New years day circular. Morven and Mona Gowan

[davetherave]

Date. Saturday 1st January 2012
Completed by. Dave, Julie, Wilson and Jake
Weather. Icy winds, reasonable visibility
Time. 5hrs 45 mins
Distance. 18.5 km
Ascent. 920 m
Hills.
Munro’s x 0
Corbett’s x 1
Grahams x 1


Morven
And
Mona Gowan

our route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Starting from A939 at Glenfenzie

Our 1st walk of 2012 would be a Corbett and a Graham in the Eastern Cairngorms on New Year’s Day. We have been very busy of late; work, parties and family get togethers. Basically every thing except trips to the hills.

So with the weather looking promising we made the decision to head over the Cairn ‘O’ Mount, through Ballater and on to the A939 Gairnshiel – Corgarff road. And from Glenfenzie we would attempt a nice we circular route catching the Corbett Morven and Mona Gowan a Graham the sits NW of Morven

There was not a lot of ascent to claim those two hills, perfect for our out of shape bodies. The 18.5km was the bigger worry. Too much time away from the hills don’t do the confidence any good, so the sooner we got back the better.

From Glenfenzie we took the lower track that would lead to Morven Lodge crossing several swollen streams as we went. Lucky for us we reached the lodge and its outer lying buildings with our feet still dry. We stopped here for about 30 mins for an early lunch, and mulled about before deciding to move on.

We left the track and headed around the South end of The Tom, a pine forest about 1km NE of the lodge. From the forest it was about another 4km gradual climb to reach our first summit of the day Morven. Did not stay long here, an icy wind had been building, and once we reached the summit it was freezing. Just had time to add a comment into the summit book before moving on.

lodge

lodge building

Mona Gowan with the Allt a Bhreabair burn gully

Looking back down to Morven Lodge

Jake and Wilson on Morven

Morven summit

We headed NW from here just avoiding the 681 spot height, then headed for the Slacks of Glencarvle. The slacks looked to be the most interesting part of the walk and did not disappoint. A steep sided gorge, and it even had a mini rock tower lying lower down on the North side. Once we climbed out of the Slacks it was only another 1.5 km to reach Mona Gowan. Was pleasantly surprised with this walk so far, it had turned out to be a fine walk indeed with some good views.

We moved on again, West from the summit and reached Cairnegour Hill. From here we took some pics back along the walk we had came. From Cairnegour hill we moved on West for bit, we then reached a hill track and headed South down of the hill where we eventually reached the road. South again for 1km we reached the car.

The bad boys

Nearing the slacks. with Mona Gowan behind.

Mini rock tower. Looking to Strathdon.

Tower again.

East side of the Slacks

Mount Keen ?

Back to Morven

View back from Cairnagour Hill

Looking to Carn Ealasaid

Morven again

Good to be back, I feel we have been getting very lazy of late. Hopefully that will all change in 2012.

Wishing you all the very best in 2012. Happy New Year.

[dooterbang]

Bet Wilson is glad to be on them hills again also

Looks a nice walk and quickly covered.

Looking forward to some epic reports this year.

Happy New Year to yourself, Julie, Wilson and Jake.

[james-singer]

Nice photo's, I'm hoping to do Morven this year, And yea that is mount keen.

[kevsbald]

Well I haven't done either of these but I'm guessing your route looks pretty tasty to me - not enough photos of Wilson there, Dave. Hoping to see some more of him in 2012. I might even have to join you for a walk.

[Alastair S]

Looks like a good route. I've done both of these but on their own so missed out what looks like the best bit - The Slacks. Thanks for posting

[SMRussell]

Good walk report as usual DTR... I seem to have stumbled upon your reports a lot of late. So much so that I have a tiny and slightly naff wish that one day we'll bump into you guys out in the hills and I'll get to meet the gorgeous Wilson!

[EwaMH]

Awesome photos, I too would like to meet these dogs...and take them home!

[rockhopper]

What a great way to spend the first compared to many of us who were indoors still eating and drinking too much ! Looks a great walk with weather holding up - Jake and Wilson certainly seem to be in their element - cheers

[RyanfaeScotland]

Was planning on doing Morven from the headline route on the WH page but I'm glad I stopped and read through a few of the Walk Reports as this one looks much more satisfying. Will be doing this later this month with a few friends, shall report back how it goes.

[RyanfaeScotland]

Aye this was a cracking walk, great to get off track for a change. We skipped the last 2 peaks and headed straight down from Mona Gowan as time was getting away from us. Anyone looking to walk this soon should be warned that there has been a lot of logging activity so the first portion of the walk, before any real ascent, is an absolute mud fest on the track, looking at knee-high level if you place a foot wrong in places!

Thanks a lot for sharing though, we didn't see a soul the whole route except for the summit of Morven where there was at least 10 on the summit and 15 that we could see taking the advertised route from the east. This was a great escape from the standard route.