James Stone (Clach Liath)

Mountaineering and the Volcanic Seven Summits

  • Home
  • About me
  • Volcanic Seven Summits
  • Top 50 Ultra Prominent Peaks of the World
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Blog / Wet and windy Wyvis

Wet and windy Wyvis

6th June 2012 by James Stone Leave a Comment

The forecast was not promising.

Unfortunately the forecast was accurate and so there are not many photos to share for this one I am afraid.  I have been up Ben Wyvis twice before and did not have a view on either occasion.  Today was going to be no exception.  However, the purpose of the climb was that of top bagging, namely Glas Leathad Beag, which lies 4km off to the north east of the main summit.

I had considered approaching from the east, up Glen Glass but that would have meant buying another map as the edge of OS20 inconveniently cuts off the far eastern part of the Ben Wyvis massif!

On this walk I was to be accompanied by my brother, Peter.  When I had last climbed Ben Wyvis the start point was through Garbat Farm along the right of way that runs over the col between Ben Wyvis and Little Wyvis.  The path here was normally quite squelchy as it made its way through the forest.  Now, however, there is a purpose built car park about a kilometre to the south from where a fine path leads you along the Allt a’Bhealach Mhor and intersects with the right of way at the foot of An Cabar.

IMG_4476

So we set off at around 9.30am.  The weather was pleasant, mild with a slight breeze.  There were even some breaks in the cloud.  The path leads up at an easy gradient never far from the river.  On breasting one rise a remarkable sight came into view – that of Ben Wyvis.  What of that you may say.  Well have you seen Ben Wyvis quite like this?

IMG_4479

It was literally wrapped in a blanket of cloud, its shape clearly discernable.  The wrapping soon broke up and the rocky shoulder of An Cabar penetrated the cloak.

Ben Wyvis is clearly a popular mountain.  The path is well engineered and bouldery steps have been created in many places to ease the erosion.  You are led swiftly upwards and, in our case, into the cloud.  The bulk of An Cabar still provided some protection from the easterly wind but 30m from the top I was forced to put on the cag to protect from the elements.  I reached the An Cabar cairn at 11.20am.

IMG_4482

As a part of access management a sign is built into the cairn.

IMG_4483

The summit ridge of Ben Wyvis is exceptionally mossy.  I did as instructed by the sign.  In the mist with about 20m of visibility, the summit seemed to take an age.  I understand that there are good views east to the coast and west towards the Fannaichs, An Teallach and Beinn Dearg – but not for us today.  I reached the summit at around 11.55am.

IMG_4487

I hunkered down behind the shelter for a bite to eat out of the easterly wind and the dampness of the cloud.  The shelter looks out to the east, no doubt to protect from the prevailing winds.  So I sat outside facing north west.  Peter followed a few minutes later.  He was just bagging the main summit.  I plotted my way onwards.  He returned the way we had come.

After 30 minutes at the summit I headed off.  It is possible to contour around Tom a’Choinnich and I set a bearing for the top of the stream at NH467700.  I hit it spot on.  A bank of snow remained there feeding the sluggish water oozing from a spring beneath.  Damp permeated the air and the ground.  I climbed north for a few minutes and hit a track running down the north east ridge of Tom a’Choinnich.  The ground again became very mossy, but a delight to walk over.  It was just a shame that I could see no further than my immediate surroundings.

So it was onwards, stopping to recheck bearings at each feature and counting paces to double check my location.  Finally a wall of green appeared and there was 90m climb up to point 910.  Then there was a final kilometre wander to Glas Leathad Beag and its paltry cairn.  I guess that there are not enough rocks round about.  I arrived at 1.40pm.  The track I had been following along this last section veered off to the left of the top so I needed to correct.  There was also sign of damage to the fragile surface by ATV tracks – a shame.

IMG_4489

So it had taken me about an hour and twenty minutes to reach the furthest point – another subsidiary top bagged.  Now it was a question of reversing the route over Tom a’Choinnich.  Having teased me with a slight clearance the cloud started to drop rain on me.  It was actually quite wetting.  On the ascent I saw a herd of goats some way to my left.  Having reached the top of Tom a’Choinnich I then took the fabulous stalkers path down the north west slopes.  Just as the zig zags came to an end I headed south on to the ridge between the Coire Dubh and Coire Tom a’Choinnich.  This I followed for a bit before descending towards the Allt Tom a’Choinnich.  After a while a faint path appears above the true right bank of this stream.  It was relatively dry when I did this walk but I can imagine that it can be quite boggy.  It takes you down to the forest.  Extensive felling has taken place to the north of the stream.  There is a substantial gate at the edge of the forest (or where it used to be) and the path continues to where a forest road crosses the stream.  From here there is a choice of routes back to the car park which I reached at 4.40pm.

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Marilyns, Munros

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Links

  • Walkhighlands
  • Parkswatchscotland
  • Peakbagger
  • Alan Arnette
  • Mark Horrell
  • Ted Fairhurst
  • Cookie policy (UK)
  • Terms & conditions

Tags

8000m peaks Aconcagua Antarctica Australia Ben Nevis Bolivia Corbetts Damavand Dan Bull David Hamilton Francois Bernard Giluwe Hewitts Humour Iran Iztaccihuatl Katie Sarah Kilimanjaro Kosciuszko Llullaillaco Marilyns Mount Bogong Mount Elbrus Mount Hagen Mount Mukal Mount Rainier Mount Sidley Munros Ojos del Salado Pico de Orizaba Ruapehu satyarup siddhanta Scottish Mountains Seven Summits South America Taranaki Ted Fairhurst Teide Tochal Toubkal Ultras Volcanic Seven Summits Volcanoes Yorkshire 3 Peaks Zhang Liang

Recent posts

  • Cerro Chirripó – the highest peak in Costa Rica
  • Volcanic Seven Summits completions – February 2023
  • Mount Sidley – January 2023 – seven more V7S completers
  • V7S completion update – end 2022
  • Nevado Sajama

Archive

  • March 2023 (1)
  • February 2023 (1)
  • January 2023 (2)
  • October 2022 (2)
  • September 2022 (1)
  • August 2022 (1)
  • July 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (1)
  • November 2021 (2)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (2)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (6)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (3)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (3)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (7)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (4)
  • October 2015 (4)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (4)
  • June 2015 (1)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (25)
  • October 2014 (2)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (7)
  • June 2013 (3)
  • May 2013 (1)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • October 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (3)
  • April 2012 (2)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (3)
  • November 2011 (2)
  • August 2011 (1)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • April 2011 (1)

Copyright © James Stone 2014-2023

Manage Cookie Consent
I use cookies to optimize this website.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}