Steven Loraine - 132580

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Winter Walking Record

Details

Date : 16/03/2025

Duration : 8+ hours

Style : Solo

Type : Quality Mountain Day (QMD)

Weather : Clear - sunny - good visibility

Wind : Gentle breeze

Camping Type : N/A

Nights Camping : 0

Mountains : The Saddle - Trig Point The Saddle North Top [1921: Sgurr na Creige]

Flagged :

Description

Final day of three dawned bright and calm. Parked in the glen before the Mhalagain bridge and began the long climb around Meallan Odhar to the bealach and thence to the base of the Forcan Ridge. There was plenty of winter snow on the ridge and I bypassed the start to follow the wall up to another bealach, Coire Mhalagain. Here the slopes steepen considerably, although a wall guides the way to the main ridgeline of The Saddle. Here winter remained and on reaching the Trig pillar I donned crampons for the next stage. I didn't re-visit the now acknowledged summit a few yards to the west of the trig. but both points are accorded the same height. I'd been at the summit 15 years previously having come up the Forcan Ridge with Pete Macpherson. My goal was to join the north ridge out to a demoted Top. The ridge proper looked problematic, so I descended north into a small corrie basin, which deposited me at the base of the narrow ridge with the more level ridgeline of Sgurr ne Creige in front of me. This was composed of numerous turrets, with a drop-off on the eastern face and very steep, broken ground on the western face, so care was needed at all times to safely negotiate the turrets, either directly or on the western side. Eventually, I reached a turret with a small cairn, which was not at the 6 figure grid reference on the database, however it was obviously higher than another and final turret along the ridge to the west. I visited that which did meet the 6FGR but was not at the correct height. So, back to the cairned turret which was on-height and I resolved that all possible points of a demoted Top had been visited. I then reversed my outbound route back to the base of the corrie headwall and ascended back up to the busy main ridge of The Saddle. All that remained was to reverse the route of ascent, starting with a short, steep drop down the Coire Mhalagain headwall, and then out to the upper bealach, to locate the entry point of the main wall track below the Forcan ridge, with an occasional small shower coming through. At the base of the Forcan, the day's main track was picked up and with no other mountaineers around (they had all continues to Sgurr na Signe), I traversed around Meallan Odhar back to the van. Almost nine hours had passed. There followed a fifteen hour drive home through the night.

Area : Loch Eil to Glen Shiel

The Great Glen to the east, the A87 to the north and the A830 to the south separate this area from its surroundings and enclose an area of high mountains and low glens. The highest mountain is Sgurr na Ciche (1040m) and further north the South Glen Shiel Ridge is formed by a whopping seven Munros! Also in the area is The Saddle (1010m) which is home to the classic Forcan Ridge. Peaks in the mountains list are all above 900m.

Location

Marker
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