Carn Gluasaid..or Claire meets winter conditions at last..

it certainly wasn't winter yesterday - pouring rain as we got about 1/3 of the way up Creag nan Damh (the westernmost end of the South Glen Shiel ridge) before deciding we had better things to do.

Today the forecast actually gave hope we might be able to get up a hill.....as long as we made a reasonably early start - and were prepared to get snowed on a little in the afternoon.  So, we decided to look at Carn Gluasaid; the south end of the Cluanie Horseshoe of peaks. It could be added to lots of other peaks if the weather allowed - or we could use the stalkers path which goes to within 300m of the summit as a quick descent if needed (it was!!).

The parking spot was farther along the road than we had imagined; however just as we got there a group of walkers were departing  - possibly people on a winter skills course? The way up the mountain even has a signpost at the start - ironic as the old military road is pretty well obvious!!

The stalkers path leaves the military road after about 1/2 km and wends its way uphill. The path is very well graded and well made (a pleasant contrast to the one we had sploshed up yesterday as well!). Higher up it makes its way through some outcrops before straightening up and climbing onto the plateau. We were grateful for the steps of the other party in front as there were a couple of times where locating the path in the snow was not easy - YEAH WE HAD SOME SNOW UNDERFOOT!  In fact conditions got a little testing at the summit of the peak - with the wind coming in and snow being blown across us (and into our faces on the descent). Poor Claire got an introduction in what winter mountaineering in Scotland usually entails!!! She performed really well on the descent - which was done on a mix of compass bearing and following the path for the first few hundred metres until visibility improved, when we could follow the path down. The path was a mix of slippy rocks and lovely easy going; quite a conundrum as crampons would have been good in parts and useless in other parts - we elected not to and probably made the right decision.

No photo's unfortunately; camera is drying out as we speak.....