AN TEALLACH, AFTER THE AUTUMN GOLD

The wonderful view of An Teallach from the Destitution Road

Andrew on a viewless Bidean a' Ghlas Thuill

The only people on An Teallach today

Andrew heading for his second Munro

The best view all day on our descent

Little Loch Broom, the evening before

 Return client, Andrew, booked me for a days guiding on the finest mountain on this planet, An Teallach. Andrew and three of his friends were out with me back in March, in the Cairngorms where we had a stonker of a day. The Northwest Highlands has seen glorious clear skies and bags of Autumn sunshine all week and most of the previous week too. An Teallach must have been bathed in sun the entire period. I was looking at the weather forecasts every day, throughout the week and hoping that the big high pressure was going to eek out till Friday, his only day off work. Sadly it wasn't to last. The long, settled spell of weather was drawing to a close and Thursday was the last  day of sunshine. Despite the poor weather forecast he was fired up for a grand day out on a full traverse of 'The Forge'. We set out from Corrie Hallie in light rain and by the time we gained the upper slopes of Sail Liath (the first Munro Top) it was a steady 40mph wind, light rain and in a bubble of cloud. We kept on going with hardly a stop, soon reaching Corrag Buidhe with strong gusts over the narrow pinnacled ridge and gaining the first of the mountain's Munros, Sgurr Fiona. Completely viewless all the way. A quick descent from here before the final pull up to Bidean a' Ghals Thuill, the highest summit for the classic view, which we didn't get. At least the rain had eased off at this point. The strongest winds were on our descent to Dundonnell. We we're back at the road in less than 7 hours from setting off, the fastest client I have had on An Teallach but then most traverses have many photo stops! We never saw  a single person all day and guessed we must have had the whole mountain to ourselves. A shame about glorious views but Andrew loved the day all the same and he's back for more this winter. You can't always have great weather on the finest mountains, that's the way the cookie crumbles.