With admirable economy of expression, they call it “The Wee
Bunkhouse”. Oddly sited in the car park of the Kintail Lodge Hotel, it’s about
the size of a domestic garage, and probably once was one. However it was enough
for 6 of us, while the rest of the LMC meet lounged in the sumptuous
extravagance of the Trekkers’ Lodge.
Although the West Highlands had escaped the huge snowdrifts
of the Peak and Lakes, it was still very much winter – frozen ground to sea
level; the tops very white; and ice visible in the gullies above the road. John & I stopped off in Glencoe on the
way, for a quick snowy walk to find the “secret” ice crag of Eilde Canyon
(successfully), which put us in a winter mood.
First target: The Saddle via the Forcan Ridge. Dave C, Cath,
Dave B and I set off on Friday morning in bright but bracingly cold sunshine.
The snow line was just below the start of the ridge, and it looked enticingly
Alpine under blue skies. The ridge gives a good wintery scramble, in parts
exposed but nowhere too technical. It
took longer than expected, but presented some stunning views along the way.
The summit gave us some good views, especially over to Skye,
where the white tops of the Cuillin stood out in the sun. Ladhar Bheinn looked
especially fine to the south too. We descended easy snow slopes to the bealach
between The Saddle and Sgurrna Sgine, where we met a man who kept falling down
holes.
It seemed a long slog up to Sgurr na Sgine, but probably
wasn’t, we were just getting weary. We
found a couple of ptarmigan on the way, which brightened up the slog. More fine
views rewarded us at the summit. Then came a short ridge walk, and steep fast
descent to the road.
Back in our Wee Abode, Dave & Wayne had been scouting out
winter crags, and found a couple of promising venues. Stuart arrived later,
having had a good climb on The Ben with John on the way up.
Saturday morning was very cold and sunny, as Dave C and I
got up early to do the Five Sisters (oo-er). Due to a foolish navigation error (we were
distracted by talking about folk who make foolish navigation errors), we gained
the ridge just after the first summit. After a brief discussion, we doubled
back to bag it anyway, just in case it was one of the Five (it wasn’t.) Then we
had another fine, cold ridge walk, on mostly good frozen snow and with blue
skies all round. Most impressive were the dramatic
views down the crags to the north. Where was everyone else though? We met only
two people on the whole walk.
Dave and Wayne found a very wintery corrie on the South Glen
Shiel Ridge, and had a great day climbing ice there, despite Wayne picking up a
mysterious finger injury. Stuart took his bike over towards Applecross, to
cycle the Bealach na Ba, one of the finest road routes in Britain.
The stunning weather continued on Sunday, as Dave C, Stuart,
Cath and I set off for the South Glen Shiel Ridge. This meant a long walk in
from the Cluanie Inn, but we made the first summit in good time & then had
a superb winter ridge to negotiate. Tons of snow on top, and in the northern
corries, where Dave and Wayne were having fun on good ice far below. Once
again, bright sunshine & blue skies predominated. The views all around were outstanding, and
the snowy terrain always interesting. We even had to traverse the back of a
huge cornice – another very Alpine feel to the day. We made our way over 4
Munros before heading back down to the second car, and a celebratory coffee at
the Cluanie Inn.
Monday morning meant a long drive back for most of the
others, but I was still on holiday and had been looking longingly across to the
Cuillin for 3 days. And with a stable forecast for the rest of the week, there
was only one direction I was going to go…
