Beinn an Dothaidh, Bridge of Orchy for some

Deciding what hill to do in winter involves a number of factors including being able to get to the start of the route. The Munros at Bridge of Orchy are perfectly placed being right on the A82. So for the second outing of this winter weekend Beinn Dorain was the target for today's Craggy crew of Steve, Kathryn, Niamh, Malcolm, Roddy with special guest appearance from Micky and Cluanie.

This route is normally tackled as 2 Munros but with deep snow anticipated we knew only one was on the cards for being ticked off today. It was a bit of a contrast to the last outing we had on these hills when we had a mini heatwave back in June 2016!!!!!

The hill turned out to be a lot busier than we'd expected The good weather had brought out loads of folk as well as Oban Mountain Rescue Team doing a training session. Niamh said the ascent looked like a scene in Everest the way the people were snaking up the hill. It was well and truly frozen underfoot and when we hit the snow progress was slow due to that ever sinking feeling.

We eventually reached the beallach and decided that Beinn an Dothaidh was probably a better option as less craggy than Dorain so off we trotted in the ever deepening snow. We eventually got to the first top of this 3 top Munro where we enjoyed lunch and the amazing views, including Ben Nevis cloud free with it's winter topping.

I decided to miss the extra exertion of doing the Munro while Kathryn, Niamh, Malcom, Micky and Cluanie went for it. They soon caught us up on the descent to the beallach. The first couple of sections from the beallch are steep seeing me resort to the deployment of the ar$e crampon in a couple of sections, while Niamh seemed to be skipping down. Oh to be young!! It was a long drag back but the thought of refuelling in The Real Food Cafe certainly kept me going.

Well done Niamh on Munro 25 and we look forward to going back with Niamh and Malcom when you're ticking off Beinn Dorain.

Route details available on Walk Highlands

One extreme to another

All smiles at the start

Just like Everest

Getting steep going towards the beallach

Decisions, decisions........ Beinn an Dothiadh it is

The view from our lunch spot

The hardy summiting Beinn an Dothiadh

Heading down

Kathryn and Steve testing their winter kit

Comments

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