Tuesday 17 February 2015

Meall a’Bhuachaille

Rather than battle through the deep drifts that were likely to have been deposited in the northern corries following the heavy snowfalls of the past I suggested a walk up and over Meall a’Bhuachaille, a Corbett that overlooks Glenmore Lodge and has a grandstand view of the Cairngorms.  We parked at the lodge and walked in to Ryvoan bothy, seeing only a few people on the path, a couple of whom were heading for Bynack More which sounded an ambitious objective to me !  We had a very early lunch-stop at the bothy before setting off up the east ridge on a tracked path.

Bynack More

We slowly worked our way up and thought we had the mountain to ourselves but as we neared the top a large group of a dozen or more came down the way we were heading.  I thought it unusual that none of them were using poles to make the walking easier, especially for the chap who was holding an arm gingerly, obviously having fallen on it.  A few more were at the summit when we arrived with more making their way up from the more direct Glenmore route.

the Northern Corries

I’m always keen to get to the absolute highest point of a mountain so I climbed the large cairn at the edge of the summit shelter; I don’t think many were as keen because of how snowed-up it was.  Summit photos were taken, snacks were eaten and I chatted to a couple who gave me some suggestions for future walks – local knowledge is always valuable.

Creagan Gorm and the west ridge

As we descended the slope became icier and my confidence in my footing was misplaced as I slipped and fell heavily on my rucksack and bent a new pole that I was using.  It took quite a bit of effort to bend it back to something resembling straight so that I could collapse it down to storage size.  The crampons went on and stayed on for most of the rest of the walk.

Meall a'Bhuachaille from the west

Having passed a lot of walkers heading for the summit the col was reached where I recognised a face that I’d only seen on Twitter and Youtube.  Ben Dolphin (@CountrysideBen) is a blogger who posts some interesting videos of his walks in Scotland and we stopped and had a chat about the route we were on.  He said that there wasn’t enough snow to fully justify using the snowshoes he was carrying and that this was the first time that he’d been recognised in the mountains.  Get used to it Ben, you’ll soon be famous !

After a quick team talk at the col, we decided to walk up to the next summit, Creagan Gorm.  Walking a few yards north from the summit cairn we saw our Brocken Spectres, only the second time I’d seen one.  It was a fleeting sight with it disappearing and appearing again as the mist moved across the front of us.

a faint Brocken Spectre

At this point we had the option of carrying along the ridge or descending back to the col and head straight down to the valley.  We took the more relaxed option, making a beeline from the col back to the path across some untracked snow-covered heather before finishing the walk through the forest. 


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