Over The Hill

This walk was previously scheduled for 30th September last year, but was cancelled due to the closure of the A82 north of Tarbet because of a minor landslide caused by heavy overnight rains; and so, here we were again, setting off for our start point at the lay by just south of Crianlarich.

The weather was fairly poor right from the off, with a heavy downpour greeting our departure as we made our way passed the cattle feeds and along a pathway of wet slushy cow muck towards the sheep creep and under the West Highland Railway, not exactly a glorious start by any stretch of the imagination, but we were a happy bunch, I think!

Once over the footbridge across the River Falloch we followed the old, rocky track for just under 2k until we reached the gate in the fence line at which point we turn south west and started our ascent of the lower slopes of Sron Gharbh aiming to reach the path on the shoulder of the ridge, around the 620m level, just north of the 709m summit of Sron Gharbh.

There are occasional stretches of a faint path up the hillside, but this is so intermittent that it is best just to take the least line of resistance up what is a steady incline over grassy slopes which offer a fairly straightforward route of ascent. With clear visibility as we had, one can aim for the area to the right (north) of an obvious col on the ridge which once reached brings you right out at the start of the more prominent ridge path. (In poor visibility a bearing of 202dgs from the gate brings you smack onto the start of the path - good to know.)

On the ascent towards the ridge, the rain became somewhat lighter and intermittent. However, the wind speed increased significantly as we gained height, and it was no surprise that when we eventually reached the ridge path we encountered a wind which at times was gusting to levels that made progress difficult. It was at this point I was reminded of this morning's MWIS forecast for Munro tops - it forewarned us of "winds of 35-40mph - gusts of up to 55mph - significant buffeting" not to mention "hail and snow showers" - seems like their forecast was proving to be spot on!

Thankfully the ridge is a broad humpback, so any minor deviation from the path courtesy of a sudden gust of wind was not critical, just annoying and hard going, but everyone was keen to put in the effort, and continue along the ridge, at least for the moment. We topped Sron Gharbh and continued to make progress, albeit slowly at times as the wind was now coming at us with a vengeance, towards the minor top at 723m. From here we had a clear view of the way ahead, and could clearly see the wind lifting the snow in vertical spirals off the tops higher up the ridge, which still held quite a few pockets of snow cover above about the 850-900m levels.

We found a sheltered hollow on the east side of the 723m top and decided on an early drinks stop during which we studied those areas of Beinn a'Chroin that were now visible and came to the decision that we would give our second objective a miss for today, but that we would continue up the ridge in the hope that the wind might ease - the MWIS having indicated that it may subside towards the afternoon.

Twenty minutes or so later, as we reached the 800m height the wind just stopped us dead in our tracks - I had both my feet and two walking poles firmly planted on the ground just to stay upright, and as I looked around everyone seemed to be in a similar poise. I think it was time to admit, the hill will be there another day, let's wait until then. And so, reluctantly, I decided to call it a day, and return back along the ridge to just before the 732m top where we could drop down the steep grassy slopes of Coire Eich and hopefully escape the fiercest of the winds. The decision to abandon the top was met with nods all around, so I can only assume it was taken with everyone's approval and that no-one was too disappointed.

Off the ridge and heading into Coire Eich, we had a sudden squall of hailstones, the force of which was considerable as they came at us head-on, this was followed by a short flurry of snow - the weather seemed to be set on taking the focus of the day, and not as it should be, the mountain.

Hailstones over, snow flurry gone and we eventually decided to stop for a spot of lunch in a sheltered spot alongside a rocky stream making it's way downhill towards the River Falloch. Thankfully it remained somewhat dry during our short break, and afterwards it was a relatively straightforward walk down the remaining section of hillside to join the old track alongside the River Falloch for our return to the sheep creep under the WHR. But, our day was not yet done.

Remember the cow muck as we left the start point? Well, in an attempt to miss this on the return, we cut the corner and crossed the field to the stile by the car park - big mistake, it was a quagmire and it was quite a sight seeing people scattered all across the field trying to make their way around, over, and in some cases, through knee deep bogs!

I think the content of this report sums up the day - a day of weather, not mountains. All I can say is keep an eye on the next walks programme, this walk is definitely going in again, we will not be beaten!

An interesting and exciting day, thanks everyone for your company and conversation afterwards in the bar at the Beinglas Campsite - brilliant.