Meall a’Bhuiridh as seen from the Creise-Clachet plataeu

The Glen Etive summits from Clachet with Ben Starav on the left and Stob Dubh straight ahead

This weekend was the most fantastic so far, cold northerly winds brought the freezing level right down to the road and the views were very far reaching with Knoydart and Ardgour visible to the west and Ben Alder forest up to the north east. I decided to climb Meall a’Bhuiridh first and then walk over to Creise rather than climb the steep imposing ridge of Sron na Creise. The walk up was very fast despite having a full winter pack. The views from the summit were fantastic, cliffs on the other side looked dark and imposing and the walking proved to be cracking with the snow not very deep. After a rocky ascent to the Creise plateaux, all that was needed was a simple walk out to Creise and back.

Rannoch moor from the ski slopes

Clachet from Meall a’Bhuiridh

From the summit the southern top, Clachet looked higher, I wandered at this and from Clachet, Creise looked lower. There is a 1m height different between the two heights and I wandered if the Ordnance survey got it wrong. The cairn on Clachet was also bigger, will there be another change in the Munro tables? who knows but I climbed them both just to make sure!

The Bridge of Orchy Hills and Rannoch Moor

Buchaille Etive Mor as seen from Clachet

All I had now was a simple descent down to the bealach to the south from here. I decided it wasn’t worth going down to a stream as they were all frozen. I tried my luck at melting snow instead. There was just enough snow on the ground to collect from; any less snow and I would have had problems.

I started the day with making my stove not work, I subsequently had no way of melting water and so had to eat snow whenever I felt thirsty. This proved problematic for I always felt parched while I was walking and couldn’t eat enough snow to quench my thirst.

The day started nice after a severe frost. I was eager to climb Stob Ghabhar quickly for a band of cloud was moving in slowly from the west. The summit is certainly nice and it has some narrow ridges the Aonach Eagach ridge being the best known. I descended down another ridge flanking the north side of a deep corrie, it wasn’t too narrow but loose snow over rocky slabs slowed things down for me.

Bidean nan Bian seen from my campsite in the morning

The Glen Etive peaks

The Crainlarich / Tyndrum mountains seen on the horizon

I eventually made it to the bealach between the two summits before heading up to the final summit. My performance was sluggish due to dehydration and I felt desperate to get down to a flowing stream. By now the cloud had arrived and was slowly lowering over the summits, no snow or rain emerged from it on my way down though. I reached a stream eventually and was so relieved to have a good drink there.

I quickly made my way down to Victoria Bridge and got a hitch at Inveronan Hotel to Bridge of Orchy. The hotel was closed so another hitch down to Tyndrum was in order for me to reach the pub at the Invervey hotel and warmth. The best trip so far.