Strathfarrar and Mullardoch Munros

Mike and Roger are friends from Oxford that I know for roughly 20 years. And after I had finished my round of the Munros in 2005, Mike started his round in earnest. Since then we have met for Munro trips and since I did not want my move to Munich to get in the way of Scottish mountaineering, I booked the EasyJet night flight on the 3.5.2018 and arrived in Edinburgh just before midnight. Two sugarfree Red Bulls and 4 hours later, I arrived with my hired red Fiat 500 in the Westward B&B in Cannich and followed Mike's signs to the bedroom. We got up at 8 am, ate breakfast and at around 10 am we arrived at our starting point in Glen Strathfarrar (the glen with the barrier guarded by that sometimes friendly lady from Yorkshire, called Margaret). The skies were heavy...

 ... and it drizzled whilst Mike, Roger and I exchanged stories and made our way up to the ridge. However, one team descended and our way was blocked by a cornice. I kicked a step ladder and also hacked steps through the cornice to allow our team to make it to the ridge. Here are Roger and Mike going for it...

It was a tough, windy and rainy Scottish day on the hills but I loved battling the wind as there is little wind in Munich. The Strathfarrar Munros are Sgurr na Fearstaig, Creag Ghorm a'Bealaich, Carn nan Gobhar (read by us as "go bar") and Sgur na Ruaidhe.    

Here is the Strava track of our round. 

We realised that we were in the only glen in Scotland with a gate and that the gate would be closed at 19 h by the Yorkshire lady. So we rushed back to our cars. After some dynamic Glen driving I reached the gate at 18.57 h and Roger and Mike at 18.59 h (which was uncharacteristic for an Epic prone team). Margaret was not amused. Dinner and Ale in the Struy Inn and then I fell asleep on my bed.

For the Saturday we had planned the Munros North of Loch Mullardoch. During my round of the Munros, I had done all the Mullardoch Munros in two days, with a glorious camp and a cloud inversion sunrise during a warm April weekend. Here is Roger walking up to the dam...

 ... and here we approach Mike's great idea which is Angus' speedboat. Angus' speedboad would help us to avoid a long walk in on a poor, boggy path. 

 Here is Angus...

 ... and here is Mike. Mike probably expected some pleasure boat trip but Angus meant business, it was windy and the combination was a white-knuckle ride down Loch Mollardoch. Every wave rammed our spine into our skull and so it felt more like the Streif in Kitzbühel than a cruise on lake Chiemsee. We exited near the end of the loch...

 ... and started to ascend on the pathless ground with some blue skies. A long way up to An Socach, our first Munro,...

 ... from the shores of Loch Mullardoch...

 ... past a stream of water...

 ... and the carcass of a red deer...

 ... up some shorter steps...

 ... through a wild country with endless peat hags...

 ... higher and higher...

 ... and so on...

 ... to reach the summit of An Socach. Here is Roger...

 ... and here is Mike.

 We then followed the ridge to the East...

... for a long time...

 ... up to above 1100 m...

 ... to the second Munro of Creagan Toll an Lochain.

 From there a 300 m descent and re-ascent Sgurr na Lapaich. I remember the hard slog up from the bealach from my first round of these Munros. I remember being shattered.  At the summit we met a Scottish team that went our way and a Mancunian team that planned to do a two day trip around the loch. Their bags seemed very heavy and they were late in the day.  

 After that a descent with a great view to the East face of this mountain followed by a grassy descent into the valley. 

Here is the Strava track of our round including Angus' pleasure cruise.

 On the Sunday morning, I drove back to Edinburgh and decided to take some photos of the great Scottish bridges. I like Scotland as a country that builds bridges rather than walls. Here is the iconic Forth Bridge, the oldest of the three...

... and here is Scotlands new bridge, the Queensferry crossing. 

Again, a hard but great weekend in the Scottish hills. Still plenty to do as Mike still needs to bag over 100 Munros. 

HW

Winnebacher Weisskogel (3182 m), the last ski tour of the season?

This winter it snowed a lot in the Alps and so spring ski tour conditions are still good if you go high. Arno suggested the "Winnebacher Weisskogel" (3182 m) from Luesens as an objective. The tour is described here: 

http://www.bergsteigen.com/skitour/tirol/stubaier-alpen/winnebacher-weisskogel-von-luesens

This is to the SouthWest of Innsbruck and already starts at 1600 m. Here is Arno starting with full snow cover even though it is already mid April... 

 ... and here is the first steeper bit that leads to a long glen with several branches. 

 From the higher glen we ascended westwards to the Westfalenhaus, which was already open.

 From roughly 2500 m Arno and I felt the altitude. Here I am near the summit. It looks easy but it was turned into a bowl with steep sides and I had to add my harscheisen's to avoid sliding down the hill. 

 Just before the summit the sun came out and we saw many peaks of the Stubaier Alps...

 ... and beyond.

 Here Arno starts to return to the ski depot. 

 The climbing temperatures and the sun softened the snow so that the descent was mostly easy skiing on "firn" rather than hard neve.

 Easy navigation...

 ... and good vistas...

 ... on the way to the Westfalenhaus where we had a "Cheese Knoedelsoup"...

... and a Weissbier sans alcohol. From there a final descent to the lower glen and start of the route. Surely this is the last act in a winter with many days on skis although most of the time these were on Nordic skis. 

