ron-t climbing
25-November 2016 ................ Above Loch Turret
The deep freeze goes on and on, and I have been trying to make the most of it, even though the cold is not the best.
Today I thought I would I head up to the un-named 529 metre summit which is really the last summit in the long ridge that runs southeast down from Ben Chonzie and past Carn Chòis.
I wasn`t sure how much further I would go - maybe I would head further up to Meall na séide, which is the next summit up the ridge.
So I parked in the car park, and walked up to the dam - and bam ! - I did not expect to get this kind of a view -
Further along the dam and away from the stoney beach in the foreground, and it gets a bit surreal -
I don`t think that even the word surreal can cope with this one. Unbelievable.
Once across the dam I started the climb up, it wasn`t bad going, but soon I was in the shadow of the hill I was climbing, and it got a lot colder.
A bit before the summit I got out into the sun again, and then I was there, with some super views.
Looking up to Carn Chòis -
Looking away up to the head of the loch, the reflections aren`t so dramatic now.
Looking across the loch to Choinneachain Hill nicely lit up by the sun -
Away round in the other direction, and a good view across to Ben Vorlich and Stùc a` Chroin -
I decided to carry on up to Meall na séide, the next summit up the ridge. It was a mistake - there is a sort of broad shallow ridge joining them, and looking across it looked okay - just heather.
But it turned out to be deep heather with deep crusty snow all through it, so I spend the next hour or so floundering across this stuff, constantly breaking through the crust, dropping down into holes, slipping and sliding - and it just went on and on.
Somewhere up level with Meall na séide, although I didn`t go across to it, I looked up at Carn Chòis - and wondered if I could get up it.
However I doubted I would have enough hours of daylight left, and I really just couldn`t cope with the conditions anymore, my hip joints were really struggling, so I turned and headed down through the corrie to the track that runs along the lochside.
Coming down through the corrie there was some quite deep snow, but it was soft and dry, so not a problem. Once on the path where many other boots had flattened the snow I fairly speeded up.
Lower down almost below the snow line there was loads of ice to negotiate, but otherwise it was okay, and eventually I reached the vehicle track above the loch - there was more ice on the track, but easy enough to avoid.
When I was up near Meall na séide I didn`t get any kind of a view that I hadn`t already seen, so from that point of view the long struggle across the ridge was a bit of a waste of effort, although I was out in the sunshine, and up a hill, so it wasn`t all bad.
As I was coming down through the corrie the sun was getting low, although I couldn`t see it - but it was still catching the top of Choinneachain Hill -
As I was now low down behind the hill I couldn`t see much of the sunset, so I don`t know how good it got, but I could see some of the colour - looking up to the head of the loch -
Now on the dam, looking back to Meall na séide and Carn Chòis, and just seeing a bit of the colour in the sky -
Back across the dam, and the last of the sunset.
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