Beinn Narnain and the Cobbler from Beinn an Lochain

The South Facing Cliffs of Beinn Bhudie

The day dawned cloudy but quite mild despite the forecast for cold weather. I started at Clachan farm and climbed a small moorland top first called Beinn Chas. I decided on this route as I didn’t like the suggested route in my Munros book of ‘there and back’ along the track in Glen Fyne for 7km and back again. The ascent behind Clachan farm on the moor higher up was short but fairly steep. The gradient approached fourty degrees on short grass near the top and was the steepest part of the whole walk. Above lay a long walk on easy angled moor to the summit which I reached in the mist and new snow.

A good deal of the snow last week had gone and all that was left was snow that barely covered the short grass. The freezing level lay around 600m during the morning but rose to 800m just after lunch. The showers in the morning were moderate in strength but scattered, none the less I was in the mist all the way to the final summit. Because I was above the freezing level most of the time, I managed to stay dry.

The terrain looked confusing on the map but I managed to be spot on with navigation. I reached a small rise before a flat section leading to the last big and steep rise to the summit ridge. My map suggested that progress could be made up a shallow gully but that the slope in other places was craggy.

I felt relieved upon reaching the right gully just as my bearing told me. By now another shower arrived with gusts, spin drift and blizzards. The conditions were wild while I put crampons on, for old snow existed up the steep section and It’s best to have the crampons on here. The progress was slow up the gully owing to the spin drift getting in my face, on the ridge I’d had enough I put my snow goggles on.

I was now exposed to severe gale conditions heavy rime and residual old snow. The visibility was very poor and often all I saw was a rock and white all around. I could just make out the snow ridge but I was cautious not to be too hasty for crags were all around. I reached the summit and I could now take off my goggles at regular intervals for I now wasn’t facing the gale.

I made swift progress down the ridge and found the way off without bother despite the very white conditions. I met a walker going up and by now the snow was wet so it was off with the crampons. During that time the snow stopped and the mist was lifting giving me glimpses of the surroundings.

The day was now getting better and it was time for photographs! After a steep descent I now had a ravine to follow back down to Glen Fyne. A small diversion was needed to avoid a vertical scramble right above the ravine but other than that the walk down was easy. The day was now very pleasant and I now had deep blue skies all the way down Glen Fyne to the main road. A very Fyne glen it was too!

In Glen Fyne

Stob Coire Creagach from Beinn an Lochain

It was an excellent day, there weren’t any showers at all, deep blue skies,cold weather, an excellent mountain to climb and good company. I was leading the French Contingent today and they proved to be a good laugh. My plan was to ascend the north east ridge, we didn’t in the end. It had a seemingly very steep cliff in the way around half way up with the only way round on a steep bank of grass above more cliff. The group didn’t have ice axe skills and so I decided they weren’t prepared to tackle such slopes.

The view out of the Youth Hostel down Loch Long

Group photo on the way up

A view up Glen Kinglass

We made a diversion down and north to avoid the cliffs and so contour the slopes a little before tackling the summit from the north where less steep slopes provided me with comfort knowing an accident was unlikely. We found a steep patch of old snow which provided an excellent opportunity for the group to practice ice axe arrests. We all had some fun and we continued up when they had all got the hang of doing an axe arrrest. We reached the summit at lunchtime despite our lengthy diversion. The views were fantastic in all directions, I could see Ben More on the Isle of Mull, Ben Cruachan, all the Crianlarich summits and Ben Lomond. I couldn’t stop taking photos up there to the extent that I would have needed a straight jacket put on me if I didn’t stop!

Julien, Quan and Patrik

A view down the North East Ridge to Glen Kinglass

Ben Lui, Ben Oss and Beinn Dubcraig

We met a person going up the North east ridge who said the ridge was not a problem, before that time I had decided that a descent to the west was safest but this guys’ comments made me consider descending the North East ridge for it was the highlight of the mountain. I had the group put on crampons as a precautionary measure, that took ages to do as they had never attached crampons before. I had to show a few people how to do it and that meant taking gloves off in a freezing cold wind which froze my poor fingers!

From Beinn an Lochain looking out to the west

Beinn Bhuidie seen from Beinn an Lochain

The western top of Beinn an Lochain

Summit photo

The descent proved to be no problem whatsoever though one person, Sabine, was a bit nervous. We saw some people doing quite a hard mixed climb up the mountain on our way down. The mountain proved to be very popular with many folk climbing it after they had lunch. We had a brief snowball fight (though not a vicious one) and then descended the steep bit I turned away from the way up. It proved to be no problem. And all that was left was a brisk descent down to the road.