A wet and misty start. This hill and Chno Dearg we really just picked as being on the map and accessible from Fort William. We weren't in any real hurry and arrived at Fersit about 11.00. I think there must be a jinx on Fersit as the first thing we did was to walk up the wrong road. The book said follow the forest track which we did, but we picked the wrong one and didn't notice for about half a mile. That meant half a mile back and half an hour on the journey. It didn't help our moods in that it started to rain, and then became a pattern of good weather, spitting rain, full rain, good again. No problems then in going along a road/track through the forest, over the railway and up to a farm where we left the road. The route was obvious although over open ground and I think we might have left the road a bit early as we had to go through a field of cows and then over a fence. The terrain was awful, boggy and full of hummocks, not at all pleasant. The way forward was towards and up Sron na Garbh- bheinne, a climb not dissimilar (but easier) than that up the nose leading to the Easains. Slow we were yet again but made it without any difficulty to the ridge above the nose. Some people we noticed below us had now got ahead. They missed the nose altogether which is a shame. It is often these "noses" which provide the best climbing and it spoils the fun just to take the easy way up. Once on the ridge the mist came down but provided no problems at all as the way forward was clear and although very slow we eventually reached the summit. About the only feature I can remember from this top is the fact that I cannot really remember it. This is a new feature as previously all mountains and summits have had their own characteristics and been individually memorable. This hill and Chno Dearg I think I found to be so alike to the Easains that they begin to blur.
As we moved off the summit of Stob Coire Sgriodain the mist cleared and we could see walkers ahead. This we used as a basis for the next part of the walk. Chno Dearg itself was in mist all the time and the correct route would have been to follow the ridge round to Meall Garbh. We felt it unnecessary to climb Meall Garbh and having pinpointed the previous walkers in our minds we headed off in their direction, hoping to go round Meall Garbh. Walking ESE and contouring the ridge we were confident we were going in the right direction. But when I looked at the compass and saw we were heading north panic set in and we adjusted the walk again in a SE direction. After a few minutes the compass again said north and as we were then in thick mist we were completely bemused [Afterwards we realised that by contouring the hill
we were circling round and to have remained on a ESE bearing we would have had to go uphill across the ridge]. Anyway we worked it out that we probably had wandered too far from Chno Dearg and that to reach it we would simply have to walk uphill, on the basis that uphill had to be the way to the summit, whatever the direction. The only worry was that we might meet crags or cliffs but fortunately there were none and eventually we found ourselves on what appeared to be a summit plateau. The only problem was that there was no cairn, and I have yet to meet a summit without a cairn. We weren't helped by yet another twilight zone experience. We had been climbing south but on reaching the plateau the compass appeared to turn 180º and was showing north. Obviously we must have turned on the plateau without noticing it but it is a very disconcerting experience. Taking a bearing we walked across the plateau and were delighted and relieved when in about 100 yards or so we spotted the then obvious cairn. Photographs taken and then a conference as to how to get down. The guide said go down NNW on easy slopes but the first obstacle in this direction was a large snow field. Normally we would have been happy to shoe ski down this but the patch was convex and in the thick mist we could not tell if it ended on a cliff edge or what. A bit of a struggle to get round it and down which took us under the mist cover and showed us the snow patch would have been dead easy. After that it was an easy descent down - it is a series of flat ridges and dips affording easy walking. Or should I say sliding. It was pouring so much (and had been all day) that water was pouring down the hill in all directions. The streams were torrents and waterfalls, pathways were rivers and the grassy slopes were boggy and full of flowing streams of water. Still we came down quick enough and even managed at the end to overtake two of the walkers who had passed us earlier on.
