Over The Hill

Glen Etive was unusually quiet and deserted as we drove along towards Invercharnan, no wild campers and only one other car with two occupants booting up for the hills; quite a difference to the heady days of summer. We were off to climb Beinn Fhionnlaidh, whose summit we had often observed when atop the other mountains of Glen Etive and talked about the possible approach routes that we could take through Glenetive Forest.

We parked up alongside the bridge over the Allt Charnan and headed off along the new stretch of forest track for a few hundred metres before linking up with the main forest track which climbed gently uphill above the line of the Allt nan Gaoirean towards the forest boundary, some 3 kilometres further on. There is currently a great deal of felling taking place along the track, so much so that the whole of the west side, to our left, as we walked, has been cleared of trees, offering a wide vista over towards Ben Starav and along Loch Etive, whilst the forest on our east, or right, side remained thick and dense.

The 595m Meall nan Gobhar lies directly west of the exit point on the forest boundary, and is a relatively easy climb, first over open, and sometimes boggy, hillside followed by a steady climb up grassy slopes, with a small, but distinct, gully marking the line of ascent. Meall nan Gobhar marked the start of the snow line and the point at which the grassy slopes give way to much more stone and rock underfoot, which, given the temperatures, were coated in a film of ice and hard snow.

Continuing our steady climb, we headed north from Meall nan Gobhar picking our way around a few rocky outcrops until we reached the broad snow-covered ridge just below the 841m east top, towards which we turned for the final two hundred metres of easy walking along the top of the ridge line. A minor top it may be, but the views were just stunning, especially looking northwards over Bealach Caol Creran toward the mighty walls of Coire Liath on the southern edges of Sgurr na h-Ulaidh, a mere two kilometres away.

To this point, the weather had remained stable since we started the walk, high, dark, grey looking clouds that threatened rain or snow, which, luckily did not materialise, and surprisingly very good visibility. However, on cresting the ridge we were now feeling the force of quite a strong, and very chilling wind which was whipping up the icy snow particles and doing its best to give us all an unwelcome face scrub. It was into this wind that we had to walk back along the ridge and onwards for the final climb towards the summit of Beinn Fhionnlaidh.

Unlike the soft, deep snow we had encountered on Beinn a'Chochuill a few weeks ago, the snow on the ridge today was solid, with a hard crisp, icy covering, our boots hardly making an imprint; and so we paused at the bealach to don our crampons for what was going to be a steep final climb over the icy slopes towards the summit.

We had one final challenge to overcome just short of the summit where we had to negotiate a short, but rather steep, rock step, which given the snow and icy covering required some caution and nifty footwork to clamber up the rocky surface; which once over, it was then an easy stroll over quite a broad summit to the Trig Point and shelter marking the summit top.

The views were extensive, all around us snow covered mountains, dark blue lochs and Ben Nevis standing out above all else in all its snow capped glory against a dark grey sky - just wonderful. Views which you could sit and drink in all day - but sadly not today, as the wind was such that we departed the summit almost immediately in an effort to get out of a ferocious wind that was making standing difficult and whipping the snow up into spiraling columns of icy crystals.

We retraced our steps to the edge of the summit plateau, and managed to circumvent the awkward rocks we had clambered up on our ascent by detouring a little and descending a steep snow slope back to the main ridge line and our onwards descent back to the bealach. We took a more direct line of descent from the bealach back towards Meall nan Gobhar, stopping en route for our delayed lunch break, which we managed in a nice sheltered spot, much lower down and out of the wind.

Back onto the forest track, and it was then an easy casual stroll back to our start point, which we managed just, and only just, in daylight - de-booting in an ever increasing darkness - not quite a headtorch ending, but only just. Sorry Alan, I know how you just relish getting the headtorch out; but on the plus side, Janet did get to try out her new crampons!

Wonderful day, great mountain, and, with the exception of Alan, a new Munro for the rest of us. All rounded off nicely in the Crianlarich Hotel with a nice pint and a roaring log fire - heavenly!