Monday, June 04, 2007

Arrochar Alps Sun 3rd June

Missed the long Sunday runs for the past couple of weeks with a bit of a temperature. Cleared up last week however the weather didn't so it was back to Arrochar to try out the stamina and gauge if fit enough for Glen Rosa on the 16th and the Arrochar Alps on the 30th with a few others planned as well.

Low cloud and rain but not much wind & set off through an empty Glen Loin before 8. No fixed plan but once at Corriegrogan decided to try a re-run of the Van, Ime & Narnain if feeling ok. Went up Vane via the tourist path and saw my first Ptarmigan, a speckly grouse with white wings, near the top. Shame there was too much cloud and rain for pictures.

No stopping at the top but managed to pick a good line off for a quick descent in poor visibility. Also lucky as the cloud lifted above 2000' long enough to plan the route to Glas Bheallach between Ben Ime and Ben Chorranach. The plod up to Glas B was a bit wet underfoot. Zig zagged up the steep slope from Glas B up Ben Ime, almost at the top before I found a path.

Straight over the top and down the path towards Bealach a Maim. Lost the path in the clouds as usual and wary of the crags into Glen Loin overcompensate, eventually slow the pace on unfamiliar steeper ground, the only features visible are foaming streams on the other side of the Glen, worked out I was looking at the back of the Cobbler and contour back towards the path before losing too much height.

Cross a soggy Bealach a Maim and back up into the clouds and through the boulder fields to the top of Narnain. Took a couple of pics for the memory before the descent, a tricky 3000' in 2 miles back to Succouth through crags, rocks, swamps and streams with the dreaded concrete blocks to finish. 13 miles and 6500 feet in 4 hrs 40.

No comments: