Schiehallion

I included Schiehallion as one of my first 13 Munros when I first started counting in 1996. Mum said that Dad, Ken and Karen Froebel had climbed it once, and she thought I was also with them, but I have no clear memory myself. It is therefore not at all certain that this was my fifth Munro, and when Ruth said she was interested in doing a climb with me during the summer of 2002, I suggested Schiehallion, mainly for my own peace of mind. This was during a summer stay in Edinburgh and I was up at 5.20 to get ready. Ruth arrived from Gorebridge at 7 and we drove up in her car, getting there about 9.

I had been given the task of choosing a route, and since all the guidebooks seemed to tut-tut about the ugly eroded scar on the north flank I decided to blaze a trail up the Keltney Burn and climb the south flank instead. We set off with low cloud hiding the hills, and had some difficulty reaching the path that was marked on the OS map. We climbed over some barbed wire fences and crossed a deer park, thinking it was probably some kind of trespassing. However, on the way home we discovered that the field really is a right-of-way, and should be entered through the caravan site beside it.

Once we’d found the path it turned out to be pretty good all the way through to Gleann Mor. Schiehallion was still in cloud, though, as we crossed the flat boggy ground and started into the rough heather. This picture and the previous one were actually taken later in the day on the way back down. There was no sign of a path from this side – I had optimistically thought there might be one – so Ruth, now in shorts, got her legs rather scratched as the heather was very deep on the lower slopes.

It was a hard climb and the wind was increasing as we gained height, becoming very blustery as we finally crested the ridge. By some fluke we had hit the ridge crest exactly where the path up the north flank hit it, and we had to stagger through some eroded peat bog to get onto the stony part.

The path was OK from that point on, but getting increasingly stonier up the ridge. The cloud was coming and going but gradually lifting to reveal ocasional views of Loch Tummel. We stopped for lunch at a spot that seemed quite sheltered, then, soon after we set off again, the cloud finally lifted completely and the summit appeared.

We hopped over the last section, which was very bouldery, meeting a few people on the way. There were a few more at the summit which, curiously, was not so windy as further down.

The views were not bad – Loch Rannoch, Loch Tummel and the Glen Lyon hills among others.

Looking down the east ridge from the summit

Loch Rannoch again

As we headed back down the ridge was getting busier. We even met some friends of Ruth's who had mentioned to her that they were planning to be there.

It got windier again as we descended. We had planned to follow the ridge crest all the way to the bottom to avoid the heather, but the wind was so strong that we dropped off and came down a little to the east of the route we'd come up by – the heather seemed preferable to the wind.

I took plenty of photos on the way back by the Keltney Burn. Schiehallion was now clearing and looking very nice.

The Keltney Burn

Schiehallion and the Keltney Burn

The sun even came out eventually, not long before we arrived back at the deer park.

A herd of deer in the deer park

Back at the car around 4 Ruth had a flask of tea waiting for us, and we were soon on the road back to Edinburgh, passing the interestingly named village of Dull with a signpost advertising "Highland Adventure Safaris" - clearly a desperate attempt to attract tourists to an otherwise unpromising-sounding location!. For us anyway, despite the dull weather of the morning, it had been a good day out. The only thing was, we were both wearing new Berghaus jackets (birthday presents from Mum), and had hardly had a spot of rain to test them out – now was that a pity or not!?