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Mount Keen - First Munro

Mount Keen - First Munro


Postby goral85 » Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:48 am

Hi All!

I am planning to bag Mt Keen on 29/02/2020.
I only have a B0 pair of shoes and yaktrax in case of emergencies, but not too much scope to buy winter shoes and crampons atm.
What I would like to find out is, what is the most reliable source of information in determining if Mt Keen will be snow covered on the day? I don't fancy driving early in the morning to Invermark just to find out that I need to turn around and drive back :lol: .

Thanks a lot for your help!!!
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby jmarkb » Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:57 am

Most useful sources are probably the SAIS Southern Cairngorms blog http://scairngormsblog.sais.gov.uk/ and the Glenshee webcam https://www.ski-glenshee.co.uk/Webcam

Give current conditions and forecast for this week I would be surprised if Mount Keen were snow-free at the end of the month. On the other hand, the terrain is nowhere very steep, so it may be possible to make a safe ascent without an axe and crampons if it is not icy.
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby goral85 » Mon Feb 17, 2020 12:19 pm

Thanks for the answer jmarkb!
My expectations are exactly what you say. I do have an ice axe but need to work on winter boots and crampons!
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby Dave Hewitt » Mon Feb 17, 2020 12:50 pm

goral85 wrote:I am planning to bag Mt Keen on 29/02/2020.

That would be an excellent way to start a calendar round of the Munros - get the hardest one out of the way first.
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby crfishwick » Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:04 pm

Dave Hewitt wrote:
goral85 wrote:I am planning to bag Mt Keen on 29/02/2020.

That would be an excellent way to start a calendar round of the Munros - get the hardest one out of the way first.

Mount Keen! The hardest :wink:
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby goral85 » Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:54 pm

crfishwick wrote:
Dave Hewitt wrote:
goral85 wrote:I am planning to bag Mt Keen on 29/02/2020.

That would be an excellent way to start a calendar round of the Munros - get the hardest one out of the way first.

Mount Keen! The hardest :wink:


I was just going to ask if you are trying to scare me :wink: ?
Literally all the sources say that this is THE most straightforward Munro of them all.
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby jmarkb » Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:22 pm

crfishwick wrote:Mount Keen! The hardest


Hardest date (leap day), not hardest hill!
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby goral85 » Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:18 pm

jmarkb wrote:
crfishwick wrote:Mount Keen! The hardest


Hardest date (leap day), not hardest hill!


Motivation has just gone up!
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby brpro26 » Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:59 pm

The hill should be no problem but actually getting there might be an issue if it's snowed prior to your attempt, just something to keep in mind. Unless you're all 4x4'd up.
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby goral85 » Tue Feb 18, 2020 9:03 am

brpro26 wrote:The hill should be no problem but actually getting there might be an issue if it's snowed prior to your attempt, just something to keep in mind. Unless you're all 4x4'd up.


Yes that road is tricky. Did the Falls of Unich circuit in poor weather and getting there and back was one of the tricky parts (trees/branches on the road)
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby Lightfoot2017 » Tue Feb 18, 2020 5:32 pm

[/quote]

I was just going to ask if you are trying to scare me :wink: ?
Literally all the sources say that this is THE most straightforward Munro of them all.[/quote]



No, no, no, no, noooooooooooo

Mt Keen is a lovely hill to start your Munro bagging career. It was my first, and, I'm sure, the first Munro for many fellow Aberdonians and those native to the NE.

But I think its maybe pushing it a bit to say its THE easiest. Surely that accolade has to go to the double of Carn Aosda and The Cairnwell? My wee laddie bagged both when he was four. :lol:
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby Senja » Tue Feb 18, 2020 8:11 pm

Was my second last, also got 02/29 out of the way a while back. Loads of dates still needed in the Stag Season
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby Dave Hewitt » Tue Feb 18, 2020 8:43 pm

Senja wrote:got 02/29 out of the way a while back

That's good. It's quite an enjoyable game, and one played - in various forms - by more hill people than one might expect. I'm not sure when I began to deliberately target dates - maybe a decade ago, maybe earlier - but the extent to which it can be quite a slow game is shown by my any-Munro calendar round still being 18 dates short after 1024 days overall. Half of the remaining ones are in December (4) and January (5), but they're difficult and I've no idea when or even if I'll manage them - had hoped to make a bit of progress this time round but weather/work/life factors did for that.

A Ben Cleuch round took 869 outings for the 366 dates, and a Ben Ever one needed 926 outings (although those are interrelated - I've never climbed Ever without Cleuch). The late Alan Douglas managed five calendar rounds of Ben Lomond - each including 29 Feb, of course - which is remarkable.
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby nigheandonn » Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:14 pm

Ahh, but can you go up and down and up again and bank a 29/2 for the next round? ;)
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Re: Mount Keen - First Munro

Postby Dave Hewitt » Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:27 pm

nigheandonn wrote:Ahh, but can you go up and down and up again and bank a 29/2 for the next round? ;)

Ha - I suspect the "normal rules" (whatever they are) for same-day reascents apply whether it's calendar round-related or not. In terms of the specific examples mentioned, I don't think (although I'm not 100% sure) that Alan Douglas ever went up Ben Lomond twice on the same day (I'll see if I can find out), and I've never been up Ben Cleuch twice on the same day.

To drag the thing back towards the OP's question (sorry for the hijack), and relating to Senja's point about Mount Keen being the second-last Munro in their round, I'm more like the OP, in that it's by some distance my furthest-back Munro since the most recent ascent. Mount Keen was no.4 in my round and no.5 overall (I'd already fitted in a repeat Lochnagar ascent), and I've not been back to it despite 37 years and more than 1800 further Munros having come and gone.
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