A bitterly cold day especially in the wind. Generally clear and sunny with the odd snow flurry coming through.
This is generally considered to be a fairly straight forward mountain to reach the summit of. However, for me this was a quality winter mountain day for a number of reasons. This was the first mountain where I was the leader, with two other people on the walk. It was below freezing from the road and immediately the heavy frost and snow patches meant that there was no obvious track to follow. I'd spent the evening before planning the route. There was no need to micro-navigate, but I practiced bearings lower down and had to use bearings pretty much higher up toward the way to the summit. Having ascended approximately half way, the terrain opened up into a large and relatively flat, featureless peat-bog. This would have been pretty much impassable had it not been frozen, but it took considerable effort to reach the arm of the hill. The final ascent was relatively straight forward, but a patch of cloud started forming around the summit reducing visibility to zero in conjunction with the snow-covered ground. Aware that we could easily have walked straight off the northern edge and down a substantial drop, I had to carefully navigate our way to the cairn. The ridge is curved so this proved challenging given my recently learnt navigation skills. The descent was faster and more straight forward. Being able to look down on the peat-bog plateaux, I was able to select a firmer route across it.
- Significant mountain (Munro)
- I planned and led the walk
- I used (and was taught) navigation skills
- My knowledge was increased and skills practiced
- Attention paid to safety up near the summit ridge and below crossing the frozen bogs
- Over 5 hours
- UK winter mountain terrain
- Ice axes and crampons carried. Axes used more for balance in the winds rather than in anger
Area :
Loch Maree to Loch Broom and The Fannaichs
This area contains four main sub-regions: An Teallach, The Fannaichs, Kinlochewe & Letterewe. The highest Munro is Sgurr Mor, part of The Fannaichs range, at a height of 1110m. The impressive Slioch (981m), although not the tallest, is described by the SMC Munros Guide as being ‘one of the great sights of the Northern Highlands’ and well worth a visit. This area sits to the north of the A832 and is almost completely devoid of human habitation.
