Easter this year was spent in the SW corner of
the Highlands with Matt & Jenn choosing to kick-off their season with 5
Munros clustered around the N end of Loch Awe.
As it turned out, persisting snow and pretty indifferent weather on the
first 2 days placed a couple of the peaks firmly in the ‘winter mountaineering’
bracket forcing us to modify the plan
accordingly.
Beinn a’ Chochuill & Beinn Eunaich
These 2 largely grassy hills hide behind the
bulk of Ben Cruachan and are best viewed descending westwards down Glen Lochy
on the A85 in the vicinity of Dalmally.
Heading Up The Hydro Track
The day was spent largely in cloud with
intermittent drizzle, few views and a cold wind. Not our finest hour! We parked at the usual place on the old road
to Stronmilchan and walked up the hydro track past Castles Farm above the
resurgent waters of the Allt Mhoille.
Crossing the Allt Lairig Ianachain, we left the track and took to the
open hillside, eventually reaching snow at about 800m. The charms of the well-defined summit ridge
were somewhat lost on us as we traipsed through the deepening snow and thick
cloud to the summit cairn of Beinn a’Chochuill (980m; hill of the cowl).
Approaching Beinn a'Chochuill
Without pausing significantly, we initially
retraced our steps but then maintained the ridge as it descended to the
intervening bealach between today’s 2 Munros.
A relatively straightforward re-ascent up stonier ground brought us to
the snowy and windswept summit of Beinn Eunaich (989m; fowling hill).
Again, no view, no respite, so no summit
picnic! A bit of careful navigation
placed us on the correct ridge S from the summit and we eventually broke cloud
well down the steep grassy slopes above the hydro track. A disappointing first day which yielded 2
Munros but little else.
Beinn
Bhuidhe
For Day 2, we drove around to the head of Loch
Fyne to capture this awkwardly-placed outlier situated mid-way between the
Arrochar Alps and Ben Cruachan.
Parking just off the A83 where it crosses the
River Fyne, we took to the metalled road that leads past the Achadunan
micro-brewery. Soon after passing Glenfyne
Lodge, the road becomes a track that continues alongside the River Fyne to
reach the old house at Inverchorachan in a little under 90 minutes.
Inverchorachan
It was a slightly kinder day weather-wise, but
the tops were still shrouded in thick cloud and we knew from yesterday that
there would be plenty of snow about. And
so it came to pass…. We entered cloud above 700m and snow soon afterwards. Lots of it.
Extremely challenging navigation eventually got us on to the summit
ridge along which we picked our way in near white-out conditions until the
small rounded summit loomed out of the murk.
Beinn Bhuidhe (948m; yellow hill).
Descending, we made good time connecting all the
snowfields together before regaining the upward route. Eventually, the glen re-appeared below us
followed by Inverchorachan and then the track that led us all the way back to
the car. A challenging day of full-on
winter hillwalking.
Beinn
Mhanach
After the difficulties of the previous 2 days, a
full traverse of Ben Cruachan was clearly not a wise option. Instead, we drove around to Bridge of Orchy
where the gang had unfinished business from the previous September. As if to compensate for the weather we’d
endured thus far, today’s weather was spectacular with bright sunshine and blue
skies that lasted all day!
Parking at the new walkers’ car park on the
access drive to Achallader Farm, we took the boggy path up into Coire
Achaladair and its upper corrie, Coire Daingean, to the skyline.
Coire Achaladair
Here, we turned left and began a descending
traverse around the S slopes of Beinn Achaladair to the 630m bealach at the
head of Gleann Cailliche. Large, but
soft, snowfields covered the slopes of Beinn Achaladair making for easier and
more direct progress than would have been possible over tussocky grass. We took our time though and trod carefully -
the aspect was quite steep!
From the bealach, we climbed steadily - and
wearily - around the N slopes of Beinn a’ Chuirn, finally reaching the
intervening saddle of this twin summit massif where our target came into sight. One more gentle trudge on intermittent snow
eventually brought us to the flat summit of Beinn Mhanach (953m; monks’ hill).
It had taken over 4hrs to reach this point and
we were not relishing the long return to the car. As often happens, however, we made excellent
progress back down to the bealach, the soft snowfields now working in our
favour. Similarly, the traverse around
Beinn Achaladair went surprisingly quickly and we were soon descending back
down Coire Achaladair with spirits raised. The return walk seemed to have taken
a fraction of the time of the morning’s long haul in to the Munro.
We weren’t complaining!
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