I had planned to go for a hill day today. Packed my bag the night before and got up early. Despite the fact that I had to work late last night until about 11:30, I still managed to drag myself out of bed into a badly heated room. Also despite the fact the weather was fairly minging. Once I was up I felt obliged to go for my walk. I don't think I would ever choose to go walking in weather like this if I wasn't working towards my winter ML... I did however have a stragely satisfying day. I headed for the top car park and wandered up to the Ptarmigan then headed south east towards the saddle, down to Loch Avon and then along the loch and up Coire Raibert, up to spot height 1141 and down.
I had planned to head up Beinn Mheadhoin but did not get enough of an early start due to a meeting at work. I was out on my own today and had lots of opportunity for some confidence boosting nav practice. The vis up near the Ptarmigan was about 75m. This was the first time I had navved in poor weather in winter on my own. I am a capable navigator and I know my compass works (!!) but it still felt quite isolating (and exciting) walking off into a sea of vast whiteness on my own. I walked so accurately on my bearing I almost walked over the edge of the steep slope/cornice above the stream at Marquis Well... it's quite hard to see the change in angle of the slope when everything is white.
The snow lower down was quite patchy - as you can see from the pictures of the Loch Avon basin and Coire Raibert - and although there was a lot of ice, it was starting to melt. The temperature was about 3 degrees apparently - it was raining all day even on the plateau.
On the way back up Coire Raibert I could feel the wind picking up and took a bearing for the col below spot height 1141 before I reached the top. As predicted there was a strong northely wind and I had to put my goggles on. I walked on my bearing for what seemed like an eternityand eventally reached a point near the col (which after 1.2km is not too bad). Finished in the dark. Very wet.
I stopped for a quick bite to eat and attempted to take some photos of myself eating, probably a moment of temporary insanity due to walking around in the cloud for too long... ha ha ha
