9th February 2012 - Ballachulish Horseshoe

The slog. Yucky ground, wet boots!

At the top of one of the steps

Anna with her pose on

The cloud breaking, peaks in the distance

Sgurr Dhonuill appearing through the clag

Anna with Sgurr Dhonuill in the background

The cloud drops again from the summit of Sgurr Dhonuill

As we descend, the cloud climbs back up again

Anna's old housemate Aoife was up visiting us for the weekend, and was keen to get out to make the most of what was left of the snow. Anna was keen to take her up something more than just a snow plod, and I have had my eye on the Ballachulish Horseshoe for years. Although not technical, it offers some interest and is definately a good starting route for a beginner. We knew it was going to be a long day, but that didn't stop us having a more than leisurely start. The initial slopes were a slog until we reached the snow line, but we were getting hints that the over bearing cloud cover was beginning to break up a bit, with good vews over to Loch Leven and the Pap of Glencoe beginning to show. On reaching the 'difficulties' Anna and I took turns at the front, and the slippy ice on the steps were the only real issue. We made good progress up the NE ridge, and onto the first summit of the day, Sgorr Dhearg. Here we were treated to what would turn out to be stunning cloud and weather conditions. The cloud slowly dropped, revealing peaks across Glencoe and Glen Etive and further afield, it was stunning. However, we had to press on and after a long plod we found ourselves dealing with the tricky, slippy and wet final step onto the summit of Sgurr Dhonuill, where we were again treated to some excellent views, although this didn't extend very far north so the Ben was hidden.

From the summit we started what we hoped would be an easy descent ended up being horrible, boggy, uneven ground. We plodded on until eventually, with the threat of darkness fast approaching, we hit a reasonable looking gully to descend and made our way through forestry to begin the trudge along the forestry track to Ballachulish and the car. A superb day and a great effort from Aoife on her first proper winter day!