Corrour to Dalwhinnie Munros, 23rd - 24th June 2018
My first hillwalking trip as a married man was to be an extended version of last year's Midsummer Munro. We planned to take in the long journey from Corrour to Dalwhinnie which contains 4 Munros which are hard to pick off individually. We knew our friend Max was spending some time around the Orchy hills and so we planned to meet him at Corrour Station when we pulled in on the afternoon train on the Saturday.
Toezi got dropped off at my house, and we walked round to Garscadden station to get the train to Dalmuir and change for the West Highland line to Corrour.
It was a nice day, not too hot and the conditions had been dry for quite a while. We arrived at Corrour about 1530 and Max was waiting for us on the platform.
The walk along the southern shore of Loch Ossian was pleasant, it was a little cooler at that altitude than in Glasgow. Max filled us in on his adventures over the previous couple of days and we had a good catch up. I was starting to get a little pain in my heels.
We came across a new hydro dam just beyond Loch Ossian where we filled up on water - it was going to be a long time before we came across any more, then it was up the south western shoulder of Beinn Eibhinn, a bit of a warm slog. About 850m the clag drifted in and all hope of views was lost.
We followed our maps and we hit the summit of Beinn Eibhinn, the first Munro at 1905. We didn't hang about too long. We came across another cairn a couple of hundred meters further on, but it looked like the first was the summit.
Beinn Eibhinn
The next leg was an easy enough drop and climb again over 1km to reach the summit of Aonach Beag. We arrived there at 1950.
Toezi on Aonach Beag
Again, we couldn't see a thing, so not too many pictures were taken.
The third of the day was Geal-Charn and again, a short drop and climb were the only obstacles in our way. We made the summit of Geal Charn at 2020.
On Geal-Charn
There was a hint of blue above us, but when you're in the clag, you have no idea where it begins or ends.
From Geal-Charn, we headed over the plateau on a bearing to find a cliff which we would handrail round to where we wanted to be. Steps were counted, and we ended up exactly where we wanted to be. Then it all changed. The blue above us became brighter, and some of the landscape around us came into view. It happened gradually, patches would clear, then disappear and reappear. Then, to our left, something happened to the air pressure and all the clouds that floated above the hills appeared to gain weight and pour, like waterfalls off the cliffs and into the valleys below.
It was an incredible scene, and silent, with barely a breath of wind.
We were awestruck. We took photos, shot some video and then took some time to take it all in. Barely a word was spoken between the three of us.
Clouds pouring off the hill
More cloud
Incredible scenes
Things settled a bit, and the air around us became clearer and clearer. As we pressed on towards our fourth Munro, there was still magic happening everywhere we looked.
Cloud dropping
More magic
Drifting in and out
We made the summit, a bit tired at 2200, found a flat bit and decided that's where we would spend the night.
We had a meal, did a Facebook Live session and shot some pics and video.
We hit the hay at 11pm, in our bivvy bags, under clear skies, with a full inversion in the glens below:
Inversion
Inversion flowing
We knew we had a big walk out, so we got some sleep. We were up again just after 4am to get the sun rising on Ben Alder and have some breakfast:
Sun on Ben Alder
Then it was the big walk out to Dalwhinnie via Loch Pattack. My feet were really starting to hurt and by the time we got to Dalwhinnie, I was hobbling and in quite a bit of pain.
On closer inspection, my insoles had worn away at the heels and that was the culprit. Lesson learned.
Near Loch Pattack
We got into Dalwhinnie at 10am and headed for a huge breakfast before a hobble back to get the mid morning train back to Glasgow with a change at Perth.
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