Day 4 - Monday, a good weather alternative
I woke up at 4:30. It was light but the sun wasn’t up so I went back to sleep. At 6:30 I woke again and instantly knew that the sun was shining so got dressed quickly and rushed out with camera and tripod.
As it was sunny and early I thought I might give the Good Weather Alternative route a go. I got back into the tent for breakfast and to think it over, and feeling a bit chilly pulled the sleeping bag over my legs. I woke again at 8:15. I’ll never make a serious Challenger, here I was with the option of a very hard day ahead of me and I was having a lie in.
The lure of climbing up onto Ben Aden and then following the high rugged ridge south then east for the rest of the day was too appealing to resist – I was perfectly placed and this opportunity might not come my way again. I packed up and then followed a path the few hundred metres up to the stream bifurcation and then turned right up Ben Aden’s rugged NE ridge. I was really on my own now. In places I found myself walking up great slabs of rock, seemingly as steep as the roof of a house, in other places a little scrambling was needed, everywhere it was very steep.
I got to the top at 12:20 - about three hours from Lochan nam Breac. The peak is superbly positioned, looking out into Knoydart in the west and Sgurr na Ciche to the south.
I had a bite to eat and then set off along the ridge for Meal a Choire Duibh. Back at home I’d blithely drawn my route over this minor peak, but the reality on the ground was that every metre of ascent was extremely hard work, so I skirted under the peak round the head of the corrie. I had known beforehand that the terrain in this whole area was rugged, but I was surprised at just how rugged. Pleasantly surprised I might add. I’m quite at home on rugged terrain, but the sheer hard work of negotiating this giant obstacle course made for slow progress.
Regaining the ridge I was glad to have the excuse of stopping to cook a lunch. I don’t normally cook a lunch, but I both needed to reduce weight carried and increase calories consumed, and let’s face it, I really needed a good rest.
I found the ascent of Sgurr na Ciche’s NE ridge very hard, but when I came across an old wall and the remains of a fence I knew that somebody long ago had had it even harder. I love these old relics that suddenly spring up out of the wilderness. Who built it? Did they make their way up here every day? Where did they live and what sort of happiness and sorrow did they have?
Thirty years ago I’d sailed a small dinghy across Loch Morar, climbed the hills on the south shore and away to the northeast seen a mountain such as a child might draw, and determined to climb it one day. Sgurr na Ciche looks like a proper mountain and it certainly feels like one, I’m only sorry it took me so long to get there. Again, a superb position, looking down Loch Nevis this time. I arrived at the top at 3:30 - six hours to do four miles (from the loch). 0.75mph although I did have 30 minutes for lunch.
Realising that I still had a long way to go over more rough ground I set off down the path to the SE. Just before reaching the bealach before Garbh Chioch Mhor I met a couple of people Munro bagging. We chatted a while and then a bit further I met a lone walker. These were the only people I was to see that day, and tomorrow I would see nobody. So much for the social side of the Challenge.
The 160m (520’) climb up to Garbh Chioch Mhor was steep and required hands here and there. It was then a good ridge walk over Garbh Chioch Beag. I was getting tired now and at the bealach after Garbh Chioch Beag it was a bit of a blow to see just how big the drop and subsequent climb to Sgurr nan Coireachan was (217m 710’).
After Sgurr nan Coireachan there was another slight drop and then a pull up to An Eag. In the corrie far below was an orange tent with three people. The sight of their camp made me think how nice it would be to stop and let weary muscles rest, but it was only a passing thought; it was one of those hot, sunny, timeless evenings where you forget about time and just walk and walk into the dusk. At the top of An Eag the view down Glen Kingie to the east suddenly opened up – all gentle curves and hazy distance like a watercolour painting. I turned round and the Chiochs, Sgurr na Ciche and Ben Aden looked more like a Picasso – an angular world of disjointed chaos. Wonderful.
Beyond An Eag the ridge dropped to yet another col and I knew that this was as far as I was going. A perfect camp spot beside a small lochan appeared just where it was needed at 8pm, a superb spot at 660m (2150’) elevation. Wonderful views back into Knoydart and down Glen Kingie.
For dinner I had a Mountain House Chicken Korma for two people – 900cal, 40g protein. I wrote up my notes then watched the sun go down at 9:30. Bed at 9:45 feeling very pleased with life.
Day 05 Intro