Meall nan Tarmachan

Meall nan Tarmachan - Feb 2013 from Chris McMorris on Vimeo.

The weather over the weekend had been absolutely stunning, but this also happened to coincide with the family visiting to take in the Scotland vs Ireland Six Nations Rugby game at Murrayfield on Sunday. After a great weekend of Rugby and catching up, I had an extreme feeling of FOMO building inside me! I cheeky call to the boss and I had the day... and a plan to make the most of the stunning weather forecast. I had been saving a winter traverse of the Meall nan Tarmachan ridge for just such a day.

Crossing the bridge and heading down the main track below Lochan na Lairige Reservoir, Meall nan Tarmachan

Heading up the shoulder towards Meall nan Tarmachan

Looking West towards the South ridge of Meall Garbh from the South shoulder of Meall nan Tarmachan

An early start from Edinburgh saw me gearing up and departing the car before 10am. I crossed the bridge to the private track, just South of the Lochan na Lairige Reservoir and gazed up at the mighty Tarmachan. It was a stunningly fresh blue sky day - not a cloud and hardly a breath of wind. Magic.

Looking East from the South shoulder of Meall nan Tarmachan towards Beinn Ghlas

Looking West towards Meall Garbh

Looking North towards the summit ridge of Meall nan Tarmachan

I made good time up the track before making a sharp right; leaving the track and heading straight up the shoulder over the snow-clad grassy slopes. The snow was solid and I crunched my way up to the spot height of 923m in no time at all. By the time I got there, I had a bit of a sweat on to say the least - the hot sun was relentlessly beating down on my back and reflecting back at me from the snow all around - was very glad that I had remembered my sunglasses! I took a breather and paused to admire the views of Beinn Ghlas and the Ben Lawers ridge - stunning.

Looking Northeast towards Meall Corranaich and Beinn Ghlas

Looking South towards Killin, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a' Chroin

Approaching the Meall nan Tarmachan summit ridge

Looking South from just below the summit

I descended to the style and then attacked the steeper slopes that lead up underneath the main ridge of Meall nan Tarmachan. These slopes were quite steep in places (possibly grade I due to the amount of snow) but with all the footprints and the high-quality of the hard snow, I was up without much effort. It was then a short walk up to the summit on good névé.

On the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan with Meall Garbh to the right

On the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan

On the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan

Meall Garbh from Meall nan Tarmachan, Ben More and Stob Binnein in the background

At the top, the first breeze of the day greeted me - not much to distract from the views for as far as the eye could see in every direction. I gazed all around and tried to name as many of the hills that I recognised: Ben Vorlich and Stuc a' Chroin to the South; Ben More and Stob Binnein to the Southwest; Meall Ghaordaidh to the West; and the Mamores and the unmistakable Ben Nevis to the Northwest... an unbelievable vista. It was simply breathtaking and it had a definite Alpine feel to the landscape.

Looking South back down the route of ascent from the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan

The Ben Lawers ridge from the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan

Approaching Meall Garbh from the East

Approaching Meall Garbh from the East

The breeze was quite chilly, so I didn't hang around too long and pressed on Westward along the broad snowy ridge. As I looked down to my left, I could see around six other teams heading over the spot height of 923m towards the summit. It was nice to have the open hills in front of me all to myself and I felt good that I had beaten the crowds to the first top. It was then that I noticed just how spectacular Meall Garbh looked before me. The snowy cone looked not-unlike the Matterhorn in the current Alpine surroundings - out of this world.

Approaching Meall Garbh from the East

Approaching Meall Garbh from the East

Approaching the summit of Meall Garbh

Looking Northwest towards the Mamores and Ben Nevis from the summit of Meall Garbh

I didn't waste any time in attacking the mighty inviting peak and, after kicking into more good névé, was soon approaching the summit. At the top, the view of the surrounding peaks seemed even more impressive - the Ben was now particularly clear and didn't appear very far away at all. Looking back to Meall nan Tarmachan, I saw that the other teams were descending the ridge after bagging the main top - from now I had the whole ridge all to myself... fine by me!

