Thursday Jan 3 |
 | Hillwalking long (Munros) 3:45:00 [2] ** 15 km (15:00 / km) +600m 12:30 / km | |
| slept:8.0 shoes: Hillwalking Boots |
| Day 7 of the JOK New Year trip. After clearing out of the bunkhouse and leaving behind blue skies above Torridon, we drove south-east towards Dalwhinnie, where various clouds had gathered and it was busy slowing. Walking with just Ed, we started at 350m altitude and walked with almost military pace along the road beside the Allt Cuaich and up on to Meall Chuaich, just 600m higher and the solitary summit of the day. Weather alternated between snow shows (not too much wind though, so quite pleasant) and misty views. The cloud base was at 900m so we just missed the view from the summit. The route down - back the same way - was enlivened by snow ptarmigan and the odd mountain hair. It was only a short day but my legs were aching a lot at the end due to the lively pace. We only stopped for a total of 10 minutes - compared with well over an hour of breaks for the other days.
One Munro: Meall Chuaich (951m). |
| Note | |
| |
| The journey south proved interesting - on leaving Dalwhinnie and driving over the Drumochter Pass there was only a small amount of snow on the A9. As we descended though, we were soon into blizzard conditions - cars in convoy, snow ploughs and gritters trying to keep the road passable. It probably wasn't best to hang around as the road looked like it was going to get blocked any minute. In the end though, we got to Edinburgh and made the last train of the day down to London. |
| Note | |
| |
| Six new Munros - and the first Munros since 2003. I must get up into the Scottish Highlands a lot more this year. |
Wednesday Jan 2 |
| Hillwalking long (Munros) 4:45:00 [1] ** 12.4 km (22:59 / km) +1000m 16:23 / km | |
| slept:6.0 shoes: Hillwalking Boots |
| Day 6 of the JOK New Year trip. Climbed Moruisg and Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, from Glen Carron (150m.) A slower pace than for previous days. Generally good weather, a little mist for a while on the top of the second peak. Pretty chilly on the top, but altogether a straightforward day and I had plenty of energy left in the end. Walked with Jon X, Beccy and Pete. Both Munros had two summits, apparently at identical heights, and with the OS Landranger and Pathfinder maps disagreeing as to the true summits...
Two Munros: Moruisg (928m) and Sgurr nan Ceannaichean (915m - has the dubious distinction of being the lowest Munro.) |
Tuesday Jan 1 |
| Score Orienteering (Local Event) 58:45 [4] *** 5.82 km (10:06 / km) +200m 8:37 / km | |
| spiked:14/21c slept:6.0 shoes: SGB's Painful Innov8s |
| INVOC New Year Score event at Ord Hill, just north of Inverness. Cold and overcast day. The event was a mass start one-hour score. Each control was worth its number, i.e. control 14 was worth 14 points. There were 21 controls. The highest scoring weren't necessarily the hardest to get, in fact 20 and 21 were right by the start. Competitors carried a balloon - those finishing with it intact got an extra 20 points. Mine burst as I unwisely pushed through a gorse bush on the way to my fourth control.
I scored 188 points, by getting 14 controls, including 12-21 and four lower scoring ones. The map was a bit of a nightmare - it was already quite green, and parts of the white forest had turned very green. For one control, I gave up pushing through the thick green forest (marked white on the map) and returned later from below. Another was impossible from my direction, even though the map was again white - so I had to give up on it.
Finished with a minute to spare. Ed won, I came pleasingly high up in the results. (Maximum score was 251, Ed got 235 and Jon X 203. I beat Pete H, who got 171.) Results. |
Monday Dec 31 |
| Hillwalking long (Munros) 5:35:00 [2] ** 11.6 km (28:53 / km) +1200m 19:02 / km | |
| slept:6.0 shoes: Hillwalking Boots |
| Day 4 of the JOK New Year trip. An ascent up Beinn Alligin in Torridon, with Ed, Phil and Jon X, from the road by Torridon House (50m above sea level.) A real classic Munro, this was great fun, although we were in mist above 800m. Highlights were the dramatic "Eag Dubh" gash just before the main summit, and the "Horns of Alligin" at the end of the ridge, that we visited on the descent. These involved some easy scrambling to keep to the crest - despite the misty and somewhat damp conditions, they were straightforward and good fun. Saw a couple of white ptarmigan and deer on the way down. The views, on the descent, across to Upper Loch Torridon, Liathach and Beinn Dearg, and back to Beinn Alligin as the clouds disappeared, were stunning. However it got quite dark as we finished - the very well made NTS mountain path at the end was much appreciated.
Two Munros: Tom na Gruagaich (922m) and Sgurr Mor (986m). I climbed these previously, in April 1999 with EAMC, doing the traverse the other way around. |
Sunday Dec 30 |
| Note | |
| |
| Day 3 of the JOK New Year trip. Rested to try and rid myself of hip pain. Of course, I picked the only day which had dawn-to-dusk clear skies. The others did the Coire Lair horseshoe. |
Saturday Dec 29 |
| Hillwalking long (Munros) 7:30:00 [3] ** 21.2 km (21:14 / km) +1200m 16:33 / km | |
| slept:6.0 (injured) shoes: Hillwalking Boots |
| Day 2 of the JOK New Year trip. Ascent of Slioch from Kinlochewe (10m). The first (and last) 5km were along a fairly level path beside Loch Maree. Ed and I took a wrong turn here and ended up on the wrong side of a raging river - the Abhainn an Fhasaigh. We eventually crossed it above a ravine - this was a tricky crossing with a strong current, and we got very wet. We then climbed up into the high corrie surrounded by Slioch, joining the others again - and into the mist and stinging hail. The section through the corrie was pretty nasty, however the hail stopped as we climbed steeply onto the ridge and then onto Slioch's twin summits - no view, windy and cold with some snow on the ground. We then followed an interesting narrow ridge, and then dropped steeply back down into the corrie, and back home. It was completely dark by the time we got back. My hip, injured from yesterday, hurt a bit, especially on the higher sections.
One Munro: Slioch (980m). |
Friday Dec 28 |
| Hillwalking long (Munros) 4:30:00 [2] ** 17.5 km (15:26 / km) +750m 12:42 / km | |
| (injured) |
| First day of the JOK New Year trip. Stopped off on our journey north from Edinburgh to Kinlochewe, to climb a couple of Munros E of the Drumochter Pass, from the A9 near Dalwhinnie (390m), walking with Ed, SGB, Phil and Jon M. Route took the good stalker's track up to near the col between the two hills, walking to the first then doubling back and to the second. Descent was a suprisingly sharp ridge on the NW of the latter hill, beeside the Allt Coire Chuirn. Conditions were cold, with thick mist above 600m, and no view from the summits. A little snow on the ground. Unwisely used my walking pole going up, which hurt my hip for the next couple of days.
Two Munros: Carn na Caim (941m) and A' Bhuidheanach Bheag (936m). My first since April 2003. |