The Journey North - Stac Pollaidh - Cul Mor - Ratagan - The Journey South

Canisp

6th April 2007

This is what Canisp looked like a couple of days after we climbed it.

It was a long walk in. Then it went uphill. Duncan didn't take any pictures on the way up. Ian took this one:

The final ascent was in cloud and reasonably steep. Our pace slowed. Our rests became more frequent. We reminded ourselves that we didn't need to get to the top. Eventually, the angle of incline softened and, to our surprise, we found this:

The land rolled away from this unusual cairn in all directions. We assumed that we were at the top. A wee dram was called for, since it was the first peak which Ian and I had conquered anew together... Ian added a cigar to his enjoyment.

Never one to let the cold get in the way of a smoke, Ian prepares for the ban on indoor smoking:

We decided to eat lunch on the way down. We set off but after a short descent we decided to go back up and take a bearing. When we reclimbed to the top we found ourselves at a higher summit, marked by the more traditional horse-shoe cairn. A little way off we could see what looked like another horse-shoe cairn. We took our bearing and no photographs and descended afresh. Visibilty remained poor until roughly the same point that we had entered the clouds.

Here's Ian contemplating Canisp from afar without any clouds covering it.

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