KYQ4: Sgiath a' Chaise

Sgiath a' Chaise at far right from the Glen Ample track

Wednesday 23 January 2019

Ascent: 573 metres

Distance: 8 kilometres

Time: 3 hours 34 minutes

Sgiath a' Chaise 645m 2hrs 12 mins

After the first snowfall of this winter and with the mercury showing -5°C, the skies were clear and the hills were calling. I decided to climb a nearby Graham, a hill between 2000 and 2500 feet with a drop of at least 500 feet to the next adjacent hill. There are 219 of them and as I have almost completed the Corbetts, they should provide some sport in the next few years and help me recover some fitness in the meantime. Sgiath a' Chaise is one of the nearest Grahams, a mere 11 miles from the new house. It sits above Strathyre and the most usual route is from Ardchullarie Mor on the A84 midway along Loch Lubnaig. This large stone lodge is where Jim Kerr of Simple Minds lived with Patsy Kensit in the early 1990s.

Conditions were perfect but extremely cold as I set forth and climbed the steep path through the forest plantations that runs through to Glen Ample. There were quite a few trees that had fallen and blocked the path but eventually, the path joined a landrover track and continued to climb at an easier gradient to a gate leading to the open hillside. A burn had to be crossed and it was sheet ice skimmed with freezing water that made it dangerously slippery. I had to grab some protruding rocks in the burn to inch my way across. Beyond was a picture book signpost directing the routes to Glen Ample or Beinn Each, the nearby Corbett. A couple were digging out their crampons for the ascent of Beinn Each, we eulogised about the perfect winter conditions. I continued for another 400 metres to the watershed of the track that coincided with the boundary of the plantations west of the burn.

I had the map on my phone but it wasn't loading so I decided to head directly up the snow slopes to gain the long ridge that runs south to north. A collie dog bounded up behind me and we began the climb together. Its owner was about 300 metres behind and was following my tracks. The snow was a foot or so deep and every step was a contest with gravity augmented by soft snow. I fell into my often used technique of climbing for a hundred steps and promising myself a break but then making it two hundred steps. The dog was shuttling between myself and its owner, who was falling behind. After twenty minutes of effort, I had reached the apex of the ridge and I headed for Meall Mor, the nearest top on the ridge and then Creag a' Mhadaidh. It was an extra kilometre or so from the direct ascent and a bit of a slog. The dog and its owner had given up and retreated to the glen.

The views across to Beinn Each and Stuc a' Chroin were quite spectacular against the clear blue skies to the east but clouds were heading in from the north and west. Despite the flatter terrain along the ridge, the snow was still a pernicious obstacle to progress. I continued northwards using some old fence posts to guide me on what may have been the route of a path. There were lots of deer tracks and three or four deer appeared and quickly scarpered. A couple of ravens were patrolling the top of the hill and made a couple of flypasts squawking at me with menace. The summit was flat and a lone iron post had been installed at what I took to be the high point. I sat on my rucksack retrieved my flask of coffee and regretted that I had brought no food or even chocolate with me. I had wrongly calculated that the walk would be less than 3 hours but it had already taken more than two hours to reach the summit. Tramping through the deep snow seems to double the time during ascents. Conversely, it sometimes speeds the descent.

Having taken a longer route to the summit than necessary, on the return I headed straight down to Glen Ample from a dip in the ridge before I reached Creag a' Mhadaidh. There were large rock outcrops and the ground was full of lumps and hollows but they were deceptively lubricated with soft snow. After quite a bit of rolling and tumbling I reached the drystane wall that runs down to the track. A landrover was parked at the highpoint and two men were admiring the views but they had left by the time I reached the track. The descent was quick and easy, the landrover had broken the ice in the burn so I paddled across between the chunks of broken ice that were about 3 centimetres deep. I entered the spruce plantation through the gate and sped down the needle covered path to Loch Lubnaig. It was a mere twenty-minute drive home, a pleasing variation from the usual three hour drive from Munro bashing trips.