November 2010 - Walking - Munros, Carn Mairg group and Ptarmigan Ridge

Summit of Carn Gorm

Munro trip number 3 on my '31 before I'm 31' plan!



I took upon the choosing of the Munros myself this time, without consulting friends or UKC for advice. The reasoning was to pick some hills that were reachable in a weekend, but not in the major climbing areas as I want to save those should I find myself in the area with friends another time. The Loch Tay to Rannoch Mor area seemed to fit the bill, in particular the Carn Mairg group for the first day as it was described as broad grassy slopes (not too scary if it snowed) without too much rise and fall (easy on the knees), just made challenging by the distance of 17.5km (a proper day out, nearly 8 hours which as it happens just tied in with a sunrise of 7:30 and sunset of 16:25, with contingency time). Sunday would be a shorter day, maybe the 'Ptarmigan Ridge' (13km) or Schiehallion (9km).

Mimicing the funeral pyre on Meall Garbh, tongue out in concentration

On Friday 5th November I loaded up my trusty steed Nyx, went to work for half an day then rode to Andy's (my first Munro trip not partnered by a 'John'!) to transfer into the more practical Ford Focus. We set off up the motorway and arrived at the Fortingall Hotel at around 20:30, in time for some local live music session, a tot of whisky, and to probe the staff and locals for suggestions of somewhere to pitch camp for the night. We ended up at the car park at Invervar, our start point for the morning. After snapping a tent pole and also snapping our cunning repair of a dismantled umbrella, we hit the sack a little later than planned in a wonky 3-poled tent which help up surprisingly well.



We just about made our intended start time of 7:30 (7:46) and set off eagerly up Invervar burn. A little bit too eagerly perhaps meaning we overheated and the first hill was somewhat of an effort for one of us. That same person (and it actually wasn't the blonde one!) missed a footbridge and killed a few minutes finding an appropriate place to cross the third of three sections of the burn!

Looking back down to the SE top of Meall nan Tarmachan

Another notable moment came just after the first summit when I commented how nice it would be to see a Ptarmigan, given our top route choice for the next day. A very short while later Andy said "what are those?", pointing to one side. Sure enough, two strong contenders for Ptarmigan (later confirmed) were pacing around - the only real wildlife we saw all weekend too except for some crows, one kestrel, and a mouse - see later). We were pretty lucky with the weather, sunshine all day and reasonable views, and unusually for Scotland there was a defined path all day, so with that and the excellent visibility we barely used the map and compass. We could have done with taking a bearing off the last peak, but we noticed before too long that we were heading down the wrong shoulder and it only took a few minutes to traverse back across to the correct one.



The descent and re-ascent between the four summits was a little greater than the book made out, but we maintained a steady plod and actually completed the day slightly faster than expected at 15:30, giving my normal average hill pace of 2.3km/h, which takes into account photo stops including the obligatory one or two silly ones.

On Meall Garbh

We headed back into the hotel where we were entertained by a bunch of rowdy but polite game shooters on a stag do, and had a most satisfying three course dinner including spicy parsnip soup and Dunkeld smoked salmon, and a melt in the middle chocolate pudding, mmm. Then it was time to head off out into the cold again and headed down the road towards hills for day two. Accommodation proved to be a little more challenging - the campsite was close for the season, and the head of Lochan na Lairige had an argument with the bottom of Andy's car, so we decided the best option was to hole up in the car in the car park. Apart from a frozen windscreen (on the inside) and a bit of cramp, it served the purpose and it was nice to have instant heat in the morning before having to extract ourselves from our toasty down bags. The day dawned bright again albeit a little colder than the day before, and by 8:55 we were off.

Meall Garbh, Beinn nan Eachan behind

We continued with a system that worked fairly well - Andy led on the uphills and I led on the down, that way the slowest was always in front and we stayed together for a nice natter. The Ptarmigan Ridge, despite containing only one Munro (Meall nan Tarmachan) has beautifully shaped peaks with very little ascent and descent inbetween them, and the day seemed to fly by. It was icy in parts and we were given advice by a couple of other parties about an alternative path to avoid a treacherous icy gully. The 'easier' path looked a little unlikely at first, dropping straight down a steep grassy flank, but we didn't have a choice as people were yelling at us from below and wouldn't stop until we went the safe way, it was actually reassuringly straightforward. I may have accidentally left all in the surrounding area of the opinion that I'd plummeted to my death though, as towards the middle I was completely caught by surprise by a rather squat mouse that unexpectedly appeared from a hole near my foot (and swiftly ran back down it), and I let out an involuntarily scream that curdled down the slope and echoed off all the surrounding slopes.

Descending Meall Garbh

We only made one slight directional error, again at the end where we were heading for a hut out of sight, but the visibility was once again so good we had decided we were happy to correct if necessary, than to stop in the icy wind to take a bearing. I was very pleased with my route choices - they seemed to be appropriate for our ability and motivation, and gave plenty of photographic opportunities and nice views. We finished at 3:20pm, just under 6.5 hours. Slightly slower overall than Saturday (2km/h) but more than acceptable for day 2.



Sunday night saw us visiting friends John and Jacqui in Glasgow and sampling the delights of the Ichiban noodle bar, and we made the rest of the journey South on Monday morning, eagerly making plans for the next trip, even if it may have to involve axes and crampons.