Lochnagar, Boxing Day 2005

The Christmas turkey, the booze, the puddings. I'd bulked up enough and was ready to tackle Lochnagar from my folks in the 'deen. It was to be cold but stable, which was just as well as I was going it alone. On arrival at the Spittal car park, the thermo on the car read -4C. Aye, bitter indeed. I raced off up the track and past some deer who stared at this dude out at 0800, with the place to myself. I wound my way up to Meikle Pap and then headed up 'the ladder', which was very icy indeed. However, I made terrific time and was soon skiting on towards the summit 'cairn' - more of an agglomeration of boulders really. I had a quick look down the black cleft and moved on, deciding on heading back via Loch Muick. I was very lucky with the weather, it held and it was just a great, cold Winter day. The walkout back along the Loch side was sore due to blisters on the tootsies but that's what I got for racing around. A fab day.

Beinn Dorain

Not long after our previous excursion to Beinn an Dothaidh, Emma and I decided to try this one as we had seen its cone-like summit and really fancied it. Conditions were frosty and the glen was rock hard - excellent, which meant no bog to walk through. Looking up at the col, we could see it but visibility to the summit was non-existent. It would be a day for the map and compass. The route was exactly the same for that of Beinn an Dothaidh to the col but then we began heading directly South and followed a path up the hill. Not long after though, we lost the path but I stuck manfully to the compass reading and after about 1 hour, we reached the false summit -another 100m onwards and we found the real one. The photo shows how cold it was at the summit. It wasn't unfortunately a straightforward descent. We followed the path due North but because we were happy to have summitted (Emma's first Munro in Winter conditions), I forgot to take a compass reading after 10 minutes and we found ourself heading down a rather steep slope. We had gone off the path and confusion set in - admittedly, we panicked a bit and headed back where we thought we came from but to no avail, we seemed lost in the clag. If this has ever happened to you before, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about but I began to worry about getting us off the hill. Luckily, we heard voices not far from where we were and within seconds, people appeared and we walked behind them. It was a valuable lesson to keep checking the map and compass while in clag. The rest of the descent was fine apart from watching someone fall flat on his face, as both his hands were hand-bound with his walking poles. We felt sorry for him and asked if he was okay but tried hard not to laugh. A nice pint with an element of relief back in the hotel was had.

Beinn an Dothaidh

Once Emma had come back from Canada, I was eager to get her back on to the hill and we decided on this one, as primarily, the Bridge of Orchy hotel has a nice bar. Also, we had seen this and it's neighbour, Beinn Dorain, every time we had gone up to the Highlands. It was a fairly driech day and we walked up a gentle path to the col. The part just before the col is quite steep in places but once on the col (ca. 700m), most of the climbing is done. However, by this point it was dingin' it doon so we headed off for the summit in a hurry. I took a compass reading and checked the map to ensure we were heading towards the correct summit cairn, as there appeared to be at least 3. Once we found our cairn, we didn't hang about as it dropped in temperature and the wind at the top was bitter. A quick descent back to the car and ultimately the hotel saw a rather fine pint being had and that lovely warm feeling of being dry and having experienced a miserable day on the hill. Aaahhh.

Ciste Dubh and Aonach Mheadhoin

As part of the Glen Shiel weekend, Charlotte and I decided to hit these two - I had particular fondness for the former as it had an impressive North East face and was supposed to be airy near the top. We followed the path from near the Cluanie Inn and walked all the way to a bealach, a gentle walk. From here, it was due North and up quite a steep route but once on top of this, it was quite straightforward although near the summit, you do get a great feeling of exposure. From here, we headed back down to the bealach and then headed up the hill (Sgurr an Fhuaruail) beside Aonach Mheadhoin - it was quite an arduous climb but once we bagged the 2nd Munro, we headed back to the Cluanie via Sgurr an Fhuaruail for a nice short day out. Coffee and cake was had here and then once we changed, it was back doon tae Glasgow, with the glorious sunshine making it happy day indeed.

Saileag, Sgurr a Bhealaich Dearg and Sgurr na Ciste Dubh

On the 1st May 2004, I and another compadre decided to bag a few Munro's on the North side of Glen Shiel. It was to be a balmy weekend and on the first day out, we decided to do some of the Five Sisters. Initially, we headed over to Saileag and then East to get Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg - we decided to leave Aonach Mheadhoin to another day anc combine that with Ciste Dubh - next post.

After S a BD, we passed Saileag and then on over to Sgurr na Ciste Dubh, the 1st of the Five Sisters. By this point, quite late in the day, we decided to head back thinking we had done at least 4 Munro's. Wrong! We had merely bagged a top on the way to S n CD and so for a 9 hour jaunt, the tally was 3. However, it was a great day and the summit cairn on Sgurr na Ciste Dubh was fecking huge - I danced on top of it.

The South Glen Shiel Ridge

In Glen Shiel, there are a group of Munro's (seven) which can make for a great day out of high-ridge walking. Or, if you go in a typical Scottish summer, you can be soaked for hours on end, taking in the spectacular views of mist, drizzle and your compadres some way off in the distance. I attempted the ridge with Shaz and Big Al as well as two others, who wandered off on their own to bag the Saddle and Sgurr na Sgine at the end of the ridge. Team spirit, don't you love it?

We made our way up the private road from the Cluanie Inn. As an aside, this is an excellent place to stay, eat superb food and enjoy some fine beers (Black and Red Cuillin on tap). The owners, Alex and Cecilia are the hosts with the most. Moving on, we made our way up the path/stream towards the 1st Munro of the day, Creag a Mhaim. With the hard part over, we continued onwards to the 2nd Munro, which wasn't far off at all (Druim Shionnach) and then made our way swiftly to Aonach air Chrith, the highest and steepest of this particular section of the ridge - a herd of deer flew past us from the corrie below - they can fair move. At the 4th Munro, and 2 of our triumvirate soaked, we made the correct decision to head down the stalker's path and get back to the car. It was 1500 in the afternoon, we'd been on the hill 6 hours and we were only halfway - 2100 was not an acceptable getting off time in high winds, battering rain and dusk at 2000. At this point in time, we passed a party of 3 walkers who were making their way up. They assured us they were going to do the remaining half and seemed well equipped but it appeared, in my opinion, to be a late start.

As it transpired, later that night while chilling out in the Kintail Hotel, we heard a helicopter and then again, early the next morning. Someone had fallen on Sgurr na Sgine, at the end of the ridge and unfortunately died. It was a stark realisation of the conditions we'd been walking in and I think a correct decision by our group. It certainly alerted me to the fact that the Scottish hills in summer are far from benign and made what was an enjoyable walking weekend, quite a sad experience.

The Cairnwell Three

It sounds like a gang of baddies and the fact that you can tick these three Munro's off in a fairly short time with little effort, is fairly criminal. There isn't much in terms of a sense of achievement, if you start off at the car park, just past Glen Shee ski centre. Also, The Cairnwell and Carn Aosda as hills are tarnished by the ski paraphernalia so you don't feel any degree of isolation until you get to Carn a Gheoidh, which I enjoyed as I ate my lunch in the sheltered cairn. I did these on my own so I didn't hang about for long and got on my way again. If you want to bag 3 Munro's but not in a memorable fashion then this is the place to come - why anyone would want to repeat them is beyond me. I'd rather eat a yard of my own poo.