[Trip Index] [Munro Index] [Home] 23rd March 2004   Beinn Achaladair Beinn a Chreachain Map I had a week off to use up the last of my leave and the idea was to camp out and do a couple of the hills in the Bridge of Orchy area. March isn't all that good for camping though - bit cold. I'd driven up the day before and decided to camp in Glen Etive as I'd seen people doing the last time I was up there. I found a suitable spot but the ground was sodden and cold and what with that and the sporadic showers I didn't have the heart to put the tent up. Instead I put the seats down and made room in the car - it's an estate car (Peugeot 307 diesel) and you can make a flat area big enough to stretch out on. I got it ready and had a bash at doing some cooking as I'd brought the gaz stoves and a crate of food. Cooking came down to heating a can of veggy ravioli and following it with a yogurt. Anyway after that I read a bit before decamping to the isolated Kings House hotel at the head of Glencoe where I had a couple of pints of Tetleys in the warmth. Sleep that night could be described as fitful - there wasn't much cushioning under me. Still, never daunted I arose the morrow morn determined to seek out and master some mighty, primeval lump of rock. I'd already picked out the targets and motored down to Achaladar Farm where the farmer has generously provided a free car park. The skies looked grey and uncertain but there were some bright patches amongst the heavy brooding clouds. I set off at about 7.40 and followed a path which climbed gently through heathland alongside the Allt Coire Achaladair up to the col between Beinn Achaladair and Beinn an Dothaidh. The ground rose a bit more steeply as I reached the col and it was around there that the snow cover began. The col between Beinn Achaladair and Beinn an Dothaidh Turning left at the col I slogged my way up to the first top, and found it fairly hard work breaking my way through all that snow. No sign of any other human beings. I gained the first top and continued along what would have been a nice ridge in better conditions. The cloud cleared a bit then to give some fine views across Rannoch Moor. It was a fairly level, snowy walk along to the summit (10.20) - a place of thick snow there and on-off cloud . My footprints in the snow on the slopes of Beinn Achaladair The summit of Beinn Achaladair I thought that when the cloud closed round you it hinted at quite scary conditions - sometimes just white all round. The sky white, the ground white, and where the one stopped and the other started who could tell? It was un-nerving just to move forward because everywhere you were in a white limbo, unable to know where you were treading or heading. As you may guess, I had my doubts about carrying on - it seemed a tad foolhardy on my own. And probably not much better if I'd been accompanied. The descent from the summit of Beinn Achaladair was a bit steep and rocky - not by normal standards but in those conditions - ie snowy and icy, without crampons. Whereas you'd have romped down it without a care in summer, today you had to take it very gingerly. I detoured quite a bit to find easier slopes and it did make me wonder how I was ultimately going to get back down off the mountain - but I'd worry about that later. Having descended from the summit I carried on to the last peak of the massif, Meall Buidhe, from where I could look across to Beinn a Chreachain through a break in the weather. I decided to give it a go. Beinn a Chreachain   Looking back at Beinn Achaladair from Beinn a Chreachain I carried on and eventually got to the top of Beinn a Chreachain which was marked by a large cairn all covered in snow (12.40). The photo of me standing beside it looks like something from Scott of the Antarctic. It was fairly windy now and there were lots of snow devils whirling round and round in circles here and there. Some hail showers too, and surrounded by thin cloud a lot of the time. Myself at the top of Beinn a Chreachain I decided the easiest way down would be to retrace my footsteps to the top of Meall Buidhe and set off down the hillside from there, heading NW, as the map suggested this should be ok, if a little steep. It turned out to be a good hillside for descending, no crags or rocky bits, and the snow made it easier, cushioning your feet and compacting beneath them to form supporting footholds - really quite easy going. I angled left (E) to save some distance and soon got past the snowline into a soggy scrubland of grass and stunted trees. I came to a bridge over the railway line with a 'No Entry' sign on it and a suggestion that I could cross on another bridge ½ mile away to the north… Bugger that, I thought, I wasn't going to walk a mile out of my way at that point so I stepped past the sign and crossed the bridge anyway. Shocking, eh. After that I plodded steadfastly on, walking round various plantation fences in the final stages, and eventually got back to the farm at 15:00. The descent from Meall Buidhe Reluctant to revisit the joys of camping I found accommodation instead at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel which has a bunkhouse. You get a room & bed & linen for £13 and that includes use of a shower and toilet facilities so it wasn't bad really. Breakfast would have been £6 though so I made my own - cereal from the food crate. That evening, however, I had a nice veggy meal of Leek and Boursin parcels with potatos & tomato sauce stuff (roast pepper salad apparently). Plus 2 pints of a local beer called Maverick which was ok. The other thing I noted was the small black fly crawling across snow at the very top of Beinn Achaladair, no doubt looking for a turd. Hardy brutes these Scottish flies.