Leana Mhor, Carn Dearg & Beinn Teallach

This was my second attempt at this little expedition to the hills east of Glen Roy. The first was thwarted by the lack of a bridge at Cranachan. So this time I took the car up the Bohenie Road and with care took the track to NN324845 which is an excellent access point for these hills.

Leana Mhor (GM/CS-090) - 678m - 2 points
QSOs: 40m CW - 2, 40m SSB - 2

A pleasant riverside walk leads up to the col between Léana Mhor and Carn Dearg and then to the summit.

I arrived at the summit admist thick clag an hour before the time I had announced on the reflector and so took my time setting up the pole and long wire and putting out a CQ on 40m CW. DF9RC and EI7CC were worked amidst quite deep qsb. I am still getting back into CW and find myself quite shaky and nervous. Can only manage about 12wpm at the moment but am gradually improving. I wimped out onto LSB and persistant calling on 7.045 brought M0ELS in Faversham and G3RUO in Leicester. These seemed like freak openings because no other G stations were heard anywhere on the band.

Carn Dearg (GM/CS-067) - 834m - 4 points
QSOs: 2m FM - 4

Having got my 4 contacts, I wandered off over to Carn Dearg and found a small amount of shelter from an increasing wind just off from the summit. I heard GM7PKT on 2m and so decided to try VHF on this one. GM4TOE had also just popped up on 2m having got to the summit of Ben McDui. GM4COX made three QSOs but then I got stuck for a 4th but eventually worked GM6GRE by swinging the beam towards Inverness.

Beinn Teallach (GM/CS-044) - 915m - 6 points
QSOs: 2m FM - 3, 40m CW - 1

Then down to the Loch and up the North side of Beinn Teallach (a heck of lot more interesting than slogging up the south side!). Still thick clag. I found an excellent bit of shelter near the summit enabling me to relax and settle in for a bit. The last time I was here was a battle for survival in a raging blizzard. I set up the long wire again but MM0DHY & 2M0RUP (on CS-104) were quickly worked on 2m with the rubber duck as was GM7PKT on his next summit. Since I already had the long wire setup, I got the paddle out again and worked DL0CUX on 40m CW for my fourth qso.

To round it off the clag cleared giving great views from the summit of Beinn Teallach all the way back to the car. It felt like a satisfying day. Wildlife included a multitude of little lambs on the hill, a nervous standoff with a dozen stags, a red fox, golden plover (heard but not seen) and millions of caterpillars.

Here is a previous unsuccessful attempt at Beinn Teallach in wild winter conditions.