Yesterday I met up with some old school friends, Matt and Colm, who had travelled up from England. They are just getting towards that dangerous amount of munros that signifies glorious obsession, though it is fair to say Colm has the bug more than Matt at this time.....but time will tell!
Colm's wish-list was all the classics in Glencoe, whilst keeping an informed eye on the weather. We therefore decided on Beinn a'Bhethir, with its two munros, but via the excellent Schoolhouse ridge that I had recently ascended. The forecast was an improving one again, so we had a leisurely start, shuffling cars around to limit the walk out.
The initially boggy feint path from Ballachulish gives way to broken rocky steps on the ridge, with the odd short steep scramble. The chaps are relatively new to scrambling, (other than a saunter up the Ledge Route of Ben Nevis with me a few years ago), so we spent some time revising our footwork skills and how to keep balanced as we progressed. Rocky crest after knoll came and went, and before long we reached the summit of Sgorr Bhan, an outlying top of Sgorr Dearg, the first munro. Here the ridge sweeps majestically upwards, and the views were expansive and ever widening as we gained height.
The first summit was at 1024m, our highest point of the day, and we could see onwards to Sgorr Dhonuill, our second, at 1001m. There is a descent to 757m down a path so defined I swear it has chicanes, and then a grassy ascent leading to boulders and finally a small scramble to the summit. We had timed ourselves from the bealach against Naismith's Rule, (by which walkers can assess how long it will take to complete a route), and having given ourselves 38 minutes, we arived in 37 minutes and 20 seconds. We'll take that.
Unfortunately here we were in mist again, so my fourth visit gave me no more of a view than my previous three. Grrr. After a summit photo, it was back down to the bealach for a quick bit to eat before dropping into the coire and finding the new path.
We didn't see a soul all day, probably due to the perpetually driech forecast, yet for the fourth day in a row, the forecast has turned out to be pessimistic, and we have had a great days. Long may that continue!
Colm's wish-list was all the classics in Glencoe, whilst keeping an informed eye on the weather. We therefore decided on Beinn a'Bhethir, with its two munros, but via the excellent Schoolhouse ridge that I had recently ascended. The forecast was an improving one again, so we had a leisurely start, shuffling cars around to limit the walk out.
The initially boggy feint path from Ballachulish gives way to broken rocky steps on the ridge, with the odd short steep scramble. The chaps are relatively new to scrambling, (other than a saunter up the Ledge Route of Ben Nevis with me a few years ago), so we spent some time revising our footwork skills and how to keep balanced as we progressed. Rocky crest after knoll came and went, and before long we reached the summit of Sgorr Bhan, an outlying top of Sgorr Dearg, the first munro. Here the ridge sweeps majestically upwards, and the views were expansive and ever widening as we gained height.
The first summit was at 1024m, our highest point of the day, and we could see onwards to Sgorr Dhonuill, our second, at 1001m. There is a descent to 757m down a path so defined I swear it has chicanes, and then a grassy ascent leading to boulders and finally a small scramble to the summit. We had timed ourselves from the bealach against Naismith's Rule, (by which walkers can assess how long it will take to complete a route), and having given ourselves 38 minutes, we arived in 37 minutes and 20 seconds. We'll take that.
Unfortunately here we were in mist again, so my fourth visit gave me no more of a view than my previous three. Grrr. After a summit photo, it was back down to the bealach for a quick bit to eat before dropping into the coire and finding the new path.
We didn't see a soul all day, probably due to the perpetually driech forecast, yet for the fourth day in a row, the forecast has turned out to be pessimistic, and we have had a great days. Long may that continue!
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