by Caberfeidh » Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:53 am
It's a long slog wherever you do it from. I've been through it summer and winter. Stonefall is a constant danger whatever time of year, so moving quickly between areas where you might shelter (like a huge boulder/ bank of snow) is a good way to go. Having experienced stonefall/ice and snow avalanches, I prefer to wear a helmet when in the closest part of the pass.There will likely be big snow fields there at the end May, be carefull not to fall down holes in them as they are very deep and may have deep water in them. It will be very windy in the narrowest part of the pass, caused by air movement being funnelled through the gap in the hills. Be prepared with wind-proof clothing even though it is warm and summery in the glens. It is very impressive scenery with beetling cliffs and great swathes of scree. Look out for eagles, ptarmigan, falcon, and many other wild critters.Look out for remains of the ancient path, flagged with great flat rocks, where once walked the kilted highlanders, carrying swords, shields and flintlocks to protect their herds of cattle from the thieves and bandits who infested these hills. Nearing Luibeg you pass a copse of trees still known as "The Robbers Copse". If going from Rothiemurcus toward Braemar, Corrour bothy is a good stop-off point but tends to be busy. In the Rothiemurcus forest there is a flat open grassy area in the woods, by a curve of the river. There are the ruins of two cottages, built by men of Rob Roy MacGregor's band who stayed here to help a local landowner against a bullying neighbour. Their descendants lived there until between the two world wars. On the path down from the pass to Corrour you pass over the Tailors' Burn, where there is a large rock weathered into convoluted shapes. Here many years ago, three young men (who were tailors, hence the name), stopped to rest after battling through the snows of the lairig on an ill-advised wager that they could dance a jig on Hogmanay in both Rothiemurcus and Braemar. Their frozen bodies were found a long time later. At the headwaters of that burn in recent years two U.S. fighter pilots were killed when their planes slammed into Ben MacDui. In the pass about twenty years ago a tourist took his two kids for a walk but they were overtaken by bad weather and one of his children died. It is an unforgiving place, be carefull.
