206. An Socach (227). 07/01/2019

The need to catch a train made us chose a short walk today and a look at the forecast made us unsure whether even that would be possible at all. "90 mph gusts will make walking tortuous in exposed areas", severe wind chill coupled with some rain meant I wasn't too optimistic, but things turned out better than expected!

It is also worth noting that the route we took (up the glen from Badoch) was far preferable to that of two guide books we had read, taking only slightly more time and begin far more pleasant all round. We opted for staying in the glen for as long as possible to be in some shelter.

We began at first light in moderate wind (even in the glen) and rain. This continued for a little over an hour as we made our way (into the wind!) up the glen. Then the rain stopped. Then the clouds lifted. There was still some wind, but we could see everything and were in no discomfort as we left the far end of the track and made our way across the frozen bog to the summit ridge.

Having been gradually climbing along the track, there was very little ascent left and what little remained was in the shelter of the hill, so we could put most of this behind us before pausing to don extra layers, batten down the hatches and climb out of shelter onto the ridge. We then had about 1km to walk into the wind to the summit, but we got the feeling the wind wasn't as strong as billed and this was quite doable. We had a great view of our walk from two days previously and stayed for a short while before sailing back to where we had sheltered.

With the wind behind us we decided to continue the more direct route back to the start by following the ridge for longer. It was now that the wind really picked up and for a time perhaps we experienced what had been forecast, being unable to stand as we approached the munro's lesser north top. We reflected on how lucky we'd been that this wind hadn't hit half an hour earlier, since the walk to the summit would have been a real challenge. As it was, we were able to descend easily back to the track and were at the car in 4h30, just before some more rain hit. It felt particularly pleasing to have climbed a hill on a day where we weren't sure we were going to be able to get up anything.

 Battling through the wind to the summit

Glas Tulaichean and Carn an Righ from the summit

201-205. Lochnagar (Cac Carn Beag, 21) (P600 39), Carn a'Choire Boidheach (42), Carn an t-Sagairt Mor (83), Cairn Bannoch (117), Broad Cairn (142). 06/01/2019

Again a little unsure we'd have enough daylight, we set off early from the fantastic Ballater Youth Hostel, so as to be at the Glen Muick car park for 8am, well before dawn. There was enough light to see our way, however, and we climbed steadily from twilight into mist along the very well maintained path. Even as it began to steepen on the 'ladder', the dynamite employed for the benefit of Queen Vic made this a very straightforward ascent.

Still no sign of snow as we reached the plateau, but much to our delight we rose above the cloud as we reached Cac Carn More and had an even better cloud inversion that the day before. With the bright sunlight, today's was made even more exciting by Brocken Spectre at the summit (albeit at distance). This is something I'd never witnessed before and although it was only a halo, as opposed to the rainbow which can be formed when there is more moisture in the air, it was still quite special.

The summit of Lochnagar is spectacular even without lighting effects, with sheer cliffs on all the northern aspects. We appreciated these for a short while before making our way towards White Mounth, not knowing how long the clarity would last.

We did only get about an hour above the clouds, but it was the best time to get it, so we had no complaints - to have spent the entire day in mist would have been a bit of a shame. Carn a'Choire Boidheach was just a small rise in the plateau and we opted for following the tops to Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, rather than losing too much height in case the breaks in the cloud continued. This third munro summit was interesting because it was strewn with the wreckage of a fighter jet, including a near-complete wing.

It didn't take long to follow the ridge through the mist to Cairn Bannoch (fortunately navigation was easy) and then on to Broad Cairn. This was our fifth munro, making this the most I have climbed in a day in 'winter'. By this time my legs were feeling a bit weary, although I realised later this was probably mainly due to not drinking enough water.

Almost from the summit we found the very well maintained path down to the landrover track and then from there down to the side of the loch, which made the descent easy going. When this path rejoined the track, our progress became rapid and we were back at the car in 7h45 and didn't need our headtorches. Although largely misty, this had been a great day in the hills.

 Looking south to White Mounth from Lochnagar

 Sunny above the clouds

 A halo of light around the summit shadow

 Spot the ptarmigan, making the most of the meagre camouflage near the summit

Some wreckage on the Carn an t-Sagairt Mor

199, 200. Carn an Righ (102), Glas Tulaichean (79). 05/01/2019

Assessing the early January conditions, our weekend was due to be fairly mild and without much snow, so we left our winter boots and crampons behind in order to cover more ground. This proved to be wise, since there was virtually no snow at all. The conditions were also better in the east, so we planned for a long day on the Sunday and therefore this walk became a bit of a warm-up to get a feel for conditions.

We got the train up from Cambridge after work and bus to the airport, then hired a car and stayed the night in one of the cheap hotels there. That allowed us to be on the road around 7am and walking before 9, thereby maximising the daylight. In fact we needn't have worried, since we were done well before dusk, but we decided to reverse the route suggested by Cicerone so that we could walk out along a track in case we were donning headtorches by this point.

Chris (my walking partner) had not walked east of the A9 and was appreciative of the long walk-ins found in the Cairngorms. There was a little ice on the path as it began to steepen beside a waterfall, but generally it was very easy going. As we reached the plateau, we skirted a loch which had the thinnest of films of ice reaching the whole way across.

At this point the guide book ominously mentions a 'boggy morass' and given they don't usually bother mentioning such things unless they would suck your boots off, you can imagine how pleased we were to discover it was all frozen solid. This also made for rapid progress and we soon crossed the bog and were climbing into the mist further along the plateau.

We didn't see much from the top of Carn an Righ and it was a bit chilly in the mist, so we didn't stay long. On the way across to Glas Tulaichean we cut the corner, taking advantage of the frozen terrain and were soon climbing the slopes to the summit ridge. As we walked along this wide ridge, there were signs of the mist thinning and sure enough, just as we reached the summit, our heads poked out of it and we were graced with a near cloud inversion. In fact, the sky was quite clear not far from us to the east, but in every other direction we were only able to see the highest summits peeking out above the cloud.

The walk out was very comfortable, almost entirely along a track - in fact we passed mountain bikers only a few minutes down from the summit. We were back at the car after 6h20, probably faster than in summer!

 A frozen misty loch on the ascent.

 The brightening summit of Glas Tulaichean

Beinn a'Ghlo peeking through a sea of cloud