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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