18th-20th November
A cold, snowy weekend with some sun saw 11 DMCers drive up to Kintail for a weekend of fun.
Amy has written about what she got on to on both days of the meet on her blog here and here .
Daniella has submitted a report of her two days.
Saturday, Kintail loop on MTB
My Saturday started at 6:00 am from Dundee. Inspired by Paul’s report on the DMC site
I
decided to give the loop around Beinn Fhada a try. Mine was only half
of the route the guys did back in March. I was hoping to be able to
complete it in 7 hours and get back not too long after sunset.
Their
route description was accurate and helpful (thank you!). Easy ride up
to Glen Licht hut on forest road, then steep and rocky single track
uphill past gloomy waterfalls. I pushed/carried my bike most of the
ascent. On the plateau the path was covered in snow. Finally a bit of
descent so I could again get on the bike and have some fun. I reached
Camban bothy at 2 pm. At that point it was already getting foggy and it
started to snow. Short of time and short of good weather I remembered
Niall’s advice, so I gave the second ascent up Gleann Gniomhaidh a miss
and instead, turned around. After a few minutes I met a group of hikers.
Miguel, Montse and Nacho are MTBers from Madrid who were on foot that
day. We chatted about routes and they kindly offered to help me push the
bike back up to the top. From there, slightly mad downhill track, on
wet, frozen rock. Thanks go to Lena for a much needed hot tea when I
arrived cold and tired back at the hut. Also thanks to Jim and Roos for
yummy curry and pear pannacotta.
Sunday, Forcan Ridge, grade II, solo O/S
Forcan
Ridge is listed in Walkhighlands, so I planned to have an easy day on
Sunday walking and enjoying the snow. It turned out to be the hairy-est
walk I’ve ever done! Later on I found out that UKC too lists Forcan
Ridge. In winter it is a grade II winter climb 🙂
http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/c.php?i=146107
Very
proud to say that I solo-ed the ridge and topped out with just one
walking axe. The weather really helped, I had bright sunshine the entire
day. I did get benighted later on though (lovely sunset from Sgurr na
Sgine!). I scrambled down in torchlight and got back safe to the car at 7
pm.
On Monday at work I got a call from a police officer in
Kintail. She wanted to make sure I was alright, because someone reported
that my car was at the trail head after dark. The police officer said
that in the future, they’d like us to leave a note in the car saying
where we go and when we plan to get back.
