Over The Hill

Driving along the A82 between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy, no passing traveler can fail to be impressed by the sheer stature of the south face of Beinn Dorain as it appears to rise almost vertically towards the summit dome perched high above the roadway and viaducts carrying the WHR along its base. And, today, capped in a layer of crisp snow it looked quite outstanding as we arrived at Bridge of Orchy as the morning mist was giving way to a a layer of high, patchy, cloud cover.

Steep though the south face may be, there was a moment of discussion as to whether we would make our ascent from Auch and directly up the south face; thankfully, we decided to leave that for another day, and stick to the more conventional approach via the 744m bealach at the head of Coire an Dothaidh. And so we headed off to the railway underpass and onto the wet, grassy track leading us uphill above the flowing waters of the Allt Coire an Dothaidh towards the bealach, clearly visible some 2½kms further up the coire.

After a steady climb along the path, sometimes boggy, sometimes stony, and, as we crossed the snow line, increasingly very icy, we approached the bealach, flanked on either side by the impressive crags that line the lower slopes of the twin Munros of Beinn Dothaidh and Beinn Dorain. The final short climb to the bealach, on a twisting path through a rocky area needed some care as there was quite a covering of ice on the exposed rocks.

Nevertheless, once on the bealach, marked by an impressive cairn, the ice gave way to a deeper layer of snow which made the going underfoot somewhat easier as we traversed the rocky slabs on the ascent towards the small, and un-named, lochan which nestles in a flat area around the 850m height before making a short climb up a broad gully to reach the main ridge line at around the 1000m height.

From here, it was a relatively easy walk along the snow covered ridge with absolutely stunning views in every direction as we headed towards the large cairn marking the false summit at Carn Sasunnaich, which, apparently, in poor weather, is often mistaken as the actual summit. No such problems with navigation today as the clouds remained well above us, and intermittent breaks brought periods of bright sunshine streaming down on surrounding summits and distant hills.

We enjoyed the opportunity afforded by the good weather to linger a while on the summit and to just soak up the views. It turned out to be quite a busy summit, as shortly after we arrived, and as we were leaving, others walkers were arriving, all as inspired as we were by the weather and glorious views.

We reversed our route for a leisurely walk back to Bridge of Orchy, enjoying the fading light as the late sun descending over Loch Awe brought a wonderful day to an end. A great day, thanks all.