A weekend walking in the Mamores
So I managed a long awaited trip to Scotland with Nicola over last weekend (6th & 7th Nov). We headed out on Friday afternoon/evening & drove straight upto Rannoch Moor. Its a long haul, but always worth it, once you have made the effort and I find, although the distance is long, that the time passes quickly with the excitement of what the next few days might bring. I'd looked at the forecast for the Lakes on friday, yes I hear you, classic error... should have checked the place we were going, and it had showed to be clearing for Saturday & great for Sunday. It wasn't until Nicola had said her friend wished us well with the weather that I thought, whoops. Nic fell asleep at around the Green Wellie stop in Tyndrum & when we arrived at the back road to the Kingshouse Hotel, I parked up, got the burner fired up, sat down for a brain rest (after 5+ hours of driving) and set to looking up the weather on MWIS (thank something for Iphones!) and checking the map. The weather report was for 2-4 hours of snow on Saturday, but clearing for Sunday, with heavy snow/rain coming in after dusk on Sunday evening. Well, not too bad, but I felt a bit of a fool, as I hadn't checked conditions, I had left axe's, crampons & kahtoola microspikes at home. Silly boy. I planned a couple of low level routes for saturday, with a high level route in the Mamores as a backup & left Sunday open to see what the weather gods brought us. As it happened, we awoke in the morning to a mist capped Buachaille Etive Mor and pretty clear skies. We were tired from long weeks apple pressing, working & exercising so coffee was on, burner was once again stoked & firing away and we took an easy morning discussing microspikes.. or the lack of them & what we might do. Plans were made, the burner was left to die down & we got ourselves together, ready to drive round to Kinlochmore ready for our first Munro's of the weekend. We had made our decision on the weather we saw, what was predicted & the ease of being able to descend from our chosen route safely, had the weather turned to snow. It had said, cloud free summits well inland, so we took a gamble.
Our route today was to be from underneather the Mamore Lodge, up into Alt corie na h-Eirghe and upto the bealach in-between Sgorr an lubhair, then we would head for Am Bodach & see what time we had left. When we got to the bealach, we could not 'not' summit Sgorr an lubhair, so we did & then headed back on ourselves to pick up Am Bodach (can anybody tell me why Sgorr an Lubhair is not marked as a Munro on the BMC Ben Nevis/Glencoe 1;140'000 map? Comments welcome!!). At the summit, we decided, with on-coming dusk & tired bodies, that we would head back down, as the prospect of Stob Coire a'Chairn wasn't the best option for how we felt, head torches or not. Good decision, as it was impending darkness on our arrival back at the trusty van. A quick salad & then we headed off to Glen Nevis for the next days fun & games. We parked at the head of Glen Nevis in the top carpark, again, burner on, food on the stove, music, all was well. Nipping outside for the obvious calls of nature revealed a starlit sky & the surrounding mountains showing their releif against the night sky. Amazing place to be/sleep. We woke to the sunshine hitting the tops of the Mamores & as we breakfasted, got ourselves ready & headed to the Falls of Nevis carpark, the sun came up & lit the summits around in a warm winter glow.
Today's mission: From the Nevis Falls up onto Sgurr a'Mhaim, then Devils Ridge, cutting out Sgorr an lubhair, as we had summited the day before, passing the little lochan under the crags & up onto Stob Ban. The thought of on coming snow was in the back of our minds, so not too long a day was the best option. The weather was perfect, a mixture of sun until midday & then cloud cover & snow in-coming. It reached us as we summited Stob Ban, perfect timing. All we had to do now was the long descent back to the Falls of Nevis & of course the long drive home. Back at the van we made some food, got the burner on a again.. oh the joys of a wood burner in my van, and then as the rain started we set off for home. Sad to be leaving such a beautiful place & the thoughts of monday morning and work creeping back in. The weather was hardcore & as we head up Glencoe, the wind was trying to pull us over the barrier & down into the valley far below. Funnily, as we got to Rannoch Moor, we hit a lull & we crusied across the flat plain, until the descent started the otherside & the wind & rain/sleet started its barrage a again. It was a long drive... 7 hours... couldn't drive fast, the weather wouldn't allow. And thoughts mused around, brains became tired, we arrived at the Penrith junction & headed along the shores of Ulswater for Kirkstone Pass & Windermere beyond. We had 2 great day's walking those mountains, talked & thought, absorbed & learnt. Looked at the flora, through not much fauna, but as I just remember, we were greeted just off the north flank of Stob Ban by 4 Ptarmigans flying through the turbulent air looking for a place to land, only to carry on when they saw us. Its only tuesday as I write, but I can't wait to get back up there again.. this time for winter climbing & the exhillaration/fear that comes with it, as a matter of course. Kits used over the weekend (all of which performed perfectly, given the weather): Marmot DriClime windshirt & pants Inov-8 Roclite 400's (reveiw coming shortly, we will have stock arriving in Feb 2011) OMM Rotor Smock Montane Feather Light Smock Montane Fireball Odlo Base Layers Haglofs Active Boxer's OMM Adventure Light 20 Inov-8 Race Pro 12 Marmot Spring Gloves Montane Beanie Fox River Primaloft Socks
