Monadhliath Mountains means "grey mountains". Running in a northeast to southwest direction, the mountains lie on the western side of Strathspey, to the west of the Cairngorms and to the south east of Loch Ness. The mountains are within the Highland council area, and the south and east fringes are within the Cairngorms National Park. The high point of the range is Càrn Dearg, at 945 m/3100ft, located 24 km south of Inverness.
Snow level down to the Glen. We made it into the car park by plowing the road ourselves. Due to higher Avalnache forecast, we headed here for benign terrain. From 420m, enough snow to cover all tracks/paths. We handrailed the burn line to get us to the bothy. Drifting snow from about 500m upwards. Poor vis from 760m, after loosing the handrail, required bearings and timings and gradient change to get us to the pass at 853m. Strong winds and whiteout with reduced vis to about 10m, we headed east to AiChailleach 930m. Turned on ourselves and couldn`t follow steps due to drifting. We headed to Gael charn, before descending south through deep snow deposits to Creag na h-lolaire and creag nan abhag. Weather turned to snow on descent.
