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Na Gruagaichan, the hill that had it all


We had been joined for the weekend by our friends Iain Gallagher of Kendal Mountaineering Services and his partner Kirsten. A sort of plan was made over drinks the night before to get Iain onto some of the Mamores that he hadn't yet managed to bag. Mamore Lodge was the start point where the resident dug was patiently waiting for us to throw stones for him. There has never been a visit to Mamore Lodge where the dug hasn't been there. The landrover track made easy work of the first few km and then it was onto the open hill up the SW ridge of Na Gruagaichain.



It was great, the sun was shining, there was no wind and we knew that there was snow on top :-D Iain and I had already been threatening each other about snowball fights. The views were stunning. Then we noticed some really interesting cloud formations going on over Buaichaille Etive Mor. Onwards and upwards we went only to start going into some cloud ourselves and spotting our first brocken spectre of the day. Oh the joy







Could this day get any better, oh yes it could. The clouds were teasing us with views over the rest of the Mamores and towards the Grey Corries where PTC was off having his adventure. By the time we were on the summit we were all grinning like Cheshire cats snapping loads of photies and drinking in the fantastic vista. This makes up for the days which aren't so perfect.







We had spent so much time messing about that it was getting a bit late for us to do what we had originally planned. Not to worry, we were going to get some great views of the sunset. We even spotted the Na G gnome in the shimmery light ;-)





What a day . Thankfully we didn't have too much rough terrain to negotiate in the dark and we were soon back on the landrover track back to Mamore Lodge where the dug was still waiting, though this time he'd found a ball for us to throw. If only all hill days were as good as this.................

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Comments

  1. Jamie Bassnett19 December 2009 at 17:04

    Niyce!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Martin Rye19 December 2009 at 20:23

    What a day indeed. Days like that will linger in the memories a long time. Great photos as well. Thanks for that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. scott19 December 2009 at 21:27

    Tell him I'm using the picture of the Na G gnome as my screensaver.

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Elaina19 December 2009 at 21:50

    Yes Martin, days like that do leave a lasting impression. If only we had a few more like it

    LOL Scott :-) I'm sure Iain will appreciate that

    ReplyDelete

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