Climbed Beinn a' Chlachain from Applecross Bay the day before yesterday.

Set off at 2.20pm 5hrs after leaving Aberdeen, got back just after sunset at 6.30pm, having reached summit at 4.30pm via SW ridge / edge of escarpment.

Descended over Meall an Doireachain, round rim of Coire Muchdaroch and down Strath Maol Chaluim.

Sunny most of way up then clouded over with chilly strong breeze. Should get photos back shortly with those of previous trip up Strath Vaich, a couple of weeks back.

Final peak in Applecross, Coulin and Torridon section.

Link to photies...

http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6253

Wee Norm's ascent 'o Pressendye, a Graham, 3 days earlier - climbed it last year but had to carry him up last few hundred feet.

http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6253

Pics 'o Wee Norm's 1st unassisted ascent 'o highest top 'o Bennachie, Oxen Craig, fae Back 'o Bennachie carpark, a couple 'o weeks earlier - now also added to above link.

More pics of Wee Norm, this time climbing the countries' biggest sandune.

Also a couple with a dozen or so seals swimming behind him.

http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6253

Climbed Beinn na Muice, at head of Glen Strathfarrar wi Norma on Monday.

Set off fae Aberdeen at 10am, left car at 2.02pm. I reached summit, alone, at 3.52pm and I got back to car at 4.52pm.

For the 1st time in 20 years the gate to the glen was open when we got there, despite a large 'Glen Closed' sign affixed to it.

This was reached after a wee unintended diversion along the road to Drumnadrochit & narrow, windy, snow & ice covered turn off towards Cannich, followed by an even more dodgy further wee road after turn-off over bridge to Struy.

By this point I was still seriously doubting we were ever going to make it to the hill, having passed 10ft high piles of snow by the road in Keith. This was after seeing plenty more in the Glens of Foudland and alternating green and white fields under clear blue skies all the way from the Spey at Fochabers.

Things had been slowed somewhat by all the water with which I'd topped up the wiper fluid, soon leaking out, leaving Norma to perform a rapid windscreen wipe at each set of roadworks.

Initially this had made visibility even worse as she insisted on using a dirty wee sock and for the first time in my life I had found myself praying that the lights would turn red, rather than green on the approach.

The road up the glen had a substantial covering of melting ice and snow for the first few miles and I fully expected to be either turned back by either this or some estate vehicle blocking the way ahead.

The most problematic section turned out to be where an ice cliff on a roadside crag had collapsed, leaving large, irregular blocks of ice scattered over the road.

However, I managed to weave a way through these and much to my amazement I found that the deep snow cover along the roadside appeared to be getting thinner, the higher up the glen we drove.

I was tempted to stop for a photostop as we passed a couple of magnificent stags paddling across the river. However, I was mindful of both the limited daylight and even more limited fitness of Norma, following weeks of even more than usually heavy drinking over the Christmas & New Year period.

After about 10 miles and approaching 1/2hr drive up the glen we were finally brought to a halt by twa of the aforementioned feared estate vehicles. These were blocking the road as the drivers yaked to each other for 5 mins or so before that in front of us obligingly set off up the glen for a short distance.

I waved a greeting to the driver of the other as he passed, which although unreciprocated, I just felt relieved that no attempt had been made to halt our further progress.

The vehicle ahead turned off onto the start of the track beside the Allt Toll a' Mhuic, as used by RCFC and his twa lads for their April ascent of our objective, a few years back.

In order to confirm that the steep rocky hill on our right was indeed the right wan, I continued up the glen another couple of miles, passing the Loch Monar dam and subsequent 'No Unauthorised Vehicles' sign, to park a 100yds before the road end at Monar Lodge.

The dam reminded me of my first visit 20yrs ago, when we had been unable to open the car door when parked on it's top, due to the strength of the wind, which 2 of the 4 of us were soon to experience atop the 3 Munros on the north side of the glen.

