This was truly an alpine day in Scotland!
The Five Sisters of Kintail dominate the norther side of Glen Shiel. A long majestic ridge line with some quite stunning and imposing summits. The route takes in 3 Munros and 2 high peaks.
The siren that is my alarm brutishly dragged us from our slumber at a grueling 5am. Truly an alpine start to the day.
After a bit of faffing Sarah and I met with Sue and Lee who were joining us for the expedition. It was slightly amusing to introduce Lee to Sue in the pitch black when neither could see the other. After some too-ing and fro-ing we set off up Bealach an Lapain. This was still a brutal slog (this was the same start point as Brothers Ridge) however it was wonderful to reach the Bealach and know that the worst was over.
The Five Sisters of Kintail dominate the norther side of Glen Shiel. A long majestic ridge line with some quite stunning and imposing summits. The route takes in 3 Munros and 2 high peaks.
The siren that is my alarm brutishly dragged us from our slumber at a grueling 5am. Truly an alpine start to the day.
After a bit of faffing Sarah and I met with Sue and Lee who were joining us for the expedition. It was slightly amusing to introduce Lee to Sue in the pitch black when neither could see the other. After some too-ing and fro-ing we set off up Bealach an Lapain. This was still a brutal slog (this was the same start point as Brothers Ridge) however it was wonderful to reach the Bealach and know that the worst was over.
The view up the Sisters Ridge from the Bealach.
We set off with a gusto that was soon dampened by the long slog up to the first of the sisters, Sgùrr nan Spainteach 990m (not even a munro). From here we desended a short way before popping up to the summit of our first munro of the day (Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe 1027m) there was a massive cairn here that some poor sod had had to build. Well played to them!
Me, Sue and Lee all consulting our maps.
After a long plod of interesting ups and downs we reached the second Munro of the day (Sgùrr na Carnach, 1002m). The summit of this mountain is a perfectly rounded hill. Seriously look it up on a map, see concentric circles! The sun gleamed through the cloud to light up the top as we made our way to the top.
Sarah exhausted but happy to be on the summit of Munro number 2!
After this it was a beasting down to another bealach before an interesting assent of Sgùrr Fhuaran (1067m) our final Munro of the day. We quickly descended before starting up our last major peak of the day Sgùrr nan Saighead (929m). Just mindless plodding to get up but an interesting nav challenge to get off the summit while avoiding treacherous cliff faces. (Ok not really as bad as it sounds, just had to head in the wrong direction for a bit before naving back to the corrie rim).
Coming off the last Munro of the day, just 2 summits left!
We finaly popped up to the top of Beinn Bhuidhe. At this point we had completed the Five Sisters. As it was getting late we started to descend back towards Glen Shiel, the cars, and the pub. It was dark by the time we got back to the road. We were tired, extremely tired and Sarah had wet feet, but it had been worth it. We had completed a traverse of a classic ridge line in perfect winter conditions (ironically for it to be a quality winter mountain day clag and wind are required). Back in the pub we made plans for the coming days.