Beinn Chuirn

Beinn Chuirn from the Cononish track

Looking east to Ben More and Stob Binnein

Beinn Oss from Beinn Chuirn

The ascent of Beinn Chuirn

Summit view - Hills of the North, Rejoice

Me and my shadow on the descent ridge

Cononish river

Ben Lui and Beinn Chuirn across the Cononish as the clouds spill in

Ben Lui

Friday, 6 February 2015
Distance: 15 kilometres
Ascent:    740 metres
Time:      4hours 35 minutes

Beinn Chuirn      880 m       2hrs 39mins

At last a start on the hills in 2015 and what a day. After a couple of weeks struggling to walk let alone run after twisting my back, I had managed a couple of runs and felt I was on the mend. The high pressure had held all week and the wind and clouds from the earlier part of the week had been seen off. it was February at its very best.  Beinn Chuirn was my nearest remaining corbett, the hill that hosts the Tyndrum gold mine. It is a good 5 kilometre walk in along the track to Connonish and from here a path runs to the foot of Ben Lui. Beinn Chuirn is the large mass to the north with a 500 metre drop between the two hills. It has eluded me on the five occasions when I had completed the 4 munros in the Ben Lui group. I always had an excuse for not continuing to Beinn Chuirn; short winter days, leading a Water Aid group, walking with friends or just couldn't be bothered. I had put it on hold it as a hill for a lazy day; well that was certainly not the case today.

Although I made a late start it was still -2.5°C as I turned into the car park that resembled a skating rink  at Dalrigh just before Tyndrum. I had been warned that it was mighty cold on the summits so I wore an extra layer in addition to my normal winter clothing of a merino base layer and wool pullover beneath a soft-shell jacket. My crampons and ice axe were packed in expectation that they would be necessary. As always when leaving Dalrigh I had to consult the map to find the right track but once past the church house I began to stride out.

The track was covered in a layer of hard frozen snow that had been polished by vehicle tracks. My scarpa boots seemed to give a reasonable grip and I made the 5 kilometres to Cononish in an hour and then continued towards Ben Lui for another kilometre before leaving the track to make a rising traverse of the southern slopes of Beinn Chuirn. It had seemed the obvious line to take but the deep soft snow made it an arduous ascent. Each step was a venture into the next potential snow hole. After just 100 metres of ascent, I decided to have an early snack, the air was still and a few nuts and a tangerine followed by a coffee provide some sustenance. I retrieved my walking pole from the rucksack to help progress through the snow and it made all the difference.

The slopes were still steep but the more exposed slopes had been cleared of snow by the wind and I used these ramps to reach the shoulder of the hill at 600 metres. The snow here was hard and crusty and it provided easy going to cross the frozen burn and then begin the last 250 metres of climb to the summit. The views to Ben Lui were directly into the sun but Ben More and Stob Binnein provided a profile of snow blasted mountains to the east and the Breadalbane hills to the north looked resplendent basking in the early afternoon sun. It was still tiring although I was walking at a decent pace now that the soft snow had been left behind. Beinn Chuirn is a high corbett at 880 metres and it certainly seemed so as I toiled up the slopes.

It was just after 2pm when I reached the summit, half an hour later than I had hoped but the air was still and it was no discomfort to take a seat and admire the amazing vistas in all directions. The cloud was gathering at a lower level to the south west but everywhere else was a winter wonderland. I had grabbed an old pair of sunglasses from the car and they were needed to disperse the glare from the snow. I finished the flask of coffee, nibbled more nuts and began the descent.

What had taken well almost an hour and a half to ascend was descended in less than half that time, despite stopping for photos. I looked for the long snow sections to skate down and on only on a couple of occasions did I fall into snow holes. Back on the path above Cononish, the snow had begun to freeze hard as the sun dipped behind Ben Lui. Clouds began to spill into the valley floor, which was much colder than the hills that were still bathed in late afternoon sunshine.

I charged through Cononish using my walking pole to prevent any slips on the lethal icy sections caused by vehicles. The river Cononish at the side of the track had an icy blue tinge and there was no-one panning for gold. I became clammy as the heat generated from the effort of walking was chilled by the falling temperature. It was not the sort of day to pause.  The walk out from Cononish took under an hour and, as I sat changing my boots at the rear of the car, a police car circled the car park checking for any vandalism or break ins. My car had been broken into not far from here six years ago on another February day. I was home by 5pm convinced not for the first time that February is the best month of the year to walk in the hills on these freezing days of high pressure.