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Sgorr Dearg & Sgorr Dhonuill and a randoms weekend

When a friend asked if we wanted to go up to Glencoe for the weekend we didn't need to be asked twice. The fact that I was working til 8pm did but a wee bit of a dampener on things but I soon escaped and before I knew it we were in The Real Food Cafe for an impromptu meet up with ptc* and Joyce as well as catching up with Sarah the owner of the RFC.

We weren't sure whether Zoe & Maria would still be in The Clachaig but figured it would be criminal not to go in for a pint before bedtime. Well they were still there and it looked like they had accumulated the first "randoms" of the weekend. The craic was very entertaining, when you could understand it. The guys were also planning to do some Munros the next day though 2 of them had never done any whilst the third was a Munro Completer - we were already wondering whether they would achieve their aim for the day!! Before last orders were called we retreated to our various accommodation with the plan to meet the next morning to find the Outdoorsmagic newbie Dave who was joining us for our assault on Sgorr Dearg & Sgorr Dhonuill.

It was looking like is was going to be a cracking day. We found Dave and he wasn't immediately scared of by us four wittering on. Steve and I had done these hills as a horseshoe a few years ago from Ballachulish but today we were heading up from South Ballachulish to the beallach. They have made massive improvements to the path through the forest which made our ascent a very pleasant experience.
Heading up the forest track
If you go down to the woods today.........
Heading up to the beallach

When we reached the beallach we had a discussion about which one to do first. Sgorr Dearg won the toss and off we trotted. The sun was still shining though the wind was starting to pick up. The view from the top was stunning as ever. So many hills just open up in front of you down Glencoe, over the Mamores towards Ben Nevis, out to Ardgour,  down Loch Leven and Loch Linnhie.
Looking over to Mamores & Glencoe from Sgorr Dearg
Zoe, Steve, Maria & Dave on summit of Sgorr Dearg - great clouds
Zoe with Ardgour in the background

Lunch was scoffed and back down we went. The final push to the summit of Sgorr Dhonuill is a lot narrower than that of Sgorr Dearg and rockier. Nice to get some hand on rock again :-)
Sgorr Dhonuill
Dave & Maria looking back over the Ballachulich Horseshoe

We were soon on top where we got in to conversation with our next two "randoms" of the weekend. We were discussing whether it was to be a return by our ascent route or to go off on a wander to the west. Never being one for liking going back the way we came we wandered off to the west with Joe and his dad Stephen joining us on our wee adventure.

Heading west off Sgorr Dhonuill
Steve looking for the route down ;-)
Our descent coire

It ended up with Steve and I heading down at the first beallach which had a cairn at it into a loose scree gully. It was inevitable that my rear would make contact with the ground on this section. To the others, who had gone a bit further along before heading into their own scree gully, it must have looked treacherous as they seemed relieved when we joined up before heading back to yet another nice path back to the car park.  For me it was just another entertaining descent ;-)

Last look back at Sgorr Dhonuill & our route down

The randomness of the weekend continued to entertain that evening back in the Clachaig with the band for the evening Rusty Nail adding its own special mix to the experience. Cracking time was had by all - isn't that what its all about?
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Comments

  1. Martin Rye7 September 2010 at 19:51

    They look cracking hills to do. Sgorr Dhonuill has a fine summit shape judging from your photo. They must be superb in winter conditions?

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  2. Elaina7 September 2010 at 20:26

    They are cracking hills Martin with routes up for all tastes. This was my second visit to them. First time we'd gone up from Ballachulish up the nice scrambley ridge. Who knows which way we'll go next time.

    These will defo be on the "To Do" list for winter :-D

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