Looking Southwest from the Summit of Meall Garbh

Looking West into Glen Lochay from the summit of Meall Garbh

Ben Nevis from the summit of Meall Garbh

Approaching the summit of Beinn nan Eachan

The next section proved to be the narrowest of the day but didn't offer any difficulty due to the excellent conditions - just a tad slightly more exposure. After the narrow arete, the descent became quite steep and I had to down-climb a grade I snow slope (cutting steps) before I was able to traverse across to easier ground a join the main trail of footprints along the ridge once again. I found a lovely sheltered spot in the blazing sun and looking across towards the impressive ridge of Creag na Caillich and Beinn nan Eachan (my next target); I stopped for a munch and to enjoy the scenery.

Meall nan Tarmachan (left) and Meall Garbh from Beinn nan Eachan

Approaching the summit of Beinn nan Eachan

A Raven on the summit of Beinn nan Eachan

Meall Garbh from the summit of Beinn nan Eachan

After a lengthly pause, I headed on towards Beinn nan Eachan. On the way I spotted some good-looking ice that had cascaded down a large crag on the ridge. The ice was solid so I had a bit of a 'play' and climbed up to the top of the crag - great fun. There was a great deal of ice around and all looked to be of the highest quality - conditions must be fabulous on the Ben right now.

The Creag na Caillich ridge from the summit of Beinn nan Eachan

Enjoying the view of the Creag na Caillich ridge

Enjoying the view of the Creag na Caillich ridge

Approaching the summit of Creag na Caillich

I was soon approaching the top of Beinn nan Eachan - just in time to see a raven leave the summit cairn - much to my delight. From here I was treated to a fantastic view of the East face of Creag na Caillich. I knew there was the option to descend from the col before heading up to the fourth and final top, but I was having so much fun that there was simply no way I was doing that - I wanted the complete circuit. Looking across at the wintery crags, I could see that they were heavily filled out with plenty of snow and I spotted an easy-looking diagonal line of descent; just along towards the end of the ridge after the final summit. A plan was now hatched.

Looking South along the Creag na Caillich ridge

Beinn nan Eachan and Meall Garbh from Creag na Caillich

Meall Ghaordaidh from Creag na Caillich

It wasn't long before I was crunching over more hard snow to summit cairn of Creag na Caillich and looking East to a majestic-looking Meall Ghaordaidh and a green Glen Lochay. I headed along down the final part of the ridge a peered over the small solid cornice - I could see the line sweeping down below to my left. After a bit of hacking, swinging and digging I was through the cornice and bounding down the solid slopes towards the corrie basin - only pausing to check out the ice conditions above. I could see that Great Gully looked in excellent condition and there was a large icefall directly above me that was as white as milk - begging to be climbed. I suddenly found myself wanting for a longer day, more reserves of energy and my technical climbing axes. Another time.

Looking up at Beinn nan Eachan (right) and Great Gully (left) from below Creag na Caillich

Great Gully from below Creag na Caillich

Ice conditions on the East face of Creag na Caillich

I traversed the grassy slopes over the soft snow and headed for the old abandoned quarry. With plenty of daylight left, I made the most of the large boulders and stretched out as I ate the remainder of my food for the day. I sat for around an hour, soaking up the rays and reflecting on what an amazing day it had been. I was totally elated and thankful for such an experience, as I know only too well that: you don't get many days like this in Scotland in winter.

The abandoned Quarry below Beinn nan Eachan

The track back to the car

Looking back towards the Creag na Caillich ridge

All that was left was to get the poles out and power back along the track to the car. The track was firm so I made swift progress and was back at the car before 5pm.

Looking back along the track out

Looking along the track out towards Beinn Ghlas

A truly special day.

Carn Mairg circuit from Invervar

After an amazing trip to South Africa, we finally got home safe after being 'stranded' there for an extra 2 weeks. But now it was time to get back into the training groove, after quite a bit of downtime on holiday (never a bad thing!), and get ready to lead the GWC Torridon Project 2010.

As if perfectly timed, my folks had arranged a weekend visit to Edinburgh to catch up with us after our amazing trip. Needless to say, after our very successful day on An Socach, Herbie was even more keen than before for bag some Munros. I knew that this would be the case so I had a plan: the Carn Mairg circuit in Glen Lyon. I picked it because I thought it would be worthwhile training and preparation for myself and also because it was quite an easy way to bring up Herbie's tally of Munros.

