Training Weekend 26/27th Feb

DAY 1: This weekend I was hoping for some winter climbing action but unfortunately the weather was quite mild and the freezing level very high. For this reason, my partner, Ben and I decided to have a stab at a winter traverse of the Mamores ridge. There are 10 Munros on this ridge and several out-and-back doglegs are neccessary to tick outlying summits, making it a VERY big day...



The Mamores Looking East from the Devil's Ridge

 

The section we managed!

We started from Glen Nevis at 9:00am on Saturday morning with the NE Ridge of Mullach nan Coirean. (939m). Due to a thaw last week, the snowline was over 800m and anything still lying in gullies was old and soft. From this summit we tackled increasingly difficult terrain as we ascended the rocky/bouldery slopes of Stob Ban (999m). At this point I started to reaslise that the Mamores were not going to feel much like a typical ridge walk - there is a lot of height loss and gain between summits, making travelling from top-to-top pretty time-consuming.  

Summit of Stob Ban

By the time we had reached the summit of Stob Ban, the snow showers had started and visibility was patchy. From here we dropped to a lochan west of Sgurr an Lubhair (at 760m) before ascending a zig-zagging stalkers path up a broad rib to the col south of Stob Choire a Mhail. The next stage was the first dogleg; an out-and-back traverse of the Devils Ridge to the summit of Sgurr a Mhaim (1099m).

Ben on the Devil's Ridge

On the Devils Ridge the conditions were certainly wintry and we donned our crampons and swapped poles for an axe about halfway along. The ridge is exposed and interesting but we encountered no major dicfficulties. 

 

Devil's Ridge

Sgurr an Lubhair

On Sgurr a Mhaim we were awarded a glimpse of Ben Nevis to the North, and then a view of the ridge stretching out to our left and right as we looked south, back along the Devils Ridge. In the sun this view was magnificent! The next summit on the main ridge is Sgurr an Lubhair. Although this peak stands at 1001m it is not a Munro (it is included in the Ramsay Round however). By now there was now about an inch of fresh snow on the ground, slowing our walking pace a little (slippy slippy!)



Descending Am Bodach

The tops started to feel closer together as we began our ascent up the nicely angled west ridge of Am Bodach (1032m). Sadly the same cannot be said of the NNE ridge of Am Bodach. Descending this way in winter is not an easy line. On this occasion the slope was comprised of soft snow, covering a base of ice and rocks. We used our axes to descend backwards and cut steps wherever it became icy.

All too soon we were ascending again, this time from the col at 825m back up to the summit of Stob Coire a Chairn (981m). Frustratingly, this top is not a Munro but An Gearanach to the north of it is (at 982m!!!) For this extra 1m it is neccessary to undertake another kilometre long out-and-back scramble. We decided to continue on to Na Gruagaichean (1055m) and leave this stretch for another day! Although only 74m different in height, to gain the cairn at the top of this mountain you have to lose about 200m and then gain another 274m! Phew!! The wind had increased dramatically by this time of day and the spindrift was whipping off the ridge into our faces, so that at times we had to walk sideways like a crab just so that we could keep our eyes open!



Ben on Na Gruagaichean

Both of us had run out of food and were now starting to flag. The final pull up onto the summit of Na Gruagaichean was a tricky scramble up icy slabs (with very tired legs!)


By now it was approaching 5:30pm and it seemed a good time to call it a day and give up!! From this last top we scuttled off down the south (then SW ridge) to the Mamore Lodge where we had left a car. We had visited 6 of the 10 Munros on the ridge (7 of the 11 summits on this leg of the Ramsay Round). Worryingly, the Eastern Mamores involve even more significant ascent and descent, as Binnein Beag and Sgurr Eilde Mor are complete outliers from the ridge proper.....

Overall our route was 20.5km (12.8 miles) in length, with 2357m ascent (and 2204m descent!)



Biking past Lochan Earba

 DAY 2: A leisurely mountain bike ride along Lochan Earba (18km and 245m ascent only). On Sunday Ben and I drove to northern tip of Loch Laggan and enjoyed a very sunny and relaxing ride along the shore of Lochan Earba! The tops has a slight dusting of snow and the views were gorgeous.

Heading homeward with a view of Creag Meagaidh