Two weekends in the Highlands

After the disappointment of bad weather for the club's winter weekend at the beginning of March, Maria and I made the most of the following two weekends with some climbing and hillwalking in great weather.

13th - 15th March

Leaving York at 3am (didn't get back from London until 8pm the night before so a civilised drive up in the evening wasn't possible), we got to Glen Coe around 8am and headed up to Stob Coire nan Lochain.

Dorsal 1

Dorsal Arete is a classic grade II route that is worth trying to climb on a weekday, as it gets very popular on good weather weekends. I soloed it about 5 years ago, but avoided the very exposed crux 'fin', so it was nice to return with a partner and a rope to do the route properly.

Maria on the 1st pitch

First pitch

Maria leading the second pitch

Second pitch

Me on the second pitch

Second pitch

Me on the second pitch

Second pitch

Heading towards the crux

Heading towards the crux

About to step up onto the crux fin

About to step up onto the crux fin

Great views from the summit

Great views from the summit

Saturday was another good weather day, but warmer so not ideal for climbing. We did a very nice ridge walk over the two Munros on Beinn a' Bheithir, enjoying the lightweight footwear and not having to carry rope, rack, etc.

Heading up towards the col between the two Munros

Heading up towards the col between the two Munros

On the summit of Sgorr Dhearg

On the summit of Sgorr Dhearg

Looking across to Sgorr Dhonuill

Looking across to Sgorr Dhonuill

On Sgorr Dhonuill

On Sgorr Dhonuill

Looking back to Sgorr Dhearg

Looking back to Sgorr Dhearg

On the ridge continuing West, before descending into Glenn a Ghaolais

On the ridge continuing West, before descending into Glenn a Ghaolais

On the way home on Sunday we went to investigate a bit of Ferguson family history in the Southern Uplands. My Grandad grew up in a remote spot a couple of miles from the village of Durisdeer, and I remember tales of him fishing for his dinner by hand in the mountain streams near the house, and sometimes finding it difficult to get home from school in winter due to the large amount of snow on the hills. We thought it would be interesting to see the house he grew up in, so parked up in Durisdeer and walked up the glen to find the house. It turns out there were actually two houses, one where he spent most of his childhood (house marked on the map at Blackhill Moss), and another about 500m closer to Durisdeer, where the family moved when he was a teenager. The 'old house' is still standing, and, comparing it to pictures my parents took about 12 years ago, appears to have been smartened up a bit by the local landowner (whose ancestor I think was my Great Grandfather's employer). The 'new house' was clearly not built quite so well - it was in a tumbledown state 12 years ago, and has since been knocked down. There is another smaller building at the site, which is now an MBA bothy (called Kettleton Byre).

The 'old house' at Blackhill Moss

The 'old house' at Blackhill Moss

The view from Blackhill Moss

The view from Blackhill Moss

Kettleton Byre bothy

Kettleton Byre bothy

 

21st - 22nd March

Another 3am start (again, work got in the way of driving up the evening before) and we were heading to Stob Coire nan Lochain again, this time to climb the classic S.C. Gully. The buttresses on SCNL are stripped of snow & ice now, but conditions in the gullies are still good, with hard snow-ice making for great axe & crampon placements.

First pitch

First pitch

Second pitch, about to step right onto the crux

Second pitch, getting some gear in before stepping up & right (crux move)

On the crux

On the crux

Top of pitch 2

Top of pitch 2

Me being silly as I climb over the cornice

Me being silly, waving axes around while climbing over the cornice

Great views north to the Ben

Great views north to the Ben

Looking across to Bidean nam Bian & Stob Coire nam Beith

Looking across to Bidean nam Bian & Stob Coire nam Beith

The weather in the west highlands was not great on Sunday, but the forecast suggested it would be better further east, and we found the summits generally clear of cloud on the Tarmachan ridge. I think Mr Eccles would call this 'correct hill theory'...

Tarmachan 1

Tarmachan 2

Tarmachan 3

It's certainly feeling warmer and more spring-like now, but there are still good climbing conditions high up. As long as there isn't a massive thaw in the next few weeks, I expect there will be good climbing in the gullies on Ben Nevis and in the higher Cairngorm coires into April.

 

 

 

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