Back to browse Munros. Back to Colin's Home Page
Click for Previous Year 2004
Cycle up from Linn of Dee to Derry Lodge; were going to do Car a Mhaim, Ben Macdui and Derry Cairngorm, but conditions on the top ridge were bad, with 50mph winds, spindrift, loads of snow, etc. Wouldnt have made it back to bikes in daylight, and didnt fancy another 3 hours of snow stinging the faces! So, just did Carn a Mhaim. Might save Derry Cairngorm for last.. but thinking about Carn Mor Dearg which might be easier for everybody.
Munros: Carn a' Mhaim (1037m) (SMC Region 8 - The Cairngorms)
With: Mark Jaffray
Mark on summit ridge between the 1014 cairn and the summit. Conditions not that good to say the least.... didnt even stay at summit as had to get out of the wind  |
Taking a break from the wind... and the weather predictions didnt mention 50 mph winds on the tops!  |
Me just off the summit of Carn a' Mhaim... snow everywhere and getting cold.  |
On the descent back to the bikes. Mark failing to keep out of the snow and failing.  |
Camping expedition with Dad, in from Achnashellach. Stayed overnight in mountains, Munro next day. Weather was disappointing - OK but misty top 150m, so didnt see much from the tops. Did the 3 tops of Maoille Lunndaidh, anticlockwise from the North.
Munros: Maoile Lunndaidh (1007m) (SMC Region 12 - Glen Cannich to Glen Carron)
With: William McPherson
Dad in the tent - beside Allt a Chonais, near the 2 strand wire bridge. About 7pm on the Sunday  |
Dad at top of Maoile Lunndaidh. We did Carn nam Fiaclan -> Maoile Lunndaidh in mist by compass... then back up the main North West ridge  |
Me on top, with my hat I'd left in California! Quite cold on top - 25mph sub-zero winds... ice rime on the grass and rocks  |
Just descended out of the mist. Looking West up the Glen. Could see Fuar Thol in the distance  |
Looking up into Fuar thol Mor Corrie. Couldnt see much.. too misty. See if you can spot Dad in the red hat.....  |
Me just finished pitching tent. Dad was preparing to go to sleep for 12 hours  |
Dad at top of Maoile Lunndaidh.  |
Trip with Mark up Ben Alder; met early, drove up North, cycled in to Culra Bothy from Dalwhinnie... 8 hours all round
Munros: Ben Alder (1148m), Beinn Bheoil (1019m) (SMC Region 4 - Loch Linnhe to Loch Ericht)
With: Mark Jaffray
Mark, just after the cycle in. Ben Alder behind, with the Lancet ridge on the right  |
Me with Ben Alder behind; just after dumping the bikes....  |
Me with Lancet ridge behind; not far from the Bothy  |
Coire na Lethchois. We went up the Long Leachas - easy scramble with a bit of exposure near the top  |
Mark having a wee rest before the main ascent up the Long Leachas  |
Me having completed the Long Leachas (in the background)  |
Mark at the same point  |
Looking down into och a Bhealach Bheithe - the 955 top is just above the loch  |
Mark at top of Ben Alder  |
Me ascending the trig point...  |
Me on top....  |
And not falling off!  |
Mark just setting off for the next summit  |
Mark on ridge just South of Ben Alder summit  |
Me, East face of Ben Alder behind, from top of Sron Coire na-h-Iolaire  |
Mark, Ben Alder behind, from top of Sron Coire na-h-Iolaire  |
Mark descending down to the col on the way to Beinn Bheoil  |
Mark on top of Beinn Bheoil  |
Me on top of Beinn Bheoil squinting into the sun  |
Goddam weather forecast was completely wrong.. Met Office supercomputer is rubbish - we had checked all the forecasts and everything... . so what should have been nice and sunny turned out to be cold, wet and miserable with getting on sleet on the summit ridge. Hoped to do Sgor Gaibhre as well, but weather slowed us down, so came down West via the ruins of Corrour Lodge.
Munros: Carn Dearg (941m) (SMC Region 4 - Loch Linnhe to Loch Ericht)
With: Denise Murray, Stewart Murray, Aileen McLuckie, Vincent Pickering, Niail ??
Stewart, Denise, Aileen, Niail and Vincent at top of Carn Dearg  |
Me with my beautiful hat, Denise, Aileen, Niail and Vincent. Please someone fix the met-office forecasts!  |
At the ruins of Corrour bothy, rest before the 2 hour 9km walk out. We meant to go camping that evening... but they all bottled it after being cold and wet for most of the day.  |
Trip up Linn of Dee with Mary and Robbie; cycled down to the ruined lodge, then I did the 2 Munros, Robbie and Mary just did the first... only an hour behind as was running down the ridge on the way back so they didnt have to wait too long.
