Over The Hill

Scheduled as a "camping" weekend meet for Carn Dearg Mountaineering Club, we arrived mid-afternoon on Friday at Linnhe campsite at the eastern end of Loch Eil to book into our centrally heated, fully furnished, dishwasher included, 4 star Alpine Chalet - who said winter camping was tough!

Saturday morning saw a diverse bunch set off on their chosen options, including x-country skiing, some serious mountain climbing in the Mamores, and two lots off Corbett bagging; one of which was Janet and myself off for a "wee" Corbett by the name of Beinn Bhan, appropriately enough meaning The White Mountain.

A short drive up the beautifully wooded Glen Loy alongside an equally beautiful River Loy flowing sedately towards it's junction with the River Lochay brought us to our starting point at Inverskilavulin Bridge, from where we headed off up the west side of the Allt Coire Mhuilinn to gain the south east ridge of Beinn Bhan. Initially rising on steep grassy slopes interspersed with scrub and trees, we wound our way up above the river passing a number of small and picturesque waterfalls until the obvious, broader slopes of the ridge were clearly identifiable as we swung away from the river and headed towards the snow line ahead.

Frozen, grassy slopes soon changed to snow covered slopes, with the depth of snow underfoot increasing proportionally the higher we climbed; and by the time the slope eased above the 650m height and we were heading along the rim of Coire Mhuilinn towards the cairn on the flat western end of the ridge we were trudging through crisp snow, and angling away from the coire edge to bypass some deep patches of snow which had formed a broad cornice on the overhanging edge of the coire.

A two kilometre ridge arcs around the rim of Coire Mhuilinn on the south, and two, much more formidable coires to the north, Coire Bhotrais and Coire Dubh culminating in the broad summit plateau with cairn and Trig Point marking the summit and high point of Beinn Bhan. My initial impression was that the deep snow continued around the whole of the ridge, but my companion, "Hawkeye" spotted the tinniest of black dots running along the ridge which could only be the intermittent old iron fence posts which still remain along the ridge, we concluded that, if these were visible (although only to Hawkeye) then the snow could not be that deep.

And so it transpired, that in actual fact the ridge was the easiest part of the day, and made for great walking conditions. Why? Well as we were to see, the wind had swept the snow completely from the centre of the broad ridge, depositing it over the rims of the surrounding coires, making for some impressive cornices, but at the same time leaving nothing but a clear stone surface, covered in crystallised ice that crunched underfoot as you walked, but did not require crampons; what from the cairn had looked like a snow-covered ridge, turned out to be a delightful walk.

We had a leisurely lunch on the summit and enjoyed the views, with Ben Nevis looking very menacing as it sat under a heavy black cloud while all around the lighter grey clouds hung just above the summits of the surrounding hills.

We made a relatively easy descent down the broad, and gentler slopes of the south ridge, the deep snow an aid rather than a hindrance is is made for soft walking as far as the snow line before we trudged through rough heather to gain the east bank of the Allt Coire Mhuilinn from where a path suddenly emerges and leads downhill, back to the boundary fence around Inverskilavulin Lodge, and thence back to our starting point at the bridge over the River Loy.

A great winters walk - Thoroughly enjoyed your company, thanks Janet.