Sunday, 15th February 2009

First off the bus, Rob Murray walked round Loch Fannich to the back of Fionn  Bheinn. The lack of snow made for a fairly easy ascent and Rob soon found himself enjoying the comforts of the Ledgowan Hotel where he met John Henderson, Tish Richford and Linda Smith (welcome back Linda!) who had been up the same hill that day.

“Tough day out!” commented John Henderson, as he enjoyed a cup of tea and scone sitting in front of the lovely log fire. This was the reward that both parties could look forward to as they made their way up Fionn Bheinn. The descent was leisurely as one would rather avoid sitting at the Hotel for too long and end up falling asleep, somebody’s snoring prohibiting.

Bob MacDonald completed a clockwise traverse of Corbett Sgurr na Feartaig (862m) from Craig. He made his way back through Achnashellach Forest hoping that a bridge would be there for him to finish the day at Achnashellach itself, however he soon found that in its absence, wading across was the only option. The first stream encountered was not too challenging, however the second one was too deep and he had to walk back to Craig via the lower path.

Moruisg, Sgurr nan Ceannaichean and Sgurr na Fertaig were fit duo Spencer Julian and Phil Coutts’s target of the day.  They set set off for Moruisg in claggy conditions but the weather cleared by the time they reached the top and they even enjoyed good views all the way to Sgurr nan Cephanaichean. They then made the decision to go for the Corbett and  crossed the river via a wire bridge before heading back to Craig.

The largest party consisting of Graeme Bartlett, Lydia Davies, Paul Geraghty, Andrew Mainwaring, Natacha Mihajlovic, Graeme Morrison and Alastair Wren set off from Achnashellach station to walk over the snowy ridges of Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgor Ruadh. After a 3km walk along the River Lair, they made their way up the steep south-eastern face of Beinn Liath Mhor. They went over the successive tops and summit in clear weather and then descended to the bealach in various ways: down scrambling, doing glissades and even walking. The steep ascent of Sgorr Ruadh was completed in the clag with lots of soft snow. They followed the main path back to the river and crossed it before returning to the coach.

An excellent and very sociable day despite low numbers (14 on the bus!)

Natacha Mihajlovic

For more photos from this meet, click here