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Report on Beinn an Dothiadth
2 August 2009
(2903 views)
Today?s Craggy Crew ? Maureen, Gail, Paula and Irene
Decided to try yet again for the 4th time to conquer Beinn an Dothiadh as this was becoming my bogey hill. Each time I have been beaten back by the weather so this time the forecast looked favourable with the cloud base to rise in the afternoon about the summits.
This was also Paula?s 4th time out with this club and up till now she has seen nothing from the summits of Goatfell, Ben Lomond and Conic Hill. Maybe this time she?ll get lucky!
We took our time getting to Bridge of Orchy and eventually left the carpark at 11:15am. This was after Paula developed a problem with her leaky bladder??.nothing to do with incontinence but a faulty hydration bladder! Last time it was Maureen that had a similar problem.
The clouds were shrouding the hills but we were ever hopeful. We headed up to the track which began after the underpass at the railway station. The track was rather muddy in places and at times we had difficulty negotiating round the swampy ground. The cloud at times looked as though it was lifting but then within minutes it had lowered again to approx 500m. We continued up the Coire an Dothiadth till we reached the bealach. There it was cold and windy so we sheltered at the cairn for lunch.
After a quick break we headed north up the initial well defined path of Beinn an Dothiadh. Then the path disappeared and as we were in thick mist so had to be careful navigating our way. We soon reached the south peak (993m) and picked up the path north to the summit (1004m). We sat at the cairn for a wee while to take the customary summit photos. So far we had only passed one guy on our way up from the bealach and it was rather eerie in the cloud. Again we had to be careful navigating as there was no clear path from the summit. Soon we heard voices and 4 folk emerged from the mist. Then a woman on her own appeared who had passed us earlier in the day. We eventually met up with the path again and in no time we were back at the bealach. This is where we had a choice of going up Beinn Dorain or heading down to the pub???.as you will have guessed the pub won!
As we descended down the coire the cloud suddenly cleared and great views of the mountains ahead appeared. They all looked clear of cloud except Dothiadth and Dorain?.just our luck! By the time we reached the car there was still a little cloud on the summits but every other surrounding mountain top was clear. After a quick drink sitting on the balcony of the hotel we headed for home. One last look at those hills when leaving the carpark and at last the clouds had lifted about the summits.
Unfortunately it was another disappointing day for Paula who has yet to see any views. Next week it is Ben Nevis, so as Paula will be there, we are expecting cloud!!
Irene Cahill
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