HW

Gilfert in the sunshine

Snow is the magic ingredient of winter that adds light and adventure to an otherwise grey winter's day. This is why I love Scottish winter climbing. In the Eastern Alps, the mountains are less accessible than in Scotland and are often covered by large amounts of snow so that skiing is much more practical than winter climbing. Together with Ana and Abdalla I did Nordic skiing during the last three wekeends but this Sunday Arno had proposed to skitour up Gilfert (2506 m), a mountain South of the Inn valley. The start in Innerst is 90 min away from Munich and the ascent is 1200 altimetres. The first part of the route is through a forest. Overnight snow gave way to sunshine by the time we started. Here is Arno in the forest... 

 ... and here we have a first glimpse of Gilfert...

 ... and here an even better view.

 Many skitourers left a good track...

 ... and after 2 h 30 min we approached the summit...

 ... after these skiers. 

 Here is Arno on the last bit...

 ... and here he is at the top with a view over the Inn valley.

 It was sunny but temperatures were far below zero. We took the skins off our skis and descended through beautiful, fluffy powder above a harder layer. Here is Arno styling it...

 ... and here are those special Alpine views...

 ... that explain why so many folk want to live in Munich. 

 We had our own powder...

 ... and etched both our own wiggly lines into it. 

 Here the last bit before reaching forest tracks to the bottom. 

At the bottom a Jausenstation (restaurant) in the sunshine with beer and a divine Knoedelsoup. A perfect day?

HW

3... 2... 1... Liftoff! First skitour up the Schafreuter

This year, winter has started early with lots of snow in the Alps. Because of that  Arno and I decided to go ski touring this Sunday and Arno (he has worked, climbed and ski-toured in Munich before) selected a 1200 m ascent up the Schafreuter, a mountain South of Bad Toelz, near the Austrian border. Here is a description: 

https://www.bergfex.at/sommer/tirol/touren/skitour/34142,auf-den-schafreuter/

Near Hinterriss, our starting point, the roads were partially covered by snow and from the start at 850 m of altitude there was tons of snow. Here is Arno early during the ascent...

... and here he follows the forest track.

After that a wider opening in the forest. The Schafreuter is a popular tour so we did not have to break trail which would have been difficult as the snow was at least knee deep. 

We met another team and were glad when they led the way on the final ridge that led to the summit. Whiteout conditions. We stopped just before the summit. 

 It was Scottish (i.e. windy, white out, icy), so we removed the skins from the skis quickly. After a few minutes of whiteout skiing we reached the right line and were gliding through fluffy prime powder. Here is Arno ... 

 ... and here he is again styling his way down the hill. 

 I was a bit apprehensive about struggling in the powder, falling and losing my skis but everything went well and soon we reached the easy-to-ski (it was quite narrow though) forest track... 

 ... all the way back to the car. We have liftoff!

HW

The Seam, finally & President's Gully

This year Simon Richardson is the president of the Scottish Mountaineering Club and so I finally had to try really hard make the annual dinner. It all fitted well because on the Thursday before we had a meeting of the Physiological Society in memory of one of my mentors. On Wednesday the 30th I arrived in London with crampons and ice axes and after the meeting on the 30th, I went for a run through grey London early on Friday before flying to Inverness... 

 In Inverness, Robbie and Katie picked me up, we dined together (thanks!) and at 6.30 h Roger Webb picked me up. It seemed too warm and I had the feeling that all of this would turn into a gear carrying walk. Here is Roger in front but it got colder and colder on our way into Corrie an Sneachda.

 In the Corrie we were heading to the Fiacill buttress as Roger wanted to try a route that did not want him to try it. It is the Seam IV,5 (the "what happened" is a long story that is for Roger to tell). It also put some resistance up this time: a strong gust blew Roger's crampons down the corrie, I had some Salomon fast & light boots and crampons that came off three times before I realised what the problem was. Also, I only took one pair of gloves that was by now soaking wet and had turned into a hot ache generator. However, we are both stubborn and also the buttress seemed surprisingly white when the mist lifted for a moment. 

 The start was in proper winter condition when Roger started climbing...

 ... and the crux pitch seemed in perfect condition. 

 The climbing is way below Rogers limit so Roger got his teeth into it...

 ... and styled his way to the top. Job done. 

 My hotaches stopped, the crampons stayed on and I followed. Roger happy because the Seam had finally given up and me happy because I did not bring all that heavy gear for nothing. 

I really enjoyed the dinner afterwards with legends that included Jimmy Marshall and Greg Strange which I name because he made the first winter ascent of my favourite, the Cumming Crofton. Simon then announced that the president's walk would not be a walk around the local duck pond but an attempt to mass ascend an unrecorded gully line. The SMCers clapped their hands because Simond had just made the "M" in "SMC" a wee bit larger. He named Roger and me as the advance party.

On Sunday the advance party arrived last, geared up last and followed the main group. But mountaineers are problem solvers and so Simon got everyone organised and to the bottom of the cliff, onto a rope and eventually, Roger appeared first out of the gully. 

 It seems utopic to plan something like this for early December but the stars aligned and it was two pitches of neve as the slush had re-frozen overnight. 

 Watch out for the team photo which will appear elsewhere. Simon then led the way to the hard-to-find El Alamein bothy. It is just to the right of the climbers in red. 

 Here are the president's men returning...

 ... and here we are above Loch Morlich. 

A great trip. Thanks to everyone for picking me up, driving me around, feeding me, giving me a place to stay and for taking me out into the hills and for the dinner. Do I miss Scotland? I would if I lived in a big city away from the mountains and the sea. 

HW