Crianlarich : October 2nd - 4th
Three souls (Ken, Roddy and John) ventured onto the hills on the Friday, despite a wet and windy forecast. The remaining four; Ruth, Steve, Sandy and Chris joined up in the very warm hostel lounge for dinner.
Ken set off early to climb Beinn Luibhean, a Corbett east of the Rest and be Thankful. The ascent was 680m along a 2km grassy path. Since he was back in two hours, he decided to drive a little further up the road to climb another Corbett, Ben Donich. On both hills, it was misty and blustery above 700m, so unfortunately there were no summit views. Still, two Corbett’s on a day with a poor forecast, was a good result.
Meanwhile, Roddy climbed Creag Uchdag (879m), a Corbett south of Loch Tay, which he approached from the dam on the Loch Lednock Reservoir.
John almost escaped the rain on the Munro Ben Challum (1025m) but had the consolation of a second lunch(!) at the excellent Artisan Café, just off the main road from Crianlarich to Tyndrum.
On Saturday, Chris & Ken climbed the Cobbler, probably the most popular Corbett, which benefits from an excellent path up the glen to the Narnain Boulders and beyond to the col, below the intimidating rock tower that marks the summit. The mist hung around the summit ridge, occasionally clearing for some excellent views. The rocks were damp and slippery, and great care was needed to pass through the hole in the summit rock onto an exposed platform, before negotiating a greasy shallow groove to the summit. Continuing to the col below the South Top, it quickly became clear that there was no straightforward way up, especially in the damp conditions! Later research on the South Top indicates that the route, from either side of the ridge, involves very exposed scrambling / low grade climbing and good route finding to avoid even more difficult ground.
Meanwhile, John & Roddy climbed Ben Vorlich (985m), the most northerly Munro in the Arrochar Alps!
Ruth, Sandy & Steve climbed the Graham, Beinn Suidhe (675m), from the Inveroran Hotel, west of Bridge of Orchy. The first few kilometres follow the West Highland Way, which was busy with walkers heading north towards Kinlochleven. Our approach was clockwise up an ATV track via Beinn Invereigh (636m) after which the mist came down obscuring our views.
Sunday was very wet – you needed full waterproofs to get from the hostel to the cars! So, all but Chris left for home after breakfast. Chris went further east, to climb Creag Uchdag (Roddy’s ascent on Friday) with the sun breaking out as he got back to the Lednoch Dam.
With thanks to Ruth and Steve.
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