Ian Waddington - 32098

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Awards Completed

MCI MLW ML
Member Of

Winter Walking Record

Details

Date : 19/03/2018

Duration : 8+ hours

Style : Solo

Type : Quality Mountain Day (QMD)

Weather : Clear - sunny - good visibility

Wind : Moderate wind

Camping Type : N/A

Nights Camping : 0

Mountains : An Socach An Socach East Top An Socach point 855m Beinn Iutharn Mhor Beinn Iutharn Mhor - Beinn Iutharn Bheag Beinn Iutharn Mhor - Mam nan Carn Carn an Righ

Flagged :

Description

Bike 6km + 250m, 26km + 1040m, bike 6km + 130m. Glen Ey, Southern Cairngorms,
Inverey car park (08.00), cycled in along Glen Ey on track to GR099845 where the snow got too deep to cycle through (09.00). Headed south east to get onto the start of the ridge up to spot height 853m and on to 855m (10.30). The slope up to the east top of An Socach was loaded with soft slab for a short way, but was not very deep (11.15). The ridge to the summit (11.45) was very pleasant. After a bite to eat, the steep descent south to spot height 756m was straight forward with the snow pack having softened enough in the sun to not need crampons, the axe came out though just in case. A wide loop around the corrie and I was on the steep renascent to Beinn Iutharn Bheag (13.30). Then down again to col west of Loch nan Eun (totally frozen and white) before contouring below Màm nan Càrn to pot height 771m. Just before reaching it I came across a wonderful spring breaking though the snow. There I drank my fill which wasn`t too cold as it was coming direct from the ground. Then the long slog up Can an Righ (15.30) before heading back down for home (at last). Another long ascent up Màm nan Càrn (16.50) before heading north to the final climb of the day Beinn Iutharn Mhòr (17.30). then what felt like a long ridge westward as the sun started to set. The final descent off the ridge felt very steep, on an icy slope, the crampons stayed on until I reached the ruins of Altanour Lodge as it went properly dark (19.25). A slightly panicked rummage for my head torch when I didn`t find it initially saw me following vehicle tracks back to the bike (20.10). The descent by head torch was a bit larry as sections of the track were quite icy. Thankfully it was soon over and I was back to the van (20.50).
A very long day, 13 hours! A very cold start -4ºC in the car park. Bit of a delayed start thanks to helping a young couple in a camper van jump start their van. The old snow had thawed and frozen rock hard. Luckily it generally had a rough surface I could get enough traction on not to need crampons most of the day, unless it got steeper. The weather was quite spectacular with views north to all of the Cairngorms from Braeriach across to Ben Avon, all the Glen Shee hills to the south and east, and west to what I assume was Ben Alder and flat top of Ben Nevis. Drove over Glen Shee that night just in case the snow gates closed as I didn`t fancy the long detour again.

Area : Pitlochry to Braemar & Blairgowrie (Beinn a'Ghlo)

Glen Tilt and the River Dee are the natural boundaries to this area whose eastern edge is the A924/A93 road from Pitlochry to Braemar. Eleven Munros and a large number of other peaks above 600m are in the mountains list, with the tallest being Carn nan Gabhar at 1121m, part of the Beinn a’Ghlo massif. This area is the western Peaks to the west of Glen Tilt are listed in the Glen Tromie to Glen Tilt area.

Location

Marker
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