Reflecting on Loch Laggan

Towards the end of October, with a spell of several months working away from home looming, I was keeping an eye on the weather charts for a day of settled weather to go paddling. A forecast day of very light winds and dry conditions looked ideal, so Allan and I discussed where we might go. The simple choice would have been the Moray Firth, but the autumn colours blazing across Scotland tempted us to look for a location to combine a day paddle with the autumnal trees.

Our choice was Loch Laggan, a fresh water loch a couple of hours drive from home.  I've paddled here before in autumn when the colours were at their best..... we hoped for something similar. Actually this was the second freshwater loch I'd paddled in a couple of weeks - but more about the other one in a future post.

Grey and misty weather on the drive across wasn't greatly encouraging, but the mist was beginning to break up as we unloaded our boats by the roadside just west of the car park for Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve.  The comparatively dry summer had resulted in quite low water levels, as a result the carry was quite a bit longer than I remembered!

Conditions were rapidly improving as we started out, initially heading southwest along the northern shore under a vast cloudscape.  The A86 road runs close to the shore, but for almost the entire length of the loch is hidden from the water and we were hardly conscious of it.

The mist broke up rapidly to give views up to some of Creag Meagaidh's southern corries above woods of birch, oak and rowan.  Warm sunshine began to light the scene and we were soon thinking about removing a layer of clothing.

Quite suddenly, the breeze died completely to leave very calm water - with no coastal swell the change was rapid and noticeable. Ahead we had a long view down Glen Spean to the distant Grey Corries.  Kayaking on freshwater lochs may lack some of the vibrant interest of the coastal environment, but being surrounded by mountains does offer a great perspective.

We arrived at the southwestern end of the loch and landed on a large, flat beach criss-crossed with the tracks of deer, herons and geese - but devoid of human footprints.  We found a spot of grass to sit on and took first luncheon while enjoying the views along the length of the loch and across to Creag Meagaidh's outlier spurs.  We were in no hurry at all, the pleasant weather and the view suited the relaxed pace of the day perfectly.

Leaving the beach we started back along the southern shore of the loch, which has an estate track but no public road.  The colours in some of the Birch trees were absolutely stunning.

Allan is a keen motorcyclist and had recently done a long route across the Highlands including circuits of several lochs.  He pointed out that in the vast majority of cases the main roads pass along the north shores of lochs while the southern shores have minor roads, if there's any road at all.  We speculated that this might be due to the north shores getting more sunlight in the winter, so being snow-free for longer than the southern shores which would be in shade?

While we were reflecting on the geography of Highland roads, we were treated to some superb reflections right alongside our boats - it seemed a shame to disturb the effect with the ripples from our boats!

Kayaking Loch Laggan

Loch Laggan is in the central highlands between Speyside and  Lochaber. I drive the A86 road along the shore frequently on my way to and from the west coast of Scotland and have often thought that it would provide a good day's paddling.

In the winter the loch can freeze over and so an autumn day with the bonus of the woodland colour on the shore seemed like a good bet.  The forecast was for almost no wind and good visibility.  Emerging from thick fog at the north east end of the loch to a chilly and quite strong breeze was unexpected.

I launched from near the Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve car park at Aberarder and headed south west down the loch with the wind at my back.  I thought that this way the sun wouldn't be in my eyes too much as I made an anticlockwise circuit of the loch.

The colours of the woods fringing the loch were really rich and vibrant, the mix of birch, rowan pine and larch each adding their own shade to the whole.  Remnants of the morning mist were still hanging in some of the lower corries.

Above the shore the flanks of Creag Meagaidh drop steeply towards the loch.  I could hear stags roaring occasionally, the rut is still in full swing. When I was last on this hill we had a full-on winter day with driving snow, today was a lot different!

I found a small bay sheltered from the breeze and landed for first luncheon - a cup of hot tea and some cake was just the ticket.  A yellow boat in a yellow bay, perhaps I should have eaten a banana to keep the colour theme going?

At the bottom (south west) end of the loch it's possible to continue through the meandering River Spean to  a lower part of the loch which is damed for a hydro electric scheme.  This would have been a noe-way trip though s the flow was too strong to paddle back up to Loch Laggan. 

Instead I turned near Moy Lodge and began paddling back up towards the head of the loch on the quiet sothern shore.  The glacial origins of Laggan are plain to see, lots of smoothed bedrock bearing striations from the passage of the ice.

There are boulders left in place too, just as they settled when the ice melted.  The wind had conveniently dropped just as I began to paddle against it and my paddle was a relaxing one accompanied by birdsong and the sounds of the red deer rut.

A peek through the Window

On a weekend meet of the Mountaineering Club of Bury (MOB), we were forecast to have two very different days of weather.  Saturday would be extremely windy with frequent snow showers, while Sunday would be much quieter.

We were staying in Roybridge, a good central point for Lochaber to the west and the Cairngorms to the east.  I've been a member of the MOB for over 20 years having joined when I lived in the north of England.  Though no longer living in the area I've remained a member and it was good to catch up with old friends and to meet some new folk.

Plans for climbing on Ben Nevis were firmly off the agenda given the forecast for really difficult conditions on Saturday.  The consensus opinion was for a walk on Creag Meagaidh, a plateau mountain with a terrific corrie.  We split into a couple of groups and headed off; the weather was already looking menacing from the approach path.

Creag Meagaidh is a National Nature Reserve with a superb variety of habitats.  On the approach, the path passes through some fine birch wood above the hummocky remains of the glacier which carved out the mountain's main feature, Coire Ardair.

Rounding a corner we walked into an arctic blast of wind.  The headwall of Coire Ardair with the very prominent Post Face  dominates the view ahead, with banners of snow being torn off the summit plateau in the strong wind..  This is a winter climbing venue for the conoisseur; very variable routes on steep rock, ice and that Scottish speciality, frozen turf.  Tom Patey put many new routes up on the Post Face, his "Crab Crawl" which crosses the face horizontally is still a test piece.

One of the MOB groups headed for "Easy Gully", a Grade 1 snow climb to the left of the face in this picture.  Karen, Dave, Jordan and I opted for the climb to "The Window" (the notch on the right of this picture), a narrow cleft splitting the plateau and a key feature when getting off the mountain.  Our plan was to gain the Window, then if conditions were suitable to turn east (downwind) and take in a ridge on the return to Aberarder. 

The steep snow slope gave a good climb into increasingly ferocious conditions with an icy wind and pouring spindrift.  We split into two pairs, with Jordan and I reaching the Window a little ahead of Karen and Dave.

Conditions in the Window were truly wild.  The northwesterly wind was being funnelled through the gap and it was difficult to stand in the blast.  Spindrift whirled in a furious groundstorm rendering visibility almost nil.  Even battened down we could feel the chill of the wind; we could operate here but it was a battle.  Communication became difficult in the stronger gusts and we decided that for today this would be a suitable turning point.  Navigating a ridge in this wind would have been difficult.  Karen was the lightest in the team and was finding it hard to stay upright.  It was decided - we would go down.

As we prepared to descend, we by chance met our other team who had completed Easy Gully (which wasn't at all "easy" in the conditions) and had made their way along the summit plateau to the Window.  They confirmed that conditions above were terrible.

A ittle below the Window we stopped to prepare for the descent.  We were all frozen up; crampon and rucksack straps were solid.

But at least here we could stand up!

We hadn't climbed to a summit, but my goodness we'd had a good day; proper winter mountaineering day in challenging conditions on a big hill.  We were well satisfied and enjoyed the wind being at our backs on the walk out.  Ahead over Loch Laggan a dramatic procession of cloudscapes raced across the sky.