Not what was planned – Ben Challum

A trip north to Scotland was organised, aiming to walk up some of the mountains in the Crinlarich area. The aim was to try and find snow for some quality mountain days, as experience towards  the winter mountain leader award – well that was the plan…

The preceding days leading up to the trip were characterised by some above average temperatures in Scotland, this resulted in the stripping back of any snow cover, so come time to go I wasn’t optimistic. Having arrived the night before, I drove from the outskirts of Glasgow up the A82 early in the morning, arriving at Aucheteryre and parking up around eight. The weather was calm but overcast and relatively warm, the objective for the day would be Ben Challum.

With boots, ice axe and crampons on and in my rucksack just in case, I started up the track following the Allt Aucheteryre, passing under the railway and continuing along the river. The weather seemed to be improving and as I reached the bridge which had to crossed, I got a good view of the surrounding mountains, a few to the south had patches of snow but not much.

After crossing the bridge, I continued following the track up and through an area with Sheilings, which were the summer dwellings of farmers back in history – but long deserted now. I could now see the ridge that led up to the summit of Ben Challum. The weather was now mostly clear and the track was gently ascending, skirting the lower slopes of Beinn Chaorach, crossing a few streams which flowed down to the Allt Gleann Chlachain. It wasn’t long before I arrived at an electric fence, which was there to protect the immature woodland, I crossed this and remained on the track for a further kilometre.

I now had to make my way across the valley and search for a stile over the electric fence. At the col below the north west ridge of Ben Challum, the visibility was perfect. I picked the direction I would take, the place I would ford the river, the features I would follow up to the col and stepped off the track. With my second step, my foot and my leg up to my knee sank into patch of bog, quickly retrieving my foot with no water ingress, I gently cursed myself and payed more attention to where I put my feet. It wasn’t long before I was coming up to the fence where the stile was located and over it enjoying some fine views.

The route now became very steep and before long I was scrambling on some easy rock sections. This was unfortunately over far too quickly and the weather was now turning, the cloud was rising from the valleys and I was soon in mist. Ascending the final slope to the summit, the wind began to pick up and the ground was frozen in patches. I could hear voices of walkers on the ridge, they having probably followed the baggers route up, and we arrived at the summit cairn at roughly the same time. Pleasantries exchanged – they didn’t hang around long and soon headed off.

At the summit the visibility was poor, so after a few quick photos and a warm drink, I headed off down the south west ridge. The path was easy to follow and if the weather had been clearer it would have been a pleasant ridge walk. After a short descent, the path kicks back uphill and onto the south summit, over this and then descending down the very clear track, which eventually comes to a fence and follows this down.

After going over another small knoll on the ridge, it was time for me to leave this easy to follow track, as this would have taken me back to the valley some distance from the car, so over the fence and some more bog trotting was needed. With most of the bog crossed, I could see the railway and the bridge, which I needed to go under to get back. The slope was steep but the ground was firm, however, the drizzle now increased and what view I did have began to disappear.

After a short period, I was walking under the railway and through the Wigwam site at Aucheteryre. I past a couple of walkers heading up into the now increasing rain, but it wasn’t long before I was back at the car, getting ready to go and find tea and cake. On reflection, the day had not gone as planned, but it had been good exploring an area I had not been to before.