Invergarry Lodge

Archive for the ‘The Great Outdoors’ Category

Loch Quoich Munros

A couple of photos from my late afternoon hill bagging session down by Loch Quoich.

One of my favourite views…looking back across the loch to Gairich

It must have been hot work…not often you see Dylan sat still!

From Gleourich Summit looking along the ridge to Spidean Mialach

Looking north over the South Shiel ridge to the Brothers of Kintail

–Matt

Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon

My friend Ian and I enjoyed our first Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon this weekend. It’s pretty exciting…you don’t find out where it is held until 36 hours before (this year Beinn Dearg near Ullapool) and you don’t find out the route until the clock has started on day 1. As first timers we entered class C (there are A,B,C,D,and Elite courses) which should be about 24Km and 1400m ascent on day one, and slightly less on day 2.

The terrain was tough (not as tough as my brother had in the elite category!), the weather was hot and the scenery stunning and we were pleased to find ourselves in 9th place out of 135 starters when we arrived at the midcamp on Saturday afternoon.

After a wet night in the tent it was time for Sunday’s chasing start (all the teams in the first 1.5 hours go in order so the first across the line is the winner). 8th place were only 12 seconds in front of us so we saw them at the beginning, by the time we’d made the 3rd checkpoint we’d overtaken 7th and 5th  as well (team 6 seem to be without their numbers as nobody saw them all day!) so we were in 5th position but then it all went horribly wrong. We messed up a check point (couldn’t find it) and found ourselves back behind teams 10 and 11!.

We dug deep for the last 3 checkpoints but messed up slightly when we took a gamble on the last forest section and lost a place we’d just gained. We ended up in 7th, just 1min 16 seconds behind 6th, a great result.

Big thanks to Ian for stepping in at shortish notice when new to all this hill running stuff and for some great navigation during the race. Fancy another?

Who would have thought: 4 Ticks + 2 blisters +1 sore nipple+ 1 black toenail (and another one for Ian) = 1 great weekend.

–Matt

ps. Stopping to take this photo probably cost us a prize!

Creag Megaidh Trio

Last training session for the LAMM next week was a wee trip round the Creag Meggy trio. 16 miles, 1400 metres of ascent, three Munro ticks and better weather than forecast….all in 3 hours 20 minutes – what a great way to spend an afternoon.

Not much to say about it really, it follows a straight forward route (how far is it to the summit from window? Blimey!), we saw a few others on the plateau and the running was good.  Anyway, a few pictures for your delectation….

–Matt

Strathpeffer Mountain Biking

I headed up to Contin woods near Strathpeffer for a spot of mountain biking with Rick (for his birthday!). Things got off to a bad start when I found half my front wheel quick release  was missing, after briefly considering wheelieing (is that a word?) the 11km route we headed to Square Wheels bike shop in Strathpeffer who gave me the part for free – top guys!

Anyway, back on the bikes in the forest and I was struggling to work why pedalling uphill was so hard – was it the 11 mile hill run the day before or that my pedalling muscles have packed up and left due to lack of use? I finally realised that it’s more likely because my bike is getting on a bit and doesn’t work in anything below 11th gear!

The route was great, some technical sections near the top but then some nice faster sections further down…and not too boggy considering all the rain we’ve had.  Unfortunately I forgot to get the camera out until the end and I’m not ready to gaffer tape my new camera to the front of my bike for videos like I used to so we only have this one picture taken just near the car park.

Thanks again to the guys at Square Wheels for sorting me out with my missing part. Don’t forget to visit them for your trail maps.

-Matt

Sun, shorts and hail on Sgurr Ghiubhsachan

High winds? Hail stone? There’s nothing else for it except to don your shorts and go running in the hills. Ian and I where planning a lowish route (nothing over 600m) starting from near Glenfinnan but we ended up taking in Sgurr Ghiubhsachan at 849m. Although the name of the hill will mean little to most people, it is probably one of the most photographed hills in Scotland, it peeps up along the shores of Loch Shiel behind the popular Glenfinnan monument…

Anyway, apart from some hail as we set off, a dusting of fresh snow and some ferocious winds at the top the weather was pretty kind to us considering the forecast. The hill itself was great – rocky and rugged with great views of the surrounding area and not another person in sight!

The path on the way in was pretty wet and boggy but it proved to be nothing compared to what I found on the way down – I very nearly lost my shoes, thanks for help Ian!

–Matt

Sgurr Elide Mor and the two Binneins

Me and new official Team Invergarry running partner Ian headed up to the eastern Mamores to bag Sgurr Elide Mor, Binnein Beag and Binnein Mor.

In brief the route is about 20km and has two steep bouldery ascents up Sgurr Elide Mor and Binnein Beag with a very steep scree descent from Sgurr Elide Mor inbetween, then a suprisingly good, slightly scrambley route directly up Binnein Mor and a great run steadily back down to Kinlochleven. Oh, and some nice views…..

Na Gruagaichean

Sgurr Elide Mor

Ian approaching the summit on Binnein Mor

The view back to Loch Leven

Great day out, rain held off and three new Munro ticks for me.  Lovely stuff, cheers Ian.

