Loch Tulla hills in arctic wind!
Saturday April 16th
Weather was forecast to be one of those days where it was rude not to.....! MWIS said 70% chance cloud free, not very strong wind, sun picking up, snow showers should be pretty nothing-y ... jumped in the van at about 830 having packed up nothing the night before so not bad going and set off from the Achallader car park about 1030.
Signage at the beginning tells you not to take the track as is suggested by the guidebooks etc, so we went up this wee track and across the meandering hillside and walked up the valley directly. It was a nice walk in actually, very steady incline, no huge steep bits but wuite a lot of water/bog. The rivers coming down were still steeped in icicles, made for cool photos and the snow started coming down at about 400m, like small, icy polystyrene balls, weird. We carried on up and got to the saddle, and had to take bearings to the hill as its not obvious where Beinn Mhanach is from there. However, we decided a way to go and hit a plateau and had a bit of fun navigating here from a seriously boggy bit to eventually find the saddle between Beinn Mhanach and the associated top, we walked over both of the tops, and lunch had to be in the shelter as the wind was so bitterly cold and i got cold on the inside so we made it brief, and descended to then ascend to the top before Beinn Achaladair. Looking at the snow slope from afar, looked stable, all fine, the ice crusts on snow patches were a bit hit and miss so far for walking on so we donned the axe and went up. It was steep enough to be climbing it hands and feet, snow was too hard for just summer boots to dig in so we went up sideways or front pointing best as you can with an axe. First time in a while ive done that! Its a tiring 100m or so!! that put us pretty directly underneath the top and we soon got it, and were onto the main ridge. Plenty of snow about, and the wind was utterly arctic and sucked bodyheat away in seconds. Glorious views. On the way down from the last munro of the day Beinn a'Chreachain we passed Lochan an Chreachain which was stunning, half iced over, half not, beneath some awesome gullys and cornices...perfect. Views over Rannoch Mor were awesome, you could see the ski centre and glencoe in one direction, and the arrochar alps in the other, standing magnificently on their own in a way i'd not appreciated before. Descended that down the valley by the river that flows from the lochan, to the railway. We ended up going through some deer fences and stiles, and ended up between two deer fences traversing the hillside so we just followed that, and then down to the railway and followed that through the forest all the way back.
Took us just over 8 hours in total, a bit longer than expected but a good day. Harsh cold wind, good visibility, beautiful area.
Weather was forecast to be one of those days where it was rude not to.....! MWIS said 70% chance cloud free, not very strong wind, sun picking up, snow showers should be pretty nothing-y ... jumped in the van at about 830 having packed up nothing the night before so not bad going and set off from the Achallader car park about 1030.
Signage at the beginning tells you not to take the track as is suggested by the guidebooks etc, so we went up this wee track and across the meandering hillside and walked up the valley directly. It was a nice walk in actually, very steady incline, no huge steep bits but wuite a lot of water/bog. The rivers coming down were still steeped in icicles, made for cool photos and the snow started coming down at about 400m, like small, icy polystyrene balls, weird. We carried on up and got to the saddle, and had to take bearings to the hill as its not obvious where Beinn Mhanach is from there. However, we decided a way to go and hit a plateau and had a bit of fun navigating here from a seriously boggy bit to eventually find the saddle between Beinn Mhanach and the associated top, we walked over both of the tops, and lunch had to be in the shelter as the wind was so bitterly cold and i got cold on the inside so we made it brief, and descended to then ascend to the top before Beinn Achaladair. Looking at the snow slope from afar, looked stable, all fine, the ice crusts on snow patches were a bit hit and miss so far for walking on so we donned the axe and went up. It was steep enough to be climbing it hands and feet, snow was too hard for just summer boots to dig in so we went up sideways or front pointing best as you can with an axe. First time in a while ive done that! Its a tiring 100m or so!! that put us pretty directly underneath the top and we soon got it, and were onto the main ridge. Plenty of snow about, and the wind was utterly arctic and sucked bodyheat away in seconds. Glorious views. On the way down from the last munro of the day Beinn a'Chreachain we passed Lochan an Chreachain which was stunning, half iced over, half not, beneath some awesome gullys and cornices...perfect. Views over Rannoch Mor were awesome, you could see the ski centre and glencoe in one direction, and the arrochar alps in the other, standing magnificently on their own in a way i'd not appreciated before. Descended that down the valley by the river that flows from the lochan, to the railway. We ended up going through some deer fences and stiles, and ended up between two deer fences traversing the hillside so we just followed that, and then down to the railway and followed that through the forest all the way back.
Took us just over 8 hours in total, a bit longer than expected but a good day. Harsh cold wind, good visibility, beautiful area.
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