Ascent of Beinn Fhionnlaidh from Elleric

Leaving Birmingham at 03:30 on the Saturday morning, myself, Andy and Smithy headed up to Glen Etive in search of winter conditions. Clocking -10°C near Annandale Services, it was a cold journey up. Eventually we arrives at Elleric, and after a debate decided to ascend Beinn Fhinnlaidh that day, and Beinn Sgulaird on the Sunday. I felt pretty rough on the Saturday, but not as bad as I would on the Sunday!

The weather had been clear all the way up, but as soon as we stopped at Elleric it began to cloud in, although throughout the day the weather was pretty good to be fair. Passing the farm at Glenure we made straight for the open grassy banks of Leac Bharainn that led up to Beinn Fhionnlaidh, not really reching much snow until about 700m.

I think it is fair to say that we all decided that Beinn Sgulaird looked pretty precipituous from this direction, and this resulted in our decision not to climb it from Elleric the following day. Thew weather was fairly kind to us, and before long we were on the summit partaking in lunch. On the way down, as usual, it was I who fell into a bog, the problem of mud on ones trousers being resolved by a short paddle in the River Ure!

Setting off from Elleric we visited first Appin, the strangely named Benderloch, and finally Connell before finding a bed and breakfast and a pub in which to eat.