Taking a first look up the steep rocky tapering ridge to the pointy top of our chosen hill, I was delighted to see that there were only large patches of snow, which looked largely avoidable.

I had fully expected waist deep soft snow, similar to that which had exhausted me last March on Druim Fada, which would have meant Norma would have undoubtedly remained firmly seated in the car, as had GC on that infamous occasion.

Almost as soon as we set off a fine drizzle set in and the view over Loch Monar to the very remote, mist shrouded Lurg Mhor group of Munros looked dispiritingly grey and driech, after all the unbroken sunshine of the long drive from the far east.

However, conditions underfoot seemed remarkably good on short heather, considering the vast quantities of snow which have must have just recently melted. This was probably just as well, as Norma had decided not to bother putting on her walking boots...

Her progress seemed rather slow to say the least and as she kept stopping to try to light a fag, I just as frequently reminded her that it would be getting very dark in a couple of hours.

After what seemed an age we reached a saddle north of Meall an Tairbh, where an incongruous line of wooden telegraph poles crossed over to Monar Lodge.


In a wee bit of a rush just noo but more details to follow, so watch this space [if you've nowt better tae dee]...

Here the ridge soon steepened up, with some scrambling to be had on several rock steps. The snow patches were at first avoidable on the even steeper right flank but became more extensive and firmer as we climbed.

The weather soon improved somewhat, with even a few patches of sunshine. Opposite, across the glen Sgurr na Lapaich was clear & looked most impressive, the sun peeping out behind it's sharp white summit cone.

Down the glen the Corbett Sgorr na Diollaid stood out, with it's rocky pinnacled top, which had afforded GC & me an exciting scramble in mist, rain & gale, 5 or 6 years back.

The ascent soon settled into a pattern of my seeking out a convenient boulder on the platform above each rock step, on which to await the reappearance of Norma. Then shortly afore she arrived at my resting place I would press on up the next snowslope.

After an hour the car parked down below still seemed rather on the large side and I mentioned to Norma that it might be a good idea if she could cut down on the frequency & duration of her fag breaks.

She replied that she was getting a wee bit tired a she kept falling through the snow just before reaching the haven of the next solid rocks. I guessed the over-indulgence of the festive period was starting to take it's toll...

Sure nuff, as the ridge levelled out before rising steeply again to an obvious cone-shaped cairned top, she said "that'd better be the top" and "I can't go much further".

A light but bitter icy breeze had now sprung up and I decided to tackle the summit ridge pyramid directly by steep snow banks just right of a broken rocky buttress. Upon reaching the cairn I could see the fairly narrow ridge stretching away for some distance to the east and rising slowly.

I shouted down to Norma to keep to the left of the rocks, on easier snowslopes, rather than following my footsteps. She shouted something back about not continuing, asking if I would be coming back the same way.

I shouted back that it would be folly to split up at this time of year with only half an hour or so of daylight left. Somewhat to my surprise she took my advice & emerged on the ridge not far past the cairn, as I carried on the fairly level ridge, past a slight dip.

100yds or so along the rocky undulating narrow ridge to the east, I could see another cairn on a further potential summit pyramid, once again clad in a mixture of steepish rocks & deep snow.

Norma was a similar distance back the way I had come and at this point disappeared from view as the mist descended.

I found myself in a wee bit o' a dilemma here, not for the first time & definitely no for the last.

I was sorely tempted to make a quick dash for the summit & then back to hopefully hook up wi Norma. However, I recalled that such a plan had backfired on more than wan occasion in the past, with her spending a night oot on the hill in November on wan infamous occasion.

So after a brief hesitation, I reverted to plan A and carried on regardless, speeding over an snowy undulation or two, then taking another fairly direct line up steep snow, just to the right of more broken rock buttresses, to emerge by a neat, square shaped summit cairn.

As the mist had thickened, I couldn't see far along the ridge to the east, so was later relieved to see the distinctive, well built cairn in RFC's report on Shills, thus providing final confirmation of my success.

