavel Hill convienently within striking distance of the M74 near Abington. At last I am getting to run in a place I have always wanted to and it certainly helps break up the long trog to and from Englandshire.

On the same day I was running in the sun in the Borders, we stopped earlier at Slochd to play in the snow.

Training has been difficult. With everything concentrating on speed I have been doing intervals and short, but hard, runs up to about an hour. I thought I had cracked the XC thing when I reduced by time from 125% at Dornoch to 116% of the winners time at Elgin. Unfortunately a slight runny nose, exacerbated by very frosty temperatures, made todays course at Forres (despite being very hilly which should suit me) very tough. It was really demoralising to feel so bad and not be able to hold a decent pace. Ah well, I have a month until the next race so I will be resting a wee bit to get some enthusiasim back.

A perfect Cairngorms day - Andromeda

I really wasn't that convinced by all the positive reports on the web going on about the fantastic winter conditions. So, I wasn't that fussed to be running a XC race on Saturday, which can only be counted at best as training as it was more a trail run. The weather didn't follow the forecast and it remained cold, grey and overcast. I was even less convinced when Steve called me about his and Kenny's climbing plans for Sunday. Going to the extreme of packing a book just in case the trip to the 'gorms degenerated into session in the cafe drinking coffee. We didn't even leave Inverness until 8.30. Sometimes it pays not to be so negative and when we arrived at the Corrie Cas carpark, it became rapidly apparent that the bloggers hadn't just being trying to justify their actions and drum up undue excitement. The only problem was there was too much snow for easy walking. I can never be happy!

After a brief route discussion in Corrie Nan Lochan we headed up to Andromeda (IV,4), hoping that previous climbers had cleaned off much of the loose snow. I was a bit apprehensive as I haven't really done that much climbing this year at all. The first pitch was scrappy and not well protected, but as soon as we headed to steeper ground the climbing and the protection improved. We took the very leftmost groove and the main pitch was probably the steepest climbing I have done in winter and I was over-joyed not to have taken any tension on the rope. There is something just so fun about mixed climbing and the weather, the company together with the sheer unexpectedness of getting some climbing done all made this into one of my most enjoyable days out.

The plateau was sun-drenched and still and for once there was no mad rush to pack all the kit away and get down. We ambled down Fiacaill Ridge just to stay in the sun. The easy climbing adding to what had already been a fantastic day.

(Very) Early Season Ski-ing

Well, I really wasn't expecting to get my cross country skis out already. A day of heavy snow showers with the snow sticking even in Inverness meant that I just had to chance it up at Abriachen. Although the forest tracks are only about 250m-300m in altitude the place seems to be a real snow trap. It is only 15min from the middle of Inverness and has been a favourite place of mine for ski-ing, running and biking for a while now. It seems to be more often ski-able compared to other places like Farr or Daviot Woods.



So yesterday morning (Wednesday) I got up early and skied for over an hour on perfect snow (well for Scotland that is) and I felt very satisfied, although pretty sore, sitting back at my desk watching the snow melt.

Making waves on the XC scene

It has been nearly a month since I last blogged and what a wet and windy month its been. After having got long 'challenges' out of my system for the time being, my focus has been on the cross country season and the training for that has been short. That, together with having a fairly hectic work schedule in Shetland and Orkney, have made sure that weekends at home have been spent recuperating rather than being out for hours in the hills.

One great day out recently was a circuit of Binnein Shuas and Binnein Shios. These two peaks sandwiched between Creag Meaggaidh and Beinn a'Chlachair are very rocky and are well placed for panoramic views of the surrounding higher hills. The weather was cool but dry and stags could be heard in the high corries of the Munros opposite. Small slabby crags gave some interesting scrambling on the broad ridge. After descending very steep slopes and gullies from Shuas we slogged up wet ground up the next hill at an easy gradient. From the summit of Shios, we dropped down north to the wooded shores of Loch Laggan for the journey back to the car. Rather than the dreary plantation we feared, it was a fantastic contrast to the rocky hillsides of the peaks above. Some of the trees were huge and for much of the way deer tracks could be followed.

Changing from long steady runs to the faster paced efforts of cross country (hence the awful pun in the title!) has been pretty tough. My track sessions have not been made easier by the almost constant wind and rain. Still, I managed to support the Highland Hillrunners senior males to the clubs first ever District Relay Championship. Running 4km flat out nearly killed me (at an average of 183 beats per minute), but I did enjoy myself a lot more than I expected to. The Inverness Harriers (local rivals) were a bit upset at how things panned out and the local press decided to ignore the results as best they could. So with a win in my first ever XC race things can only go downhill from here!

So since then it has been blustery runs in the Northern Isles. Trying to train whilst watching waves crash against the cliffs a couple of meters away is a bit distracting. I shouldn't complain about going to places like North Ronaldsay and Foula for work, but I will be glad when I can get back into a regular training regime.