–Matt

Ben Nevis and the CMD Arete

Making the most of the fantastic weather we’ve been having up here I escaped the hostel chores for a quick run up Ben Nevis via the CMD Arete. A fantastic day for it, the normal Ben Nevis crowds where elsewhere after the busy bank holiday weekend – I saw 6 people on the arete and no more then a couple of dozen on the summit.

From the car park, up to the halfway lochan, split off the path and head round to the North Face, I ended up not far from the CIC hut where I headed straight up the very steep slopes to Carn Mor Dearg, scramble round the arete, up to the Ben summit and down the tourist track to the car park, 3 hours 20 minutes. This is a fantastic route around the UK’s highest mountain which enables you to see it’s best side and get away from the masses, highly recommended.

–Matt

Please note, if you are unsure about your skills on the mountains, let us know and we will put you in contact with a guide.

Highlander Mountain Marathon 2011

A Mountain Marathon is a two day event in which teams of two navigate round various checkpoints over mountainous terrain. You don’t find out exactly where it is or where you have to go until you start, unless they print the village name on the free T-shirt that they give you the day before!

The Highlander this year was based around Dundonnell, the first day basically involved a 26km run round An Teallach, around some lochs and over some smaller hills. Since it was my first MM we entered C class, one of the easier categories.  My team mate (my brother Mark) would like me to point out that he normally competes in a higher class and has signed himself up for the elite class for the upcoming Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon whereas I’ll still be competing in C class. Anyway, after a tough (1 uphill section too many for me!) but enjoyable first day we arrived at the overnight camp to a virtually empty field to find ourselves in 4th place.

I should at this point add that the Highlander isn’t like normal MMs. Although you still have to carry your tent, food and stove etc…this one has a marquee at the overnight camp serving food, drinks…BEER…it even has a ceilidh in the evening for those not too tired to dance.

We’d earned ourselves a place in the chasing start for the second day which meant we could have a leisurely morning and didn’t set off until 8am (although we still got woken up at 6 by U2 being played over the PA system – surely no-one would choose to wake up to U2!). Unfortunately, because the organisers wanted everyone to finish the course by 2pm the chasing start was reversed so the people we were chasing for 3rd place actually started after us…confused? me too.

Day two went without a hitch for us – I had a dodgy ankle but a handful of painkillers sorted that out and kept the worst of the pain at bay, oh, and Mark got a bit excited when he overtook the ginger girl from Trail magazine and she said he was very fast. Our spirits were lifted slightly when we saw a mountain legend (I won’t mention your name Steve) from a higher class looking for his checkpoint in the wrong place…shows even the best can get it slightly wrong. Anyway, a slightly shorter day for the second day and we managed to finish 3rd on the day but still finished 4th overall – we missed out on 3rd place by less than two minutes! To finish off the weekend we jetted back to Ullapool across Loch Broom by speed boat..what a great way to finish off the event!

A good weekend but it was nice to be back in the 4 star comfort of Invergarry Lodge after a cold night in a tent with my lightweight Tesco sleeping bag.

–Matt

Great Glen Way – Gairlochy to Invergarry

We’ve been enjoying lovely weather round these parts recently…finally feels like spring has sprung! Anyway, we took the opportunity to cycle a section of the Great Glen Way, this section is normally the second day for walkers, running from Gairlochy, along Loch Lochy to Invergarry (although we have known people to come straight to us – and beyond – from Fort William in one day).

The section running from Gairlochy along Loch Lochy is one of the most popular sections of the 5 – 7 day walk, it has great views across Loch Lochy towards Ben Nevis. We took a few snaps so you could see for yourselves….

-Matt

River Garry Release Dates 2011

Calling all paddlers….the Garry release dates have been, er, released!

From Wheres the Water website “The Garry is a good intermediate paddle or playrun (Grade 3+).  When releasing, the water usually starts rising 08:00 – 10:00 and starts dropping again in the evening 18:30 – 04:30.  Paddling between 10am and 8pm is pretty safe levels-wise.”

The dates are:

April: Sat 2nd, Thurs 7th, Sat 9th, Thur 14th, Fri 22nd and Sat 30th

May: Sat 7th, Sat 14th, Thur 19th, Sat 21st and Thur 26th

June: Thurs 2nd, Sat 4th, Thur 9th, Thurs 16th, Sat 18th, Thurs 23th and Sat 25th

July: Sat 2nd, Thurs 7th, Sat 9th, Thurs 14th, Thurs 21st, Sat  23rd, Thurs 28rd and Sat 30th

August: Thurs 4th, Thurs 11th, Thurs 18th and Thurs 25th

September: Thurs 1st, Thurs 8th, Sun 11th, Sat 17th and Sun 25th

October: Sat 1st, Thurs 6th, Thurs 13th, Thurs 20th and Thurs 27th

Don’t forget the Moriston (harder than the Garry) generally releases on a Tuesday most people paddle it on  Tuesday afternoons or evenings but it is also possible Wednesday Mornings.

I don’t know about you but all this sounds like a great excuse for a midweek get-away!