Conival & Ben More Assynt. 16th January 2013

It felt good to heading north after such a prolonged absence from the Highlands of Scotland. The injury I sustained to my upper right thigh shortly after my last blog post whilst climbing with a friend in the Northern Corries has now almost fully healed. Although hill walking is still causing me a little discomfort, it is tolerable for as long as I take my time and avoid taking large steps up. I am hoping in the next few weeks to return to full fitness and to be able to start climbing again very soon. Putting injury to one side it felt good to arrive at Inchnadamph  (NC251216) late at night with the stars out in full view for all to see.

Conival from Ben More Assynt. 16/01/2013  (Photo: A J Thorley)

We spent the previous night camped in the car park and enjoyed our evening meal of spaghetti bolognese watching the shooting stars wrapped up warm in our down jackets at one of the picnic benches in the car park area. Nature certainly knows how to impress and the winter night skies of Scotland are truely  magnificent. When we woke early we readied ourselves at the same bench we sat at the previous night, the sky was still clear and the stars were just starting to fade as the morning sun rose. With hot brews at hand we gradually warmed up whilst sorting out kit for the days walk.

Breabag from Ben More Assynt. 16/01/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Once we had sorted everything and finished our brews we started our walk into Conival under the light of our head torches. I do not know why but there is something special about walking in the darkness with only your head torch to see by, maybe it is the feeling of solitude I get that makes it so pleasant? We wandered slowly from the car park (NC251216) along the road for a short distance before turning off right onto a 4x4 track (NC251218), which in places was covered in thick solid ice. It rises steadily and shortly after crossing the bridge (NC259219) it fades a way into a foot path (NC275209) and it was at this point that we stopped for a little while to take layers off and put the head torches away as day light was now upon us.

Looking south east from the summit of Ben More Assynt. 16/01/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Continuing along the path we stopped every now and then to watch the huge herds of deer that must have come down low in search of food in this vast frozen wilderness. Eventually the path steepened (NC290205) in a north easterly direction as it ran along side Allt a Choinne Mhill. After a good steady uphill pull we arrived at a leveling (NC298210) where we rested for a little while and watched the deer down below us. Once rested we continued on our way in a south easterly direction along the broad ridge of Conival to the summit cairn (NC303199). Here we donned our jackets, rested, whilst watching the ever changing views as we enjoyed our lunch and drank much needed fluids.

Ben More Assynt from Conival. 16/01/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

The connecting ridge from Conival to Ben More Assynt is rocky, steep and awkward in places in summer conditions, but today it was covered in deep snow making progress towards Ben More Assynt even more difficult than normal. Walking in a easterly direction at times seemed torturous as progress was slow and we both kept falling into the gaps in between the rocks as we could not see them due to the deep snow. Once we reached the lowest point of the connecting ridge the conditions underfoot eased and we made made steady progress until we reached the summit of Ben More Assynt (NC318201). As we arrived the weather changed and were treated to splendid views in all directions which we enjoyed for some time.

Ben Klibreck from Ben More Assynt. 16/01/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Our original intentions were to continue onto the next unnamed top (NC324193) and then descend to Dubh Loch Mor (NC317189). Then walk back to Inchnadamph from there, but in the end we decided to stay on the high ground and retraced our steps back to Conival. The logic being we had already exposed the gaps in the rocks so hopefully we would be able to avoid falling into them again. We would hopefully also be able to watch the sunset from Conival before we descended, but this was not to happen for as we returned to Conival the cloud rolled in and it started to snow gently. In the end we started our descent from Conival back to the leveling we stopped at on the way up and rested.

Me at the summit of Ben More Assynt with Breabag in the background. 16/01/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Putting our head torches back on we started to descend back down the way we had walked up earlier in the day. We had actually managed to descend all awkward ground and had picked up the foot path on level ground when disaster struck! Vicks slipped on the ice and landed awkwardly in amongst some boulders, at the time all seemed well nothing more than a grazed elbow and probably some bruising. After administrating some pain killers we were on our way again and thankfully no more mishaps. Returning to the car we changed into clean clothes and packed the walking kit away into the car.

Ben More Assynt just as day light was fading. 16/01/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

We both jumped into the Mountain Hardware Hotel and settled down to make supper under the warming light from the gas lantern. It did not take long to make supper and soon we had both satisfied our hunger and were both comfortable and warm enjoying a very fresh beer each whilst making plans for the following day. It was also a round this time that we came to realize that Vicks fall was a little more serious than we 1st thought. A closer inspection of Vicks elbow revealed it was quite badly grazed, bruised and starting to swell. Also when Vicks fell she had not noticed at the time that she landed on a rock underneath her ribs, this too was now starting to cause discomfort and a closer inspection revealed that indeed her ribs were badly bruised. Prescribing more pain killers and beer we settled down for an early night.