Beinn Dorain
Beinn an Dothaidh
Map
It was a decent day with the tops looking clear except for the occasional misty bit so I set
off from the Bridge of Orchy Hotel at about 8.25. A short walk up the road to the station
then it was under the railway line and off along a distinct, stony path by the right-hand
side of a stream, the Allt Coire an Dothaidh. The lower part of the approach wended its
way through brown, wintry grass with a few trees by the stream - overall an easy gradient
heading east towards the col between the two mountains.
The route up to the col
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The cairn on the col
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Once again the ground steepened as I neared the col where the snowline began. On the col
itself there was a cairn where I turned south to begin the ascent of Beinn Dorain. The
snow was thicker here and it was the familiar hard-going trudge through snow that I'd
encountered the previous day. It was a better day today though, with more visibility.
Even so it was hard work and gave rise to pusillanimous doubts about the feasibility of
doing both mountains. Still I plodded on and eventually made it to the false summit which
the guide book had warned me about, marked by a large impressive cairn. At this point the
mountain starts to fall away again and you can see how in bad visibility people might
easily think they'd reached the top and turn back. Not so our plucky hero, of course - on
down the hill he went, with a merry smile playing across his rugged features…
It wasn't far though, just a case of dropping down a bit then ambling over and making a
short climb to the true summit (11.10) where there was another cairn, covered in snow.
In fact lots of snow all round. I took the required posterity picture and paused for a bit of
lunch - crackers, edam cheese and cherry tomatoes.
At the summit of Beinn Dorain
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I then set off back to the col; as on the previous day I found it a lot easier going
downhill in the snow and I was soon feeling more positive about carrying on with
the original plan to do both hills.
It's also easier because you don't have to worry about navigating or where to tread safely
in the snow - you simply follow the trail of your own outbound footprints. As it happens
they were the only footprints on the hill till then but as I began the last drop down
towards the col I saw 3 doughty figures coming towards me; rather gratifyingly they were
following my footprints up. They were all about my age and came from Cheshire.
After that I reached the col reinvigorated by the easy descent and promptly set off up
what looked like a rather steep and snowy hillside. It was actually quite straightforward
though. I angled right and found the gradient wasn't too bad although there was no sign
of a path beneath all that snow. I carried on NW, breaking my own trail, and made the
mistake of going up the eastern top, but it didn't matter. From there it was an easy
walk over to the true summit which I reached at 13.00.
The summit of Beinn an Dothaidh,
as seen from the Eastern top.
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Enjoying life at the top of Beinn an Dothaidh
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From there I thought I might as
well carry on and complete the westernmost top as well. It only took another 5 minutes
or so to trot over to it and from there take in some nice views over Rannoch Moor and
also across to Beinn Achaladair which I'd climbed the day before. There was a big contrast
between the all-whiteness of the tops where I was standing and the predominantly brown and
green plain below, awash with its multitude of pools and streams.
Looking down at Rannoch Moor
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I set off south and again it was easy going descending through the snow. No path anywhere
but I expected to cross my own outbound tracks eventually and sure enough I did. After that I
just followed them back to the col, meeting on the way the party I'd seen earlier going
up Beinn Dorain. There were only two of them now though as one of them had opted out of
further fun after the first hill. The 2 stalwarts were following my tracks again so I told
them that I'd erred by going up the eastern top but added that it was easy to do the
complete traverse, then left them to it.
I reached the col shortly after that and soon caught up with the 3rd man. We exchanged
pleasantries and then I left him behind and had a straightforward walk back the way I'd
come. Got back 2.30.
The more traditional view of Beinn Dorain
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Another night in the Bridge of Orchy bunkhouse - I got some shower gel & shampoo chucked
in this time, but only because I asked. The meal was pumpkin, spinach and parmesan with
curried vegetables. Very nice. £7.50. Supplemented with over-priced carrot cake (£2.50)
and a couple of pints of Guinness.
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