Often referred to as the Central Highlands, this area covers the mountains between Loch Treig, Loch Ericht and Loch Laggan. Access is commonly from the A86 or the Corrour Halt stop on the West Highland Railway. An impressive fourteen Munros are scattered across this area (four of which are over 1100m), and included in the mountains list are all of the peaks above 600m. Ben Alder is often thought of as one of the more remote mountains in Scotland and its vast high plateau sits in contrast to the ridge created by Beinn Bheoil. Peaks to the east of Loch Ericht are listed in the East Highlands region.
A big one in the QMD list as this was my first solo Scottish winter outing. There was a fair ammount of soft and drifting snow, visability rarely exceeded 30metres above 700m and it was quite windy (mostly I'd estimate in the managable but very noticable 35mph range with a brief period of stronger wind with spindrift & a need to 'brace' with walking poles to remain stable). Scored, icy patches on descent requiring crampons. A lot of careful navigating, especially off Carn Deard towards Sgor Gaibhre. Slow progress due to wading snow - the ~18km circuit took me around 9 hours, dispite a fairly swift final 4km returning by a good track. Starting and finishing at Loch Ossian youth hostel where fellow residents struggled to understand why I was so buzzed by my day out.
