Over The Hill

As we drove up the A82 to Dalrigh, we could see the snow line lying around the 500m altitude on the surrounding hills, it was going to be an interesting walk up Beinn Dubhchraig. We left the car park and headed off along the good track to cross the broad stone bridge spanning the River Cononish and continued on the winding undulating track to pass under the West Highland Railway before cutting across open ground to reach the old, and very badly fractured bridge at the meeting of the Allt Gleann Auchreoch and the River Cononish.

We crossed the bridge with great care one at a time and then headed off southwest through the magnificent old pine and birch forest of Coille Coire Chuilc. The narrow, and sometimes boggy, path follows the lower reaches of the Allt Coire Dubhchraig, passing over two broken deer fences before leaving the pine forest behind and continuing up the open hillside. We had intended to ascend via the Allt Coire Dubhchraig to reach the ridge by the small lochan at grid ref NN303258, however, as we left the forest just after the second deer fence, we were in the coire to the east of the Allt Coire Dubhchraig and the start of the snow line, so we decided just to continue up this line of ascent, which would bring us to the ridge slightly to the east of our intended route.

At first the going we fairly easy, through soft snow which was about boot deep, but as we gained height, so the snow deepened, and we were soon trudging through snow up to calf and knee deep in places. One section, around the 700m altitude was particularly deep, some of us finding ourselves in thigh deep snow at times. We could see some crags ahead, and the snow to the east of these looked better going, so we swung slight east for a short spell, and with Lawrie striding ahead, we quickly followed in his (deep) footsteps and eventually reached a more easily manageable depth of snow underfoot.

As we gained height, some wonderful views opened up for us. We could clearly see the full snow covered tops of the surrounding Munros, and as we broke above the cloud hanging in the lower slopes we had that unusual sight of looking over white cloud tops to distant peaks as they poked their tops above the clouds.

Once we had by-passed the crags, it was a short haul to the ridge, and then we were on the final ascent towards the summit. En route we passed the spot where our intended route merged with the ridge, only to find no sign of the lochans, they were of course completely frozen over and well covered in snow.

A welcome lunch break and photo call was taken on the summit, during which two very speedy "Munro Baggers" arrived, said a very quick hello, and just as quickly departed off to bag their next summit.

Lunch over, we retraced our steps to the lochans, or at least the location of the lochans, and then simply took a direct compass bearing down the long north ridge heading to the west of Creag Bhocan to descend the very steep grassy slopes to the footbridge across the River Cononish just east of Cononish Farm.

Over the bridge and a short stop for a snack and then it was a straightforward, albeit long, walk along the good track which runs along the north bank of the River Cononish all the way back to the car park at Dalrigh.

This was a cracking walk in good winter conditions with some stunning views of the snow capped hills and cloud. - Thanks Ian

Note: Sorry about the poor quality pictures, I did not have my camera with me on this walk, and these pics are email compatible, low quality - I will try and get a hold of the originals and replace these at some time.