Marhofn 280.16 - May 2014

Baglogs (72 of them):

Malcolm Clark (+73=712)

Highlights of 2013:

• Head and shoulders above the rest, I spent Easter weekend doing a short through route from Sligachan to Broadford in cold but perfect weather. The highlight was a camp on Sgurr na Stri, with an impressive sunrise and plenty of snow left on the Black Cuillin. Marilyn-wise, I also took in Marsco, Ruadh Stac, Beinn Dearg Mhor and Beinn na Caillich above Broadford.
• A bothy trip to Gelder Shiel Stables in the July heatwave, taking in a swim in Loch nan Eun, a scramble on the Stuic, Lochnagar and Conachcraig. Much more fun than just doing Conachcraig on its own, which was the aim of the trip as far as bagging was concerned. I ended the second day by driving over to Linn of Dee and camping on the summit of Sgor Mor.
• An evening and well into the night round of Stob Breac, Stob a'Choin and Meall Mor from Inverlochlarig in the same heatwave.
• Work had me over on North Uist at the start of May, so I was able to spend a sunny afternoon and evening on South Uist climbing Beinn Mhor and Ben Corodale.
• A trio of day trips in October and November, including a pre-dawn start on Ben Hiel and Ben Loyal with an afternoon ascent of Ben Hope tagged on for good measure; a traverse from Loch Eilt to Kinlochmoidart over Beinn Mhic Cedidh, Croit Bheinn and Beinn Gaire; and a cycle down to Binnein Shios and Binnein Shuas from Kingussie. The main thing these all had in common was perfect weather.
• A June Sunday evening wander across to Ben Macdui from the ski car park, taking in Loch Avon and various Munro Tops. Reached the summit of Macdui at 9.45pm, by which time there was an inversion and a pretty impressive sunset.
• Not much of a walk, but it is worth mentioning Ardsheal Hill above Kentallen. There cannot be many places with such good views for so little effort. I went up there with my parents in June and spent almost an hour on the summit.



Alpenglow on the Cuillin (photo: Malcolm Clark)

Lowlights of 2013:

• Two separate days on Harris in June and August to climb all the 600m Marilyns. These were both enjoyable in their own way but low cloud and poor weather meant that I hardly saw any of the landscape. A shame as this was one of the areas that I was most looking forward to visiting.
• A two-day camping trip around the Corbetts and Grahams of Glen Orchy during which I got very wet and saw very little. The most enjoyable part of the trio was the two hours I spent in the bar at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel before catching my bus back to Inverness.