A walk I did for a client last Tuesday:
It was a wet and windy morning as we headed to Dalmally to climb the
Munro Stob Diamh on what is commonly known as the Dalmally Horseshoe.
However it was dry when we set off from the junction of the A85
Dalmally to Taynult road with the B8077 road to Stronmitchan.
We followed the track to an old mine and onto the Allt Coire Ghlais
where the bridge had obviously recently been replaced. From here we
climbed the east ridge of Stob Garbh in a mixture of snow, sleet and
rain showers. A lot of the snow lower down had been washed away after
the overnight heavy rain and higher up the snow was very wet. To
reach the knoll before Stob Garbh we had to negotiate some deep soft
snow followed by an easy ascent to Stob Garbh.
Beyond here the snow was very variable with sections of hard packed
snow and ice so we needed our crampons. There was also lots of
drifting snow and I had to keep an eye on where exactly the cornice
started. Visibility was also very variable. One minute I could see
the Cruachan Reservoir and the next visibility was very poor in snow
showers.
We eventually reached the summit of Stob Diamh but it was too windy to
hang around and rather than attempting to complete the horseshoe in the
ever changing weather my client was happy to return by our ascent
route.
It was very windy returning to the knoll south of Stob Garbh and we
were brought to a halt on several occasions. However once off the
section of the ridge the descent on the upper section of the ridge was
fairly easy through the wet snow and we made good progress. Even the
sun came out for a short period to give us good views of Stob Diamh.
Lower down the ground was very wet and slippery but once back at the
bridge over the Allt Coire Ghlais we followed the track back to the
start.
Photos can be seen at:
http://www.caledoniahilltreks.com/galleries/stob_diamh_apr06/index.htm
Statistics can be viewed at:
http://caledoniahilltreks.blogspot.com
Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com