Meall Chuaich, 18th February 2018
The first Munro of the year has been a bit slow in coming. I'm getting married in April and weekends have been filled with people looking to spend time with us, and the new business is getting really busy.
However, a free Sunday presented itself and I found myself on the way to Paisley to pick up Toezi at 7am. It was dry and cold but mostly frost free when I left the house.
We headed up the A9 and made really good time, arriving at layby 94 just after 9am. It was a fair bit colder at that height, so it was gloves on from the start, but by the time we got started at 9:15am, we were in good spirits and looking forward to the day ahead.
We headed up the snowy track which had been frozen over through the night and watched a couple of dippers playing on the aqueduct, their dark coat and white breast really standing out against the snow.
The views as the sun was gaining height were rather pleasant, with some mist around.
We got to the little bothy at 10:15 and prepared ourselves for the walk up the South Western shoulder. As we gained height, the views were starting to look better all the time.
As we rose, the wind started to pick up as well, and it was pretty cold. Once we hit 800m we were quite exposed. The mist had closed in as well, but with some careful navigation, we made it to the summit for just before 12:00pm. We stopped for a spot of lunch in the shelter of the big cairn, where we met another couple of folk.
We headed down pretty much the way we came up - avoiding any possible avalanche risk on northerly slopes.
We met some locals on the way down too.
We were back down at the little bothy at 1:05pm and it was warming up enough to take off gloves and hats. The snow was starting to thaw a bit as well.
The view back shows a rather nice profile to Meall Chuaich, a nice easy hill for this time of year.
We arrived back at the car at 2:15pm, ready for a drive down to Perth for a cheeky burger. I was home just after 5pm, which was nice for a change!
Stats from Toezi:
Time 4:46m
Distance: 15.27km
Ascent: 673m
Munro count: 142, I've now climbed more than I have left to do!
However, a free Sunday presented itself and I found myself on the way to Paisley to pick up Toezi at 7am. It was dry and cold but mostly frost free when I left the house.
We headed up the A9 and made really good time, arriving at layby 94 just after 9am. It was a fair bit colder at that height, so it was gloves on from the start, but by the time we got started at 9:15am, we were in good spirits and looking forward to the day ahead.
We headed up the snowy track which had been frozen over through the night and watched a couple of dippers playing on the aqueduct, their dark coat and white breast really standing out against the snow.
The views as the sun was gaining height were rather pleasant, with some mist around.
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| Sun playing through the mist |
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| Mist clearing from the hills. |
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| Summit cairn - artwork not by us! |
We met some locals on the way down too.
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| Ptarmigan |
The view back shows a rather nice profile to Meall Chuaich, a nice easy hill for this time of year.
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| Meall Chuaich |
Stats from Toezi:
Time 4:46m
Distance: 15.27km
Ascent: 673m
Munro count: 142, I've now climbed more than I have left to do!
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