Beinn Iarrun

Caley and I climbed Beinn Iarrun in the early afternoon. The last time we we came here I forgot to put a card in my camera. On that occassion (in an insane decision) I also took my tripod in the rucksack. This is a very very steep sided hill and though less than 3000 feet is classed as a Corbett. This is a sort of club for special hills that do not attain the 3000 ft threshold. They must still be above 2500 feet though height alone, just like Munros, does not assure membership.

I recall a conversation with a local man (who has been in the area longer than me) who pointed to Stob Coire na Ceannain and said "Its over 3000 feet; its a Munro". Greater than 3000 feet is not the absolute conditional operator to confirm Munro status. Pedantic perhaps but SCNC is definitely not a Munro.

I digress.

As I say the ascent is steep and is probably the steepest slope I can think of anywhere that still retains a short heather knitted layer of turf. Higher up patches of scree and exposed rock grin through.

Caley took his ball with him. On the ascent, if he carelessly dropped it, the ball started to trundle off down the hill under gravity and I would say it travelled a hundred metres before he caught it. The particular ball is well chewed and is offering to split. Had it been one of more perfectly spherical shape I suspect it may have ended up at the bottom. He put out a lot of calories. One alarming moment; with Caley in front and above me I noticed the ball bouncing past me at head height about five yards to my left. I looked forward. He still had the ball. The projectile was a stone that had shifted under his feet and taken off.

While it is a damp evening now we enjoyed a breezy, lightly overcast, walk and there were some lovely shafts of light coming through holes in the cloud putting a splash of colour on the surrounding slopes. We saw a few red deer and a lot of ravens. On the last outing here a massive golden eagle soared silently perhaps a hundred metres above. I know of another remote glen, not far from here as the eagle flies, which is thought to have nine eyries.

Right at the summit the wind was strong and it didn't take long to start feeling cold if you stopped for a photo.

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I'm going to post now and will add to the story later.