72-73. Beinn a'Bheithir (Sgorr Dhearg (107) (P600 18), Sgorr Dhonuill (137)) 14/12/08

Making our way north through scotland, we had the choice of going east or west. The weather suggested west, so we chose the Hill of the Thunderbolt at the west end of Glen Coe. Needless to say, the weather didn't play ball and whilst it wasn't terrible, we were enshrouded in mist for the duration. There were slight issues with having enough fuel to cross Rannoch Moor before the petrol stations opened, but despite this we were walking shortly after 9am. We began on forestry tracks, but naturally forestry track became forest paths, which in turn became just forest and we soon found ourselves hemmed in on all sides by felled trees. It took us a good half an hour to climb out and rediscover the track about 100m further on. Eventually we were out of the trees and kicking steps up the snowy slopes. The eastern peak was achieved by 1pm, where we met a fellow walker struggling slightly with navigation in the mist. It can be very easy to get disorientated in the mist, when every direction looks white and he was about to descend without attempting the second top before we met him. Here my new GPS proved very handy, since we were able to locate our position and that of the next peak without wasting time. It was a slightly steeper climb of the west peak, with some good snowy (though fortunately not icy) scrambling at the top. On the way down, we did manage to find the correct track and there were no more tree-ish problems. We were back in the car not long after 4 without having to use our headtorches.

Looking down the bowl shaped corrie before descending.

Rab and Ben in the snow at the top.