March 12th 2007 - had been really looking forward to having a few days off and doing some hills that I'd fancied but never had the opportunities. With Fraser, we set off from Glasgow at 0730 and got to the bottom of this one for 1040. It wasn't that great a day but with waterproofs on, we set off up the book route and it was clear quite quickly that it would be a bogfest at the lower level. After about an hour and a half, we reached the pillar and took a rest. The steep climb up the 1st real slope looked good and we decided to follow the path up to the 'chimney' for a bit of scrambling. Excellent scramble and a nice variation to the bog. Once over this, we encountered snow on the plateau and the slow rise to the summit, which was some way off. However, the snow got deeper and the rain turned to snow as we ascended and we began to tire after 3 hours of walking. We decided if we didn't hit the summit by 1400, we'd turn back. Eventually after 30 minutes of thigh-deep snow wading and bitter winds, not to mention huge cornices (pictured) we summited but didn't hang about as the wind had turned our jackets into icy cloaks. We set off back down into the corrie towards the river and the return route advocated by the book. If you're doing this in Winter, prepare for a bogfest part deux. We got back to the car at 1640 and while I was disappointed not to bag the close neighbour of the hill, Stob Coire Easain, it the was correct decision to walk off and leave it for another day. After all, we still had a 3 hour drive past Dingwall to get to for our celebratory pint.
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