Not a bad weekend in Glencoe

Photo from Ed of a trip to Glencoe last weekend

Another Sunday Walk

Last week’s wintry weather caught out a team of AMC Sunday Walkers who arrived in Inverey to find their plans for a bike-assisted bagging trip thwarted by tracks covered in refrozen snow and ice. Bruce, John & Ann instead opted for a walk up the only reachable Munro, Carn Bhac. 

 

Starting out

The going on the track was predictably slippery but the rest didn’t look too bad, with only a healthy dusting of snow visible. This early confidence was misplaced, as the hillside we ascended was covered in deep deep heather, hiding quite a bit of snow. A bit of a flouter followed, and it felt like a very long time before we reached the thin heather and firmer going of the higher slopes.

 

A rare bit of easier going on the first ascent

View north into the Cairngorms

After a welcome elevenses we trekked around the ridge from Top of the Battery to Carn Bhac, where we glimpsed in the distance the only other people we were to see all day.

First lunch was a bit rushed in the biting northerly wind and we were soon off west to follow the long undulating ridge that runs north before curving round back to Inverey. 

 

Approaching Carn Bhac

Despite being into the wind and having areas of breakable crust, this section was very pleasant as by now the sun was getting low and the light was fantastic. All day we seemed to have been under clear skies while all around was cloud. Then the sun set and it got very cold, but before long we were back at the cars after a good recovery from what looked like a doomed day out.

Breaking Crust - Yuk!

Panorama of the Cairngorms

Beinn a Bhuirid just before sunset

Morna's Morven & Mona

Last week's Sunday walk was a bit of an M-fest. Organised by Morna, the objectives were the two Deeside Marylins of Mona Gowan and Morven. We set off from the high point of the Gairnshiel-Corgarff road at over 500 m, which made the first ascent on a landy track quite easy.

Denis in action, Ben Avon behind showing how much snow had gone since the previous week

Enjoying the bright sun that was taking the edge off the sub-zero air temperature we made good progress along the ridge to a well-earned elevenses sheltered behind the huge cairn on Mona Gowan. Here Rod left us and headed back to his car, leaving the rest of us to tackle Morven. 

Mona Gowan (L) and Morven

After admiring the interesting rock features of the Slacks of Glencarvie we were soon on the final ascent of the day. Here Denis decided to pioneer a bold route around the hill and took Morna with him for company, leaving Ann, John & Judith for the summit team. 

 

Top-tastic!

Home of the summit logbook

The ascent duly recorded in the summit logbook, we made a rapid descent to the south where we met Morna and Denis, slightly dishevelled after a bout of juniper bashing. All that was left was the pleasant wooded descent back to Denis' van in the FC car park, and some very fine pieces in the Ballater tea shop. A real Sunday walk.

Winter day out with the Madman

Despite being out ceilidh-ing into the wee small hours, Sunday morning saw Rod, Ann John and their old friend Mad Malcs, who was visiting for the weekend, pile out of the car into a freezing wind just north of the Glenshee ski centre. The objective was helping Mad Malcs bag some of his remaining Munros.

Although we had expected a bit of snow we hadn’t expected it to be quite so wintry right down into the glens, with plenty of ice about. This had the upside that the often boggy approach to Carn an Tuirc was frozen and much less messy than normal. We took the direct route straight up the front, which was a bit of a novelty as the rest of us reckoned that we probably hadn’t walked the hill for at least 15 years, although we had skied it at least once a year for that long.

Heading up Carn an Tuirc

 We didn’t hang around long in the biting wind at the summit and trotted off south towards Cairn of Claise. Soon we were off the boulder fields and wishing that we had brought our skis as the reports of it being baseless cosmetic fluff proved incorrect. We could have easily skied most of the day in conditions that, in many winters, would be about as good as it gets.

Cairn of Claise

By the second summit the weather was clearing up nicely and the wind dropping. Stopping for first lunch in a sheltered sun-trap felt more like alpine touring than November walking in Scotland. Then we saw one of the strangest sights we’d seen in the hills for some time – a snow bike for want of a better term. It was like a mountain bike with massively oversized tyres, wide wheels and presumably very low gears. By the look of the trail it left it was going in about twice as deep as skis would and while that was an improvement on walking none of us felt envious – it looked like hard work.

 

Heading towards Glas Maol

The plod up Glas Maol was just that but by now the weather was stunning and we were enjoying topping up the tans. At the summit there was quite a collection of people. We had been wondering where everyone had got to on such a nice day as we had only seen

three up to then.

After second lunch it was time to split. Rod and Mad Malcs went south for the final Munro of the day, Ann & John headed back north to fetch the car and drive back to collect the others. 

