Sunday, 27 February 2011
965 metres ascent, 11kilometres, 3 hours 2 minutes
m Meall Ghaordaidh 1037metres 2hrs 3mins
The first munro outing of the year is always a challenge. No matter how fit or unfit from running or cycling the first burn up a mountain is something different. The whole body is exercised, quads get some beating, ankles and feet are asked to absorb the constant shifting of terrain and ground conditions and arms and the upper body are exercised by scrambles, carrying rucsacs and using other gear. And instead of less than an hour of exercise the walk will often last much of daylight time. Today was a bit of an exception, the forecast was reasonable and the hill chosen was relatively near to home. I had been up it only three years ago in 2 hours and 21 minutes although that was in midsummer in shorts, and hill running shoes. Today was cool with a strong westerly breeze which saw me in boots, hat and gloves but the day started bright and, apart from a 30 minute snow shower on the ascent, it stayed that way.
Glen Lochay is one of those quiet Glens that most people ignore, there are no attractions other than access to 6 munros and huge water pipelines that are part of the hydro electric schemes that bring water over from Glen Lyon. I like it and have had numerous days starting from the glen and permutating the hills in different ways. Meall Ghaordaidh is a singleton and I have usually done it as a short morning outing or tagged it onto an earlier ascent of another singleton. Normally I start at Tullich and make a direct ascent but today I parked at the east end of the hill for the longer walk up and we ascended a track to the old shielings at 400 metres. Then a steady ascent up heather and grass slopes to find the broad ridge which spills down from the mountain. There was fresh snow from about 600 metres and further along the ridge the new snow covered gullies which still held old snow and ice from the early winter. The wind was rising as we climbed the steeper snow slopes. A walker was descending with 2 ice axes, crampons and a walking pole and said he thought we could probably manage without crampons. Just as well because we had not brought either crampons or ice axes but this was before he saw Gregor's hill running shoes which were working just fine. The summit was reached in two hours and the winds at the trig point took your breathe away and made it impossible to stand vertical. We drank some water, took a couple of photos and began the return trip to escape the battering from the wind.
The snow made for an easy descent and we had the wind at our backs. We were running down the snow slopes and lolloping through the snow coverings on the peat between the heathers. We dropped down to the shielings and then found the track, crossed the wall and jogged down to the road. We had managed the descent in just less than an hour meaning that we were home before 2pm, long before expected.
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| Meall Ghaordaidh summit |
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| Clouds on Tarmachan |
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| Looking east to Tarmachan |
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| Summit of Meall Ghaordaidh looking south to Ben More |
Sunday, 27 February 2011
965 metres ascent, 11kilometres, 3 hours 2 minutes
m Meall Ghaordaidh 1037metres 2hrs 3mins
The first munro outing of the year is always a challenge. No matter how fit or unfit from running or cycling the first burn up a mountain is something different. The whole body is exercised, quads get some beating, ankles and feet are asked to absorb the constant shifting of terrain and ground conditions and arms and the upper body are exercised by scrambles, carrying rucsacs and using other gear. And instead of less than an hour of exercise the walk will often last much of daylight time. Today was a bit of an exception, the forecast was reasonable and the hill chosen was relatively near to home. I had been up it only three years ago in 2 hours and 21 minutes although that was in midsummer in shorts, and hill running shoes. Today was cool with a strong westerly breeze which saw me in boots, hat and gloves but the day started bright and, apart from a 30 minute snow shower on the ascent, it stayed that way.
Glen Lochay is one of those quiet Glens that most people ignore, there are no attractions other than access to 6 munros and huge water pipelines that are part of the hydro electric schemes that bring water over from Glen Lyon. I like it and have had numerous days starting from the glen and permutating the hills in different ways. Meall Ghaordaidh is a singleton and I have usually done it as a short morning outing or tagged it onto an earlier ascent of another singleton. Normally I start at Tullich and make a direct ascent but today I parked at the east end of the hill for the longer walk up and we ascended a track to the old shielings at 400 metres. Then a steady ascent up heather and grass slopes to find the broad ridge which spills down from the mountain. There was fresh snow from about 600 metres and further along the ridge the new snow covered gullies which still held old snow and ice from the early winter. The wind was rising as we climbed the steeper snow slopes. A walker was descending with 2 ice axes, crampons and a walking pole and said he thought we could probably manage without crampons. Just as well because we had not brought either crampons or ice axes but this was before he saw Gregor's hill running shoes which were working just fine. The summit was reached in two hours and the winds at the trig point took your breathe away and made it impossible to stand vertical. We drank some water, took a couple of photos and began the return trip to escape the battering from the wind.
The snow made for an easy descent and we had the wind at our backs. We were running down the snow slopes and lolloping through the snow coverings on the peat between the heathers. We dropped down to the shielings and then found the track, crossed the wall and jogged down to the road. We had managed the descent in just less than an hour meaning that we were home before 2pm, long before expected.
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