Long Lie vs The Cairnwell. A Tough Call

[jupe1407]

With a fairly quiet weekend on the cards, and my other half wanting peace and quiet to edit her photos, I debated the merits of a long lie, against getting The Cairnwell Munros out of the way. I realise this sounds rather dismissive, but I had viewed them as little more than three blue balloons, going by some reports on here, and only really enjoyable in the winter. The previous weeks' decent weather had thawed things out so i was rather expecting a muddy, tedious slog.

So i dragged myself out of bed and up to Glen Shee, pleasantly surprised to see there had been a decent snow dump over night. I got suited and booted, headed past the ski centre and decided to head in a straight line up Carn Aosda following one of the ski tows. I was amazed to reach the summit in 25 minutes

North from Carn Aosda's summit

South to Glen Shee from Carn Aosda's summit

It was a bit blowy and frankly freezing, so i headed on down and followed the path to the bealach, then made for Carn a'Gheoidh, stopping (in no particular order) for a banana, fag and an apple (breakfast of champions ).

I think this stretch took roughly an hour, but was thoroughly enjoyable away from the dilapidated look ski tows and fencing. A quick pull up the final slope to the summit and i was at Munro number two. Carn a'Gheoidh is quite remote, with fine views out towards Beinn a'Ghlo and various other mountains i have yet to learn the names of. I met a couple of guys who had tackled the route the other way round, starting with a steep ascent of the Cairnwell.

Again i took a couple of photos and got on my way.

Beinn a'Ghlo range from Carn a'Gheoidh

I met about a dozen other walkers on the way back to the Cairnwell. It was a pleasant wee stroll, with fine views to be had.

Creag Leacach

Mount Blair

The Cairnwell and Creag Leacach

I was soon at the summit of the Cairnwell, which is a bizarre sight to say the least.

The Cairnwell's summit area *shudder*

So that was that. Three Munros in little over three hours, most fine weather and some lovely views. Even the descent, although steep and slippy was over with pleasingly quickly and i was soon back at the car, and heading back down the glen. All in all, a far better than expected jaunt and a lesson perhaps that even the most theoretically mundane walks can be very enjoyable.

[simon-b]

A nice walk, jupe. There are some great views from that round, despite the immediate foreground and its constructions. The avalanche forecast has still been looking worrying for the Southern Cairngorms, but things don't look too scary in your photos. It's sensible to be selective with routes at the moment, your walk seems to have been OK.

[David-Main]

Good walk jupe, I know how you feel about getting up, I was the same this morning as I new there had been fresh snow on the hills, I left home at 9.30 this morning bound for the drumochter munros with a lot of doubt in my mind but had a great day, only thing I forgot to pack my camera in the rush . Love your pics.

[litljortindan]

Looks like you got a good day. I wanted to walk today but fell on my knee playing football last night. Some vicarious walking is better than none.