Descending towards Cairnwell

Glas Maol

Glen Clunie and Beinn a Bhurid

 

A Proper Soaking

Last weekend Ann & John ventured south to the Lake District. The forecast was, optimistically, poor for Saturday with severe gales and heavy, at times torrential rain moving in from the west in the middle of the day. Heeding this we were on the hill by 8, the mighty Marilyn of Blake Fell above Loweswater. Apart from the odd gust it wasn’t very windy, and we even had a brief bit of sun but it wasn’t to last. The cloud thickened very rapidly, the drizzle came on and the wind-chill kicked in earlier than expected.

Towards the Grasmoor group from Blake Fell

After traversing Gavel Fell we dropped down towards Hen Comb, just as things started to get seriously wet. Hen Comb was bypassed in favour of Marilyn number two, Mellbreak. We nearly didn’t bother as by now sheets of rain were marching across the fells and the gusts were nearly knocking us over at only 250m.

Red Pike hiding in the rain

Grasmoor from Mellbreak

It was a choice of going back over the hill or wading through unusually (for the Lakes) tussocky and swampy bog. The hill won and it wasn’t too bad, the wind now being behind us. The rain even eased a bit and we got some views of Grasmoor. The steep, at times scrambly descent, demanded care but soon we were back at the car in the now intermittent sunshine, cursing our timing. 

Decending Mellbreak

Half an hour later though we got a reminder of what torrential rain rally is, making us feel like the early start was worth it after all. This was reinforced by being down in time for Keswick market to stock up on genuine Cumberland sausage. Yum!

Keen Beans

The morning after the club Annual Dinner is never a good choice for an early start but given that Saturday morning seemed to offer the only chance to get up a hill without being soaked and flattened the alarm clock was duly set.

Ann & John rolled out of the car in Glen Tanar at 8 am for a bike-assisted bag of Mount Keen. The crisp air and bright sun on the autumn colours did their best to cut through the fug induced by the previous night’s Brewdog Hardcore IPA, with little success. An hour of cycling later things were looking better, with the hill still cloudless, the threatened gales holding off and a clearer head. The final grind up Mount Keen is not the most inspiring hill walk around, but the views were good and assured us that we had made a good choice as most other big hills were in cloud. 

 

Cycling up the glen

Just to prove it was sunny earlier

By now the wind had picked up considerably but we carried on around to the neighbouring HuMP of Braid Cairn just to make more of a walk of it, then back down to the bikes via Gathering Cairn. The wind and gravity assisted ride back down the glen was fast, interrupted only by a few sadly false mushroom alerts through the woods, to get back to the car just as the rain started.

Traversing from Mount Keen to Braid Cairn

Clachan Yell looking appropriately autumnal

Unexpectedly Wintry...

The weekend before last saw Ann & John returning to decent days out after a summer of keeping on tick-over. We headed for the NE Ridge of Sgor an Lochan Uaine, right in the middle of the Cairngorms.

Driving up Deeside we got or first glimpses of how white it was high up, the result of a few cold days earlier in the week. Thinking this was just a usual early season dusting we set off undeterred for the long approach via Derry Lodge.

Up Glen Luibeg to Ben Macdui

Into the Larig Ghru, Devil's Point left

As we got higher up the Lairig Ghru the ridge looked great and the trek was starting to feel worthwhile. We had only climbed it once before, years back in thick weather so the stunningly clear day was welcome. We couldn't remember much except that we had been carrying backpacking gear, so a dusting of snow shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

First view of the ridge

As we got up the steep pull to Lochan Uaine it became obvious the snow was a bit more serious – wind blasted and refrozen, with plenty of real ice around. Suddenly things didn't look so promising and we discussed heading straight up the easier slope to Cairn Toul. This was disappointing after a 3 hour approach so we decided to give it a go and see how we got on, rarely the best mountaineering decision.

 

Looking up the ridge

Cairn Toul (r)

Heading up

Most of the way up was OK taken steadily with any trickier bit being very safe. Above us though loomed the much steeper and narrower top section. By the time we got to this we had been on the route for 2 hours and were staring to wish we were just up it. Luckily it wasn't any worse than the rest, just a bit more sustained and we soon burst back into the warm sunshine and incredible views all around.

On the top bit

 

Austin leaving the summit. Ben Nevis back right

A late first lunch was accompanied by meeting fellow AMC-er Austin, who had come in from the north over Braeriach, and was the first person we had met all day.

Cairn Toul and Ben Macdui

After enjoying the views we headed off to Cairn Toul, then Devil's Point not long before sunset. The long way out was livened up a bit by a very colourful sunset, and we got back to the car after 11 hours. Not had one of those for a while.