I then raced back the way I had come and soon spotted Norma, emerging from the mist. She took wan look at the summit pyramid which I'd just descended and said "I'm not climbing that".

As it was nearly 4 o' clock & I reckoned we'd only 30 mins or so of daylight remaining, with conditions deteriorating, for once I took little persuading that we should begin the descent toute suite.

As usual, Norma soon cheered up no end, saying how easy she had found it, that she'd only been kidding that she were tired & how she could easily have been up to the top in 5 mins if she'd wanted to...

Below the W. top, rather than sticking to the steep rocky crest of our ascent I decided to traverse further right, following the line of large snow patches which we'd largely avoided on the ascent.

Again I found I was out pacing Norma, who initially stuck to the rocky left hand edge but then she came hutling down the snow, evidently having decided to slide down the snow head first, on her stomach!

I cautioned her that this might be a bit dodgy, in that her heid would be the first part of her to impact any rocks, particularly given that she'd nae ice axe.

However, the snow was fairly soft & wet, getting more so as we descended and indeed when the angle eased in the middle section she couldn't even get going. The slope soon steepened up again however, above the ravine of the Allt Coire na Faochaige, flowing down to Monar Lodge.

As soon as I could see that we weren't going to slide over cliffs into the stream, after rounding some steep rocks on the right, I thought 'If you can't beat 'em join 'em' and performed a rapid bumslide down a steep, snow-filled gully.

Herebe the Beinn na Muice photies -

http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6942


and herebe those fae Ben Aslak [2nd Feb.] & Meall nan Gabhar [10th Feb].

http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=7129

After successfully negotiating the massed ranks of speed trap vans & cameras on the A90, we thought we'd better not push our luck and turned off at Forfar to follow the shorter, quieter & more pleasant A94 via Coupar Angus to Perth.

Only a few brief stops for Norma to wipe the windscreen impeded our progress as we sailed serenely on our way behind a succession of large, dirty, slow moving trucks along the increasingly windy A85, through always busy Crieff and sleepy Comrie.

Skies stayed blue as we wound our way along Loch Earnside, with sparkling views of the snow plastered Ben Vorlich across the water. Thence up Glen Ogle and down to Glen Dochart and breathtaking views opened up of Ben More & Stob Binnein, looking very lofty and most alpine, clad in masses of the white stuff.

Around about here I began to have the uncomfortable feeling that something was amiss & that I'd forgotten something fairly critical. Then it hit me that I'd got about 40p in my pocket, we'd had nae lunch, indeed Norma had as usual skipped breaky and was by now starving.

This meant that we'd passed the last known cash machine, way back at Comrie and added to this was that Norma had sworn that this time we were going to not only have a torch but wan with working batteries!

Thus I was somewhat relieved to see a sign by Crianlarich P.O. indicating the existence of an ATM, even if it was wan of the dreaded pay ones, which have the cheek to charge you to get your ain monie!

Sure nuff the thing asked me if I was prepared to sacrifice £1.50 of me hard earned dosh, to which I grudgingly repied in the affirmative. The blasted thing then added insult to injury by repeatedly asking me to remove the card, which it was evidently failing to read!

With precious time slipping away, having had our usual late start & this hill promising to be somewhat more remote than the last twa, things were starting to look decidedly dodgy, as we pressed onto Tyndrum, in search of the holy grail, a working ATM...

At the Green Welly petrol station my heart first lifted as I saw that there were not wan but twa ATMs. However, it just as quickly sank, as I first realised they were both of the same infernal design which had rejected my card back at Crianlarich, then proceeded to meet with the same total lack of success in extracting any of the filthy lucre.

As we drove away and turned off left down Glen Lochy, I realised that I had failed to swap even my 40p for a bar of chocolate but delighted to learn that Norma had found 50p of her own, which she'd swapped for 3 wee fudge bars - surely plenty of fuel enough for only a Graham?

