out with a group of mates, and my mum.
weather had snowed the night before, and the ground was icy, which made the track In towards carn dearg a little tricky with black ice patches.
a very boggy, wet yomp across the heather, with roughly 2 inches of snow made it a little tough going, until eventually we started to reach the upper slopes of the hill.
crampons could have been used, but all of our party were happy enough kicking into the snow.
the very summit clouded in briefly, fairly large cornices already forming on the eastern coire rim.
the weather did stay pretty nice all day apart from the summit, but we were rewarded with views of blue tinged snow covered mountains in the afternoon sunlight. lots of stops for photo, and a heather bash back across to the track we went up to return to the cars in six hours. ready for new years eve partying!
Area :
Monadhliath Mountains (Carn Dearg)
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.
