Over The Hill

There was no ramblers group walk planned for this weekend, so Alan suggested we tackle Stob a Choire Odhair as a good winter walk. Sounded like a good plan so off we set en route to Victoria Bridge suitably geared up for the snow which was covering all of the surrounding hillsides from above the 450m height.

This was my first walk in these hills, and I thoroughly enjoyed the pleasant walk along the estate track from Victoria Bridge west along the northern banks of the Abhainn Shira to the Clashgour Hut, which showed signs of occupancy, although we did not see its inhabitants, whether they were still asleep or already on the hills ahead of us.

Once at the hut, we left the estate track for the narrower, but still well defined path which heads north from the hut alongside the Allt Toaig until is swings north-west heading for the 668m bealach between Stob A'Choire Odhair and Stob Ghabhar. We, however, would be returning via the bealach, and would follow the path only as far as the point where it meets the Allt Caolain Duibh as it merges with the Allt Toaig. From here we would continue heading north up the steep zigzagging stalker's path to the summit.

We crossed the narrow, but fast flowing waters of the Allt Caolain Duibh and immediately started to climb steeply up the broad heather and grassy ridge which was by now becoming more snow-covered with each step we took. In these conditions, the stalker's path soon became completely covered in deep snow, however, the prominent zigzag outline was quite easy to recognise as we made our way up the steep slopes.

The transition from a recognisable, but snow covered, path to a featureless mountainside of boulders covered in deep snow occurred around the 700m height, coinciding with our ascent into the cloud base and a mixture of snowy squalls and thick mist, all of which made the final climb towards the summit cairn that more challenging.

On reaching the summit cairn, our first priority was to seek some shelter from a rather strong wind and snow squall that greeted our arrival. We dropped down a few metres on the eastern side of the cairn and found reasonable shelter in which we had a quick break, but not for too long, as at this point we were uncertain as to whether this wind and snow was a passing weather front or going to linger for longer.

A check of our compasses, and Ian lead off down the west shoulder, heading for the bealach at 680m. The descent from the summit cairn was at first over the snow covered boulders until a steeper section which required some care given the conditions underfoot, although, the deep soft snow negated the need for crampons at this time.

As we descended towards the bealach, the weather changed its mind again, and we had a short period of broken cloud and even a few glimpses of blue sky, however, visibility remained fairly poor, and I was robbed of what I was told are wonderful views from this part of the walk over to the steep corrie's and ridges at abound on the adjacent mountains. Even a sighting of the renowned Coirein Lochain was denied me as the whole area was covered in snow, albeit, we could see its location, just visible as a slightly darker area of snow sitting far below us.

As we reached the 680m bealach we took another short break atop some large boulders, and could clearly see our route down Coire Toaig from the bealach marked by a trail of footprints in the snow, indicating other life around the hills that day, although we had seen no walkers since our departure from Victoria Bridge.

We departed the bealach and headed south-east, keeping quite high above the eastern bank of the Allt Toaig, the going getting easier as we descended down the coire and below the snow-line towards the point where we had crossed the Allt Caolain Duibh on our ascent.

From here, we retraced our steps down the path to the Clashgour Hut and then along the banks of the Abhainn Shira, at which point we passed a large herd of deer, with quite a few stags, one of which was very large, on the opposite bank. They were quite undisturbed by our presence, and we watched them for some time before they eventually moved off out of sight.

This was a marvelous winters walk, and I was just slightly disappointed that our summit views were marred by poor weather, but none-the-less, a great day - Thanks Alan

PS. I did not have my camera with me on this walk, the few pictures shown here are taken as stills from a small camcorder I was carrying, and they are not the best of quality - my fault, sorry.

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