The wind has been prodominantly westerly during the last few days, so I was looking to stay off the eastern slopes where the wind is likely to have dumped the snow. Waking up to fresh snowfall down to about 400m, made this all the more important. With this in mind, I parked up at the Mamore Lodge  Hotel, above Kinlochmore, and followed the Allt Coire na Ba to the north. With the imposing mass of Am Bodach to my left and Na Gruagaichean to the right, both with their tops in the cloud, it was quite an impressive scene.

From the back of the corie, there is a path that almost doubles back on itself and slowly works its way to the saddle between Stob Coire a Chairn and Na Gruagaichean. However, the path was hidden beneath the snow and it seemed easier just to head straight up. From here the  route up to the north top of Na Gruagaichean was no problem but, to get to the actual summit, meant dropping and reascending.

This proved to be quite a challenge. Visibility deteriorated very quickly, resulting in near a white out. Deep drifts of fresh snow had formed on the western side of the ridge. Firstly, this was unexpected due to the recent wind direction but, more importantly, was unavoidable as the drop to the eastern side of the ridge was near vertical – no thank you! So I was forced to plough my way through waist deep snow on steeply descending ground. Then came the fun of getting back up to the summit, via a steep and rocky ridge covered in a combination of deep powdery snow and ice.

Having reached the top, and with conditions showing no sign of improving, I changed my plans and decided to drop down the south ridge back to safety and civilisation. As it happens, within an hour the conditions had improved making me regret my decision. However, you can only base decisions on the information you have and, at the time, it was the right call.