I now began praying that RCFC's 2 yr. old info. on SHills, that you could drive to Succoth Lodge, remained true. After nearly missing the start of the track, we were relieved that the boy was indeed right, there being no gate in sight.

After a couple of miles we came to a fork at a tunnel under the railway and I barely slowed as I took that to the right, my blind spot conveniently hiding the wee 'No Unauthorised Vehicles', sign.

We hadn't gone far up the steepening track, when not long after taking a sharp turn to the left, back towards our objective, I was dismayed to see a Forestry Commission van coming up behind us.

I vainly hoped it would stop as after a mile or so of steady climbing, with the odd loud clatter of the already noisy exhaust upon the deeply rutted surface, we passed several large trucks loading timber.

After bearing left at another junction, we came out of the forest and stopped after another few hundred yards, at a large muddy layby, just across the Allt Coire Lair from the towering crags of the NW face of Meall nan Gabhar.

The Forestry Commission van then drew alongside and one of the guys got out. "You can't park here, didn't you see the 'No Unauthorised Vehicles sign"?

Norma replied with a diatribe which involved the granting of permission by a mysterious old woman of the woods. As the authorities were clearly unimpressed by this gambit, I weighed in with "look it'll only take a couple of hours & we've driven all the way fae Aberdeen".

This seemed to do the trick, as the expected threats to lock the gate or wheel clamp the car failed to materialise. "Oh well, you're here now", said he and with that they drove off.

After the customary extended wait for Norma to get her sh*t together, we were off, striding along a wide smooth track, which doesn't appear on any map! After a couple of hundred yards this took a sharp turn to the left at a bridge over the Allt Coire Lair.

Looking ahead I could see that it then ran along, straight and level ENE, below the steep NNW flank of Meall nan Gabhar. Although following this we would be getting closer to the summit, we would also be leaving ourselves with an increasingly steep & craggy ascent.

This seemed unwise in what looked to be hard frozen icy conditions, particularly as neither of us had either crampons or ice axe. Thus, just over the bridge we headed up a steep bank and began picking our way through the scattered tree stumps & branches of a long since felled wood.

Progress was easy enough with all the boggy bits nicely frozen-up until we hit a deer fence, which Norma promptly announced she would be unable to scale. Moments later she was over and we headed SE, diagonally up the steepish slopes, now out of the sun, very nippy in the shadow of the line of broken crags and very steep frozen grass above.

I thought I'd spotted a breach in the icy defences of this barrier and so it proved as I scrambled up steep frozen grass, between masses of clear water ice just to either side and pulled over onto a rocky ledge above all difficulties.

I waited on the ledge to make sure Norma didn't stray onto either frozen waterfall and after a brief halt whilst she decided that she was knackered & coudn't follow me, she did just that without undue difficulty.

Over the lip of the steep icy band, we were soon back in the sunshine and the grassy slopes eased progressively as we approached the broad crest of a wide ridge. Beyond this the Eas a' Mhadaidh flowed under a blanket of ice & snow in the shallow corrie of Coire nan Each.

This stream was of more than passing interest, as we had a bottle with some undiluted blackcurrant juice in it and had so far not encountered any flowing water. However, there was plenty of the frozen stuff and I soon heard a cry from Norma as she took a tumble.

I shouted back a query, as to whether she had been following one of the ribbons of water ice. She replied in the affirmative and I gently suggested that it might be less painful if she stuck to the grass as much as possible.

The views were now opening up and closest at hand to the SW was the Munro Beinn Bhuidhe, looking big steep and craggy across the upper reaches of Glen Fyne. However, it was the Ben Cruachan range to the WNW which really held the attention, the contrast between the bare lower slopes and masses of glistening white snow higher up, being particularly striking.

After a short level section of the ridge, sporting a few frozen peat hags, the slopes steepened up again. I got a nice shot of Norma, who had fallen back a bit, caught in a sunbeam, as if by a spotlight, the shaft of light breaking through broken clouds.