Munros: Carn Bhac (946m), Beinn Iutharn Mhor (1045m) (SMC Region 6 - Glen Garry to Braemar)
With: Mary Murchison, Robbie Murchison
Lunch stop.. Robbie half way up Carn Bhac, part of Beinn Iutharn Mor in the background  |
Mary wandering up behind...  |
Mary and Robbie... long ridge of Beinn Iutharn Mor behind.. which I ran down on the descent  |
Robbie on top of Carn Bhac. He had dumped his rucksack with his mum to beat me to the top... I had to do the losers dance  |
Me, grinning madly on top of Carn Bhac... no idea what mountains are behind me.  |
Robbie went back to collect Mary... and carry the rucksack the rest of the way  |
Mary and Robbie on top of Carn Bhac. Linn of Dee in background  |
Poor Robbie.. having to put up with this..  |
Me and Robbie on Carn Bhac. Must fix my hair next time.  |
My rucksack on top of Beinn Iutharn Mhor, the North East ridge in the background.  |
First failed attempt at using the remote timer!  |
Looking tired after running 2km then pushing hard up 350m, all in about 45 minutes  |
Up beside Rannoch station - cycle in for about 2 1/2 miles, then up the glen. Overall took around 7 hours. Weather cleared up later in day... too late to get any views from the summit. Some photos removed from the page to protect everybody from Mary's knees!
Munros: Sgor Gaibhre (955m) (SMC Region 4 - Loch Linnhe to Loch Ericht)
With: Mary Murchison
Mary on top of Sgor Gaibre, savouring the views. Serious whinging on the way up due to lack of views, uncertainty as to where we were, but saved by the GPS which told her there wasnt too far to go.  |
Me on Sgor Gaibhre  |
View back down the glen - we walked up / back beside the Allt Eigheach  |
On the way down it started to clear. Oh well...  |
Mary and her knees.  |
In the glen there were hordes of flying moths - Oak Eggar I think - here is a female resting  |
View across to Rannoch Moor  |
View back up the glen. Our mountain was just at the far end of the mountain on the right  |
Mary in her cycling gear on the freewheel downhill for 4km.  |
Big trip in from Glen Feshie - did my 250th Munro. Eaten alive by midges at the campsite, then an 11 hour walk the next day
Munros: An Sgarsoch (1006m), Carn an Fhidhleir (994m) (SMC Region 6 - Glen Garry to Braemar)
With: Mary Murchison, Robbie Murchison
Robbie and Mary on the cycle up Glen Feshie  |
Robbie resting on the walk in to An Sgarsosh  |
Mary and Robbie - An Sgarsosh (on left) and Carn an Fhidhleir behind  |
Mary and Robbie approaching summit of An Sgarsosh.  |
MY 250th MUNRO!!! Me and Mary on top of An Sgasosh. Got here around 1pm, after setting off at 8.30 am. About to start the return leg  |
View across to Ben Macdui from An Sgarsosh  |
Mary and Robbie top of Carn an Fhidleir.  |
Me and Robbie on summit of Carn an Fhidleir around 2.30pm. 3 hours walk and 5 hours cycle ahead.. I already look tired out (squinting into sun :-(  |
Left Glasgow at 5.30, then fantastic breakfast at the Invercauld Arms in Braemar (no room for 2 people at the Fife Arms .. sad but true), then good day out in the Cairngorms. Nice easy 45 minute cycle in, 6 hour walk then back out again to Linn of Dee. Met a girl who was camping at White bridge, who said we were the only people she had seen for 3 days.
Munros: Monadh Mor (1113m), Beinn Bhrotain (1157m) (SMC Region 8 - The Cairngorms)
With: Mark Jaffray
Mark on the cycle in from Linn of Dee, just past White Bridge. We followed the Dee as far as Devils point  |
Me on the walk in as far as Devils point, then turn left up the glen  |
Nice view of Devils Point on the left, Lairig Gru, and the cloudy Ben Macdui. The clouds lifed during the day to around 1200m.. never did see the summit of Ben Macdui  |
Mark climbing up Monadh Mor, Glen Geusachan in the background  |
Me and Mark on top of Monadh Mor.. .after taking a short cut straight up between the crags on the North of the mountain.  |
Me and Mark on top of Beinn Bhrotain... taken using my new lightweight camera sitting on a tripod on a 10 second timer.  |
Me going mad with the self timer... looking North from summit of Beinn Bhrotain  |
Me with Loch nan Stuirteag (dip between Mondah Mor and Angels Peak) in the background. Mark spent most of the approach thinking about bagging Devils point, Cairn Toul and Angels Peak as well...  |
Mark on top of Monadh Mor, about to set off back. He had to borrow my lovely hat!  |
View from the descent across to Devils point, with Ben Macdui behind  |
Weekend in Glen Affric, staying at the youth hoste - long cycle in followed by midge hell... but did the 2 Munros behind the hostel in a 7 hour round trip. Lucy's first Munro!
