The snowy castle


I make a point in going walking just after Christmas in order to lose the few pounds put on by eating and drinking too much. This year I left it to the 27th of December due to the weather conditions and I took the short trip up near Crianlarich to climb An Caisteal (995m). It may be noted that I had tried this already this year in April and subsequently failed. Now with the mountain covered in two feet of snow I was mad to think how this task was going to be any easier. I set off with a few other hardy walkers and with their help we took it in turns to cut steps into the snow up to Sron Gharbh situated at 709m. From there we traversed the twistin hill and then into the mist to climb the southern flank of An Caisteal. The loose snow on the rocks near the top made it daunting to get a foot hold so a little scrambling was in order. At this point my boots also began to show the strain as the snow was slowly beginning to fill them and numb my feet. It took a few minutes to find the cairn at the summit as it was completely covered in snow. With only a few hours of light left I decided to high tail it off the mountain and to the security of my car.

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