I soon found a trickle of water emerging, disappearing and re-emerging from deeper banks of snow and I back-tracked a short distance, looking for a good place to dilute the blackcurrant juice. Once filled I drank thirstily from the bottle, as it felt quite warm in the sun, with hardly a breath of wind.

It wasn't long before Norma caught up & after taking a scoof, said "It'd better not be that", pointing to a steep, white but rocky knoll over to the right, which evidently still looked rather distant.

I assured her that it wasn't 'it' and we resumed our steady progress up the smooth, firm snowfields above. It didn't seem long 'til these were levelling out and the towering, very white pyramid of Ben Lui appeared close at hand, nicely flanked by Beinn a' Chleibh & Ben Oss.

To the right of the latter the whole of the Ben More range could be seen to advantage and right again the Arrochar Alps, with Beinn Ime looking a fine sharp peak from this angle.

Closer at hand, we looked across at the sharper, steeper sided knoll from the cairned top we were on, which I was pretty sure had the spot height 743m on the map.

Although it looked marginally lower and was uncairned, I said to Norma that out of long & bitter experience of having had long repeat trips in the past, for the sake of a foot or so of extra ascent on a neighbouring top, I thought we'd better climb it.

Although I thought she'd agreed she didn't follow as I dropped down just 50ft or so to the summit col and peered briefly down the steep, craggy and no doubt icy NE face.

A short steep climb up very firm snow soon brought me to the highest rocks and looking back across to the cairned top I could see Norma was already descending in the general direction from which we had come. This dispelled any foolhardy thoughts of descending NE down through the crags, to make a tentatively planned circuit.

As I later found oot courtesy of MacAoidh's SHills 26th Jul 2008 trip report [when he scaled the hill fae the SE, the lang way via mt. bike fae Glen Falloch], Norma had once again missed oot on a Graham by a hairsbreadth - the uncairned top I was noo on apparently being the summit.

To catch her up I then embarked on a bumslide doon the steep W. side of the summit knoll. With the snow being so firm and icy, I soon picked up speed at an alarming rate & being a convex slope I wasnae too sure that there were nae rocks below.

Thus, I dug in ma boot heels into the snow and managed to stop myself, just as the concave slope below came into view & I could see the way was clear. I then set off again, wishing that I had known & could have had one long fast slide.

After walking a short distance down a shallow, snow filled hollow, I spied some large icicles hanging from the lip of some peat hags. I sped up to try to catch Norma in a shot, who was walking beyond them but was just too slow, as I found out when getting the photo back fae Asda the next day.

Rather than heading back over to the right to join the broad ridge of our route of ascent, I headed straight down long, gently sloping tongues of hard snow on the north flank of Coire nan Each.

The slope gradually steepened up, as it narrowed, as we gradually got closer to the Eas a' Mhadaidh and I just got my hand down below me, as my legs went fae under me, to prevent my backside hitting a particularly icy patch of hard snowslope.

I crossed the stream by clambering over a concrete dam, just below the 500m contour and took a snap of Norma atop a huge boulder, not far below the dam on the other side.

I then urged her to join me, as I could see the stream was heading down into a ravine, with the hillside dropping away into steep & craggy slopes on it's true right bank. We then had to cross the combined flow of both the diverted stream & another coming down further left.

Norma chillingly announced that she would kill me if the snow bridge I was urging her to trust her weight to were to collapse, sending her into the icy waters below. Fortunately it held and we negotiated the steep hillside below & to the left of a further concrete dam.

We then turned right and followed a faint trail alongside a high deer fence on the left & the stream on the right. I had high hopes that there would be a gap in the fence at the end of the trail. No such luck however & we had to climb it once again, although at least the wooden fence posts were somewhat sturdier than on the way up.

All that remained was a short stroll along the wide track back to the car, although Norma did comment that I might have parked a bit closer to the hill, overlooking the fact that our illicit drive had saved at least an hour and a half walk in!