Thursday, April 30, 2009

89-90. Beinn a'Chaorainn (80), Beinn Teallach (282) 22/04/09

After depositing Chris and Jack on the only train heading south, Ben and I made our way to a couple of hills that we thought would be relatively straightforward and possible to complete in half a day. We had also heard rumours that the weather was going to turn for the worse - and one must always be very careful hearing rumours like this. We had visions of blizzards, sea fog as thick as soup or tropical storms (or possibly all three). What we weren't expecting was a clear warm and dry day with only a few small white puffies well above the tops.

We were totally unprepared and in our confusion we carried jumpers and waterproofs to the top of the hill, expecting some cruel jape from the weather gods - but this didn't happen. We steadily climbed the grassy southern slopes of Beinn a'Chaorainn and because of the good terrain, we were very soon at the top. There was a very broad and flat summit ridge, with great scary-looking cornices on the sheer east side. It also afforded a great view of the snow-capped Grey Corries to the south.

The descent to the bealach was gentle and on non knee-jarring terrain, for which we were grateful. Before the climb of Beinn Teallach, we had our obligatory scotch egg stop whilst out of the wind. As we began to climb again, the wind did become quite strong, but this is never a problem when it's dry. The blustery summit was reached without further ado, but I was in for a shock. Looking at the GPS at the top, I discovered it was reading 2999ft - disaster! Fortunately this was just a momentary inaccuracy and with a bit of a shake, it eventually agreed with the 3002ft on the charts.

The descent was again gentle and we were back at the car within 5 hours. A jolly pleasant stroll.

Looking back along the summit ridge of Beinn a'Chaorainn

Nevis and the grey corries from Beinn a'Chaorainn

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