Munros: An Socach (920m), Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan (1151m) (SMC Region 11 - Glen Affric and Kintail)
With: Robbie Murchison, Mary Murchison, Lucy Crockert
Lucy on the trip up to An Socach... these 2 are just behind the hostel - 2 hours to An Socach, about an hour and a half to Ceathreamhn, then an hour and a half down.  |
Mary and Lucy approaching summit of An Socach. Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan behind - nice easy ridge to the top without any difficulty  |
Lucy with her celebrations for her first Munro!  |
Me, Robbie, Mary on Lucy on summit of An Socach  |
Me on An Socach with mandatory sunglasses  |
Nice view of the ridge between An Socach and Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan - the ridge on the right (a carefree promenade!) goes along to Mullach nan Dheiragain which I am saving for a nice canoe trip up Lo  |
Mary and Lucy on the glitter path with all of the broken bits of mica - the final bit of route to Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan - in background is the ridge along to An Socach  |
Mary, Lucy and Robbie on summit of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhan, taken from the the ridge along to its West top.  |
Me, Mary, Robbie and Lucy at the cairn on top of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhan  |
Trip up the All a' Chonais... uphill cycle for 2 miles which meant a lot of pain and misery for all. Weather was OK, with cloud cover at around 900m with the odd break in between and rising throughout the day. Hung around on Sgurr a Chaorachains West ridge to take photos as the clouds lifted
Munros: Sgurr Choinnich (999m), Sgurr a' Chaorachain (1053m) (SMC Region 12 - Glen Cannich to Glen Carron)
With: Lucy Crockert, Mary Murchison, Robbie Murchison
Looking back down the path up to the Bealach Bhearnais  |
Lucy, Robbie and Mary at summit of Sgurr Choinnich. Ridge was a bit too narrow for some liking in places but a good path all the way.  |
Me, Mary, Robbie and Lucy on Sgurr Choinnich... summit ridge was a bit exciting for Mary who has no head for heights... so we are all shying away from the edge! Robbie and Lucy didnt want to go on to  |
Me on top of Sgurr a Chaorachain in the murk.  |
Clouds lifting enough to see the summit ridge of Sgurr Choinnich  |
Looking across the South ridge of Sgurr Choinnich to Bidean a Choire Sheasgaigh  |
Nice downhill cycle back to carpark at Craig... Beinn Liath Mhor, Sgurr Ruadh and Fuar Tholl in the distance  |
Visiting friends in Torridon... trip up Beinn Eighe. Weather rotten to start with, but cleared up just in time for the summit ridge... very windy but OK
Munros: Beinn Eighe (1010m), Spidean Coire nan Clach (972m) (SMC Region 13 - Coulin and Torridon)
With: Jennifer Beaumont, Richard?
Look up at Beinn Eighe at the start of the walk in - went round the back to Coire Mhic Fhearchair  |
Triple buttress of Beinn Eighe from Coire Mhic Fhearchair. Weather was about to turn bad then clear completely for the rest of the day. Split into 2 groups here.. Mary Murch, Mike and Susan returned  |
Richard, Jenny, Mike, Mary and Susan at the lochan...  |
And the weather cleared!! Perfect views across Flowerdale... only a bit windy on the ridge but we got on OK  |
View of the triple buttress from about 900m - on the way up to Ruadh Stac Mor  |
View from summit of Ruadh Stac Mor across to main ridge of Beinn Eighe  |
Looking along the ridge towards Spidean Coire nan Clach  |
Richard me and Jenny on top of Spidean Coire nan Clach...  |
From the summit of Spidean Coire nan Clach - looking along the ridge of Beinn Eighe - Sgurr Ban in the centre  |
Richard and Jenny at top of Beinn Eighe. Not sure what has happened to her hair!  |
View West along the ridge towards Coinneach Mhor, with Liathach behind  |
Sunlight streaming across the summits of Liathach  |
Next Year 2006