We left early but were delayed slightly by some slow moving traffic and roadworks just over the bridge. The weather forecast wasn't brilliant, but as we parked at the car park at Invervar it wasn't raining and the temperature was quite mild. As we set off up the track through the woods, we looked up and realised that it was highly likely that we would be spending most of the day walking in the cloud. This didn't bother me too much, as I knew it would be good nav practice and I never turned down an opportunity to stay sharp and keep my eye in, but it was a shame that Herbie wasn't going to experience much of a view.

Herbie ready to set off from the car park at Invervar, Glenlyon

Ready to set off from the car park at Invervar, Glenlyon

We left the track, crossed the Invervar Burn and followed the Northwest side of the woods until the boundary fence changed direction slightly. This was the point I was aiming for, as I knew this was where we would attack the Southeast shoulder of Carn Gorm. The cloud was now down below 550 metres. I explained the plan and the route to Dad, but I'm not convinced he knew what was happening - he wasn't very experienced after all - but very keen to learn. I took a bearing and headed up the grassy slope into the mist.

Invervar, Glenlyon

There were quite a few other cars in the car park at Invervar when we arrived, and we could hear voices ahead of us in the cloud but we weren't sure what direction they were coming from; quite disorientating. The lack of a view seemed to spur us on and we motored up the steep slopes to the pointed summit of Carn Gorm. It was rather wet and a little blustery at the top and, to our surprise, quite a few other folk. We knew that most of the climbing was now over for the day so we chose not to hang around at the top and admire the non-existant view; we pressed on.

Herbie enjoying the mist on An Sgorr, Glenlyon

Looking West towards Carn Gorm from the bealach between Carn Mairg and Creag Mhor (Meall na Aighean), Glenlyon

Passing around the Northwest side of An Sgorr, there was still quite a few patches of snow; nothing serious, just a surprise to come across in the thick mist. We picked up the dry-stone wall and followed it up to the top of Meall Garbh without much bother and, to our delight, the mist and clouds started to lift slightly. Still no view but the air now wasn't quite as damp. A few folk raced passed us on the summit and didn't look like they were having much fun. We weren't in a hurry - I was very much enjoying just being out in the hills with Herbie and just having the opportunity to have a good old natter and catch up. I was probably boring him to death to be honest, telling him all about our South Africa adventure.

Herbie happy to be on the summit of Creag Mhor (Meall na Aighean), Glenlyon

The wall had now turned into the iron remains of an old fence. The view was getting a little better but the summit of Meall a' Bharr was still surrounded in cloud. As we headed up the slope before we gained the summit plateau, I took a bit of cramp in my thighs. I'm unsure of the cause, but it's not something I've ever experienced before; in any form of activity or exercise. Herbie suggested that it could be due to the long flight / travel time coming back from South Africa via Dubai. I was totally fine after a few minutes but it was a strange experience. However, we were soon having a bite on the summit of Carn Mairg and joking about what had just happened and how little a view there had been all day.

On the summit of Creag Mhor (Meall na Aighean), Glenlyon

Now rejuvenated and rehydrated, we headed steeply down to the bealach between Carn Mairg and Meall Liath. The mist was back and thicker than ever but we hit the middle of the col no problem. Just then, a middle-aged couple came wandering towards us out of the dampness. They greeted us but seemed a little uneasy. It turned out that they were lost and didn't know where they were. They said that they were lost because they had lost the path and they didn't have a map between them - I was shocked. The conditions today were far from perfect, for any level of experience. I showed them on my map where we were standing and I said that they could follow us. I took a bearing and we headed South towards the spot height of 855 metres. We soon hit a path and, sure enough, the couple strode on into the mist and left us behind.

Herbie on the grassy slopes below the summit of Creag Mhor (Meall na Aighean), Carn Gorm in the clouds behind

After negotiating quite a bit of peat hag and very boggy ground, we were standing on the summit of Creag Mhor - the fourth and final Munro of the day. Herbie was elated at what we had just achieved in a relatively short day... and we suddenly had a view of Glen Lyon and the hills we had just conquered - spectacular. I was really pleased that we were treated to some kind of a view during the day. We raced along the grassy ridge and then picked up the path to zigzag steeply back down to Invervar; a sore one on the knees after quite a tough day in challenging conditions.

Herbie enjoying the view and clearer skies with Carn Mairg behind, Glenlyon

Herbie with Glenlyon, Invervar and Carn Gorm behind

On the way back to Edinburgh, we talked about what an enjoyable day it had been, despite the weather and few vistas we had. A note to everyone: please take maps with you to the hills. Thank you.