Hill: Meall a' Bhainne
Date: Friday 16th February 2018
Company: Just myself
Distance: 6.4km, Ascent: 550m
Time: 3Hrs 15Mins
On Thursday evening I parked-up for the evening in Lossiemouth
hoping to see some aurora as a result of a recent coronal mass ejection.
Despite looking out the van window and checking AuroraWatch forecast
throughout the evening and night it wasn't to be.
On Friday morning,
the forecast for the east looked best so I am still wondering why I decided
to head west .
En-route to Fort William I left the good weather behind and was soon
travelling in rain. The weather was so poor I really was not inspired to get
out of the van, so I decided to just park up near the end of Loch Eil and
see if I could spot any wildlife. My wildlife spotting was every bit as
successful as my aurora spotting had been a number of hours previous. I sat
in the van looking out the window feeling fairly p'd off with the weather.
The rain eventually stopped and it brightened-up a little so I got
suited and booted and drove to nearby Callop for an ascent of my first new
Marilyn of the year, Meall a' Bhainne.
Despite Meall a' Bhainne being less than 2000ft in height, it looked to
have a considerable volume of snow. Even if the weather had been less
inclement I had already decided I would be staying fairly low owing to the
avalanche forecasts being at the highest level.
From the car park, I
made my way towards Callop and then followed a track leading to a very small
dam across a burn. I crossed the dam and then began progressing up
seriously-wet hillside. Within a matter of minutes I had water inside my
boots.
Meall a' Bhainne and Meall na h-Airigh:
Meall a' Bhainne and Meall na h-Airigh:
Before long I reached the snowline and was soon wading through
surprisingly deep snow.
Above the snowline on Meall a' Bhainne:
As I made my way uphill, the ground got steeper and steeper to the point
I decided to get out my ice axe as a slip would have resulted in a long
slide/fall. The snow was still so soft and wet crampons were not necessary.
Steep, snowy ascent:
During my ascent I could see what I initially thought was avalanche
debris but on getting closer I could see it was simply numerous snowballs
that had accumulated while being blown down the hill.
Snowballs:
The snow ended up quite deep due to drifts with me having to wade
through knee-deep stuff at a height of around 450m.
Deep snow:
Minimal views looking back towards Loch Eil:
It was a bit of a relief to get onto less steep ground and head towards
the summit. By now it was again raining fairly heavily.
Looking towards the summit of Meall a' Bhainne:
I was glad to see the summit cairn come into view and know that I was
almost there.
Approaching the summit of Meall a' Bhainne:
On reaching the summit I touched the cairn, took a photo and then headed
straight back following my trail of footsteps in the snow.
At the summit of Meall a' Bhainne:
The hills around Glenfinnan are all rocky in nature and this one is
little different. I recalled ascending its Corbett neighbours in the
run up to completing the Corbetts in 2011.
The descent was certainly
much easier than the ascent as I made use of my inbound steps.
Descent:
Looking back during descent:
On setting off I had expected this small hill to take around 2hrs up and
back. Thanks to the snow, it took around 3hrs 15mins.
This hill is
likely a pretty-good viewpoint in good weather but last Friday it was not
inspiring.
I am now starting to look forward to Spring and
considerable melting taking place.