Beinn a Bhuird Triathlon

On Sunday Ann & John finally got out for a proper ski in the SE corrie of Beinn a Bhuird. Well skiing was the objective but most of the day was spent on bike or walking. We knew this was likely but sometimes you have to do these things, especially after a disappointingly damp and cloudy squelch around Lurchers the week before.

The approach cycle wasn’t encouraging, even the most reliable lines were thin, broken or just plain missing. Still, they were on the south slopes so we kept the faith and packed in up the easy angled path on the SW shoulder. At just over 700 m we popped out of shelter into the full force of the wind, making for very slow and difficult progress with skis on the back. 

Keeping the faith

Finally, skis on..

Approaching the South Top

Skis finally went on at about 850 m. Could have made it from 50 m lower, but only by descending to reach it which felt a bit pointless. With windage and weight off the back things felt much better, and we were finally skiing, albeit on grass for some of the time. As we turned towards the S top the wind really picked up – I’ve never seen airborne spring snow before, nor appreciated how much it stings. After both being blown over we made it to within 50 m of the cairn and hid behind a large boulder to get sorted for the descent. From what we could see under the cloud, there was more snow and it ran lower in the main Gorms. It would also have been just possible to ski to the summit with lots of zig-zagging and some (h)airy cornice following - definitely not a goer in that wind.

Within the first minute of the descent we were out of the wind and spindrift and into a different day. A fantastic run down the steepest part of the upper corrie was our reward, and being greedy we skinned back up for another go at it. The question now was how far would we get as the interesting lower section in the burn is hidden from above. The snow got a bit grippy below 900 m and finally ran out at about 800m just low enough to give us some fun on a narrow ribbon next to the steepest part of the burn. All that was left was the walk back to the bikes (with windage restored), and a very fast wind-assisted cycle out. Final score was a 6 hour day out with 20 mins of skiing. Was it worth it? Definitely! Was it the last ski of the season..? Who knows, where's that Biggin book?