TARMACHAN MOUNTAINEERING: MONADHLIATH MUNROS

Sunday 16 January 2022

MONADHLIATH MUNROS

Rime ice and a dusting of snow

For Zuzana and Jonathan's second day out we opted for a walk on the two Munros in the Monadhliath, A'Calliach & An Sgulain. With a decent weather forecast over tge other side of the Strath this sounded appealing. These hills are renowned for their boggy aspect but the wildlife here is wonderful. The terrain is also great for Navigation.

Morning coffee

Bogs frozen on higher ground

A fresh dusting of snow above 800m

Old frozen snow

It was a glorious sunny morning and there had been a small dusting of fresh overnight snow above 800m. Once we got to this altitude the walking was great. All the boggy ground had frozen and a delight to walk on. There was a keen, cold wind near the first summit.

Success on the summit

Navigation time

View from A' Cailliach

Cold wind

There was a high windchill on our first Munro summit. We were soon in calmer conditions just 50m lower. Zuzana was keen to do more navigation. With clear views the compass wasn't needed much today, but lots of map reading and contour interpretation on our way over to the second Munro.

A shades day

Beautiful mother nature

Nearing the summit

Another cold and windy summit but wonderful views. We descended a more interesting route. Some excellent navigation and route finding to get to lower elevations all on pathless terrain. Once again these are essential navigation skills which people who only download route descriptions and basic mobile phone navigation apps will never obtain. It's all in the map reading, route finding and contour interpretation. Using your eyes and brain power. Fabulous work from Zuzana and Jonathan.

Descending using good boot techniques

Fun with our shadows

It was a great route down amidst lovely wild scenery and some easy snow slopes. Only the dreaded lower Bog trotting. The winds had increased even at low levels by the end of the day.