29D - GLEN AFFRIC NORTH
Mam Sodhail and Carn Eighe seen from E ridge of Carn Eighe. Photo tms.nickbramhall
12.6 miles 1500 metres
Start Tuesday 08.12
Mam Sodhail 08.44
Beinn Fhionnlaidh 09.13
Carn Eighe 09.43
Tom a' Choinich 10.28
Toll Creagach 10.58
Finish 11.28
Squares: yellow - changeover, red - finish. Circles summits: green - this leg. Map Colin Matheson
I ran most of this route just a month ago and know just how hard the schedules will be, and this time I will not get the considerable aid from snow slopes which will now have disappeared.
Craig has kindly agreed to drive me round the long road from Cluanie so that I can sleep, at least until he asks me whether to turn towards Inverness or Fort William! He sets my watch alarm for 3.00 so I can sleep without worrying. At 4.00 he wakes me – the alarm had woken neither of us.
Real panic, I stuff down some muesli, then off on the bike. I ride up all the hills in the highest gear I can so as not to waste a moment – heavens the forest track doesn't half rise and fall. At last I am at the new Alltnamulloch Bridge, and on foot. I force the pace up the hill, but still cannot make the 5.30 earliest possible time. I panic when I see a figure pacing about at the col, but then it turns sideways and I see it has four legs.
When I left the van there was a beautiful red eastern sky, but it has been obvious all the way that the weather is on the blink again. I arrive at the col in a bitter wind with all the higher tops bathed in cloud. I realise that in my panic I have not brought my sleeping bag, so into all my clothes and lie down shivering in the bivvy bag.
A couple of hours later I decide to get up and move around before I freeze totally. Almost immediately Graeme appears on the ridge above – it is now only just below the cloud and all the hills have disappeared. Graeme arrives and sits solidly down.
As I disappear into the cloud on the stalkers' path Graeme is still just sitting! I lose the path in the cloud and climb directly to the summit. I do not get the summit schedule beep until I am on the col to Carn Eighe.
I have to do a long traverse out to Beinn Fhionnlaidh – I am glad that I have done this descending contour before. I leave my pack at the col for the final climb. After retreiving my pack I can definitely feel the past week and the big climb back to Carn Eighe is the one part that I fail to make time.
Amazingly the pinnacle ridge is clear and I can see bright weather to the south, but it is only a temporary respite. Tom a' Choinich comes and goes in thick cloud, but I am gald to have clear views for the flat bump before Toll Creagach – it enables me to pick out a fast grassy line.
The cloud is as thick as ever on Toll Creagach and I am unable to make out the shape of the land. I realise I am going too far north, so swing east half expecting to go down the rough valley. When I come out of the cloud it is clear that I have over corrected and crossed my ridge, but it is an easy downward plunge to get back on course. I get caught in crags before plunging down into the deepest heather in the Highlands. I do at least know that there is a path along the loch shore but it is hard reaching it.
Peaks done 225 Hours elapsed 220 Peaks to do 52
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