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Grahams: Carn Glas-choire.
Date: 20/12/2020.
Distance: 14 km.
Ascent: 490m.
Time: 3 hours, 55 minutes.
Weather: Mostly overcast, breezy on the summit. Couple of small showers.
The luxury of going out on the hills on my birthday wasn't available this year as I had to work instead. In fact we weren't going to bother going out today either, but the threat of more lockdown on Boxing Day pushed us to make the most of our days off beforehand! Carn Glas-choire was a nice easy walk on good tracks, and fairly close to home, so seemed like a good bet. We parked at a large area of forestry commission hardstanding a short distance south of Auchterteang and set off.
Setting off The forecast was for strong-ish wind today, but we weren't really bothered by it until higher up (although it was definitely a bit on the cold side). Once past the farm buildings, the track rose up but the surface was good. I had last been this way 10 years ago and couldn't remember if the surface was this good last time - should we have cycled? Another thing I couldn't remember is the little gorge that the Garrocher Burn runs down - with relatively recent tree planting, this is wild and impressive.
Garrocher Burn 
South to Geal Charn and Meall a' Bhuachaille 
Digging a bigger hole We had a quick look at the tin bothy as we passed - the back door is unlocked but the floor is covered in sheep sh*t, so it wouldn't make a particularly cosy stop.
Garrocher bothy (a bit rough inside) Behind the bothy, we began the main climbing of the walk. Again the track remained good, and once in sight of the summit across the corrie, we stopped for lunch. The steepest part of the climb was beyond this, followed by a new stone track across the plateau which definitely wasn't there previously. This left us with about 50m of ascent across moss and grass, following a quad bike track. This looked easy but was surprisingly soft and slithery. Still, it didn't take us long to reach the summit.
Heading towards Carn Glas-choire 
Creag na h-Iolaire 
Looking back towards the Cairngorms 
Cairngorms are somewhere in there 
Last bit to the summit - soft! 
East to Ben Rinnes 
NW to Carn nan Tri-tighearnan 
Summit photo 
East from the summit The wind had been against us for this final ascent, and it was a bit unpleasant here, so we didn't hang around. At least there were views! I had approached this hill from near Slochd a couple of years ago (shorter but rougher), and I'm still keen to try another line from the Findhorn, but this was the easiest route for today.
Across to the Monadhliath 
Cairngorm plateau finally clear We made good time on the way back out, reaching the car before total darkness. Another stop by the bothy gave us the breather we needed for the final 3 mile march. With 3 more non-working days available before 'lockdown', we wondered what else we might manage...
