Càrn Ghluasaid and Sgùrr nan Conbhairean, Glen Shiel, 2nd May 2021

 It was the first hills after we exited the long winter lockdown and my two regular climbing buddies and I were headed north to Glen Shiel on a Saturday afternoon to set up camp before attempting the three Munros at the east end of the glen.

Grabbing a McDonalds at Fort William seemed like a good idea on the way and in fairly short order we were out by Spean Bridge and then onto the A87.

We arrived at a good parking spot in heavy rain just before 1900 and waited out the shower before setting up the tents.

A fire was struck up and we all had something to eat, cooked on our stoves. As it got dark we had our first drinks together after lockdown. There may have been some whisky consumed.....

I awoke in my tent feeling rough. I got up and emptied the contents of my stomach. This was not going well. The chaps were up however and we did get the tents down and everything back in the car, despite my tender state.

We headed along to Lundie to start the walk and we made a start on the hill at 0835 in glorious sunshine. I wasn't feeling any better. We stopped for a short break and I was fairly convinced I wouldn't have the strength to carry on.

I told the boys to press on and I would probably have to head back to the car and sit this one out. They pushed on and I hung around for a bit.I felt so bad at myself for ruining the thing I've been waiting months for. I made the decision there and then to press on and see how I went. I worked out potential escapes on the map and realised I wouldn't be too far from the road if I went for this. 

I started up the good path and realised my water was already running low. I spotted a couple of burns and fortunately they were both flowing well. This spurred me on a bit. The path was steep, but I've been doing a lot of running and I am quite fit just now. I made it to the summit of Càrn Ghluasaid at 1100 and caught up with another party who had been a good 20 minutes ahead of me.

Càrn Ghluasaid

I was feeling slightly better and glad that I hadn't headed back down. I checked the map, made sure I was headed the right way and made my way over towards the foot of Sgùrr nan Conbhairean.

I was met with a heavy snow shower, and standing at the bottom looking at the 200m ascent seemed an impossible task. I pressed on anyway and made the summit at 1218. 

View from Sgùrr nan Conbhairean back to Càrn Ghluasaid

Summit of Sgùrr nan Conbhairean

I had a wee rest and realised that I hadn't had enough to eat, so the sensible decision was to head down and have some food - that way I'd be able to meet the other two on the descent and not keep anyone back.

The views on the descent were fantastic - looking South, Nevis was stunning in it's late springtime snow

Nevis on the right

In Glen Shiel, some weather patterns were passing through

Into Glen Shiel

I met up with the chaps on their descent from Sail Chàorainn - which I missed out and will need to get back to at some point and I was starting to feel a lot better.

We headed down the last few kms together and then met the Old Military Road and wandered back down to Lundie and then home.

Distance: 14ish km 

Time: 6hrs 20mins

Ascent: 996m

Munros Completed: 175