Munros + Corbetts - 2009
02 August 2009 ........... Ben Tee
Ben Tee is a corbett a bit to the west of Laggan Locks at the head of Loch Lochy, half way up the Great Glen. It is not a particularily distinctive hill, rather hidden away, and cut off from its two munro neighbours by quite a deep and steep sided valley.
The only reasonable way to get to it is from the end of the public road at Kilfinnan - NN 277 958.
Looking at the map, you see a stiff climb for a couple of hundred metres, then a couple of kilometres across a sort of plateau, then a longer climb up to the summit. All very straightforward.
However it wasn`t all that straightforward - for a start - those first couple of hundred metres were a nightmare - fighting my way up through dense bracken that was over my head on places, and it was soaking wet. There is a path - well, sometimes there is a path, so your feet are happy, the rest of you is fighting the bracken.
And just for an extra challenge - sometimes the path just doesn`t exist - how do paths manage to just dissappear every now and then, and sometimes the path doesn`t know whether it is a river or path. By the time I got up to the flatter plateau area, my boots were absolutely running with water, and I squelched my way all the way up the rest of the mountain.
Once you get up to the flatter plateau area, you get the first view of Ben Tee - up till then it is hidden from view. Here it is, looking up at it from the edge of the plateau.
Now you have it in view, it should be a straightforward walk and climb up to the summit - but no - Ben Tee has another little trick up its sleeve - it is one of these soul destroying hills that the summit is a series of bumps - and you never see the next bump until you are almost at the top of the bump you are on.
The bumps just seem to go on and on. But eventually you get there.
On a good day, you would get a very good view from Ben Tee - it is sitting somewhat on its own above most of the country around it. Sadly, it wasn`t a good day.
The weather forecast had promised rain in the morning, clouds clearing away by around lunch time. But it wasn`t to be - it was much later before the clouds cleared. All the way up, the two munros next door had their tops in cloud, they cleared a wee while after I got to the top. I never saw Creag Meagaidh all day. The four corbetts across Loch Lochy were in cloud.
You should get a very good view westwards from the top of Ben Tee, and as the weather was clearing from the west, it was a bit better in that direction. The two munros to the south of Loch Quoich were clear, but Sgurr na Ciche and all its neighbours were in cloud, as were some of the peaks on Knoydart. I could just see what I think was part of the hills on Rhum round the north side of Meall a Choire Ghlais. There was just too much cloud around for me to work out exactly what was what.
One of things I noticed from the top was that there is a superb ridge walk from the top of Sron a Choire Ghairbh down to Kilfinnan - here`s the upper part of it, from the summit of Sron a Choire Ghairbh on the right, and the ridge to Kilfinnan heading of to the left. You can just see the other munro Meall na Teanga peaking over the top of the ridge.
It would be a fine horseshoe to do both Ben Tee and Sron a Choire Ghairbh, but the big drop between Ben Tee and Meall a Choire Ghlais would be a bit of a struggle.
All in all it was an okay day - not the best, not the worst. Pity about the weather, though it didn`t actually ever rain on me, and I was never in cloud. By the time I got back down, it was quite good. I took the picture of Ben Tee on the way down, which is why it looks a bit brighter.
website design by ron-t
website hosting by freevirtualservers.com
© 2024 Ron Turner
