Weather/Conditions: Hazy with substantial high cloud cover. Summits remained clear all day. No rain with some sun coming through, and little wind apart from extremely strong blasts on Geal Charn.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 28.2km / 1300m / 8h 05m
Accompanying: Bealach MC - Diane, Dougie and Iain for the walk in/out and on the last summit.

This weekend with the club was amazingly last minute, but proved to be a big success. Although I was swamped under university work and commitments I found the reasons to go and headed on a train to Stirling on the Friday afternoon where I met Diane, who gave me a lift to Laggan. We stayed in the Pottery Bunkhouse, a nice and reasonably priced place and stayed for the next two nights.

Beinn a' Chlachair

First hill of the day was Beinn a' Chlachair and it's a fair way in to get to it. So we headed off from Glen Spean and southwards with Chlachair in view. It was still miles away, although at this point I wasn't even sure I'd do it. Today was a do-what-you-want day - Diane did one Munro, Iain and Dougie did two and I went around all three frantically trying to catch them up.

After a few miles, we came out on Lochan na h-Earba - hills, peaks, trees and cliffs on both sides of the loch. It looked very Lord of the Rings. If you took a tent and got the weather, it would be a great place to camp. It's not the done thing, but if you get a fire going on the wee beach at the head of the loch, you'll be on your way to a great night. It's just so scenic and quiet.

We took a moment to rest sore feet, but got on our way. The path headed up to the hills, and then we were encircled by the three Munros. Near the Bealach Leamhain, I split from the group and started towards Chlachair itself. I was a big nervy about heading off alone then trying to catch the others up but went anyway, reaching the Bealach itself, a great point to look out upon the wild and lonely lochan that also bears it's name.

I headed up the boulder/snow slopes then onto the wide summit ridge where I had a long walk around to the summit. I was happier now though - the weather was looking bright and progress was good. The trip out to the summit was long, but I'd expected so and I reached the top tired but ready for more. The views south across to Alder and Geal-charn were stunning - even though the snow is melting, these peaks still held a wild, alpine look. The plateaus are still snow covered and cornices rim the corries.

Geal Charn

Geal Charn is a little smaller in height than Beinn a' Chlachair, but from Chlachair it looked really small because it was so damn far away. Back over the summit ridge I went, dropping down the steep boulders/snowfields (rather tricky and dangerous) to Bealach Leamhain. I didn't know where the other guys were, but I followed the path around the north side of Geal Charn to a good starting point then headed up the slopes towards the summit. I met Iain and Dougie as they were on their way down and said the summit was still maybe 20 minutes away. I wondered if it would be shorter but in the end it took 20 minutes to reach the huge cairn, with a columnar trig point hiding behind. The summit area looks quite quirky from the approach - the actual top a nip rising from the surrounding flat high ground. Sadly though the wind had got up somewhat and made the top freezing. I wasn't sticking around for this, and headed off again.

Creag Pitridh/Descent

This hill barely looks Munro-like. It's tiny, but kind of nice and not only because it's littleness means little ascent from Geal Charn. Since I'd got off Geal Charn sharp because of the wind, I headed fast down the slopes and bombed the 100 vertical metres onto Creag Pitridh's summit. The side looks cliff ridden, but a faint path winds up among them and drops you straight on the summit, which I did and was met with no wind, spectacular views down to the lochs and the presence of Diane, Dougie and Iain.

Well, I finally caught them up. It was cold but warm enough to sit down, so I dried out my feet at the top before we set off down towards the approach path. And then it was a rather long walk out... Feet were a bit sore on the way out but I felt surprisingly good. The walk ended after 27km's and I felt okay in the legs although as I said, feet were sore.

Iain headed south home although Dougie, Diane and I had a nice night in the Laggan bunkhouse. Home the next day - they're in Edinburgh so I took a train home from Haymarket.

360° Panoramas

Beinn a' Chlachair


Detail: Alder hills from Beinn a' Chlachair


Geal Charn


Creag Pitridh