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Having yesterday abandoned Assynt to the low clouds, my plan was now to ascend a few of the as yet unvisited (by me) summits in the Cairngorms, and I'd loosely homed in on the idea of walking Cairn Gorm and Bynack More. I'd seen from the map that there is a pretty dramatic drop from the top of Cairn Gorm down to the Saddle, and a good old climb up to Bynack More from there - about 300m height difference. Moreover, I couldn't see a straightforward way of combining the two that didn't involve a 10km walk back down Glen More to Loch Morlich, and then a 4 km tarmac tramp back up to the Aviemore car park - and I'm not enamoured of tarmac walking. Nonetheless, when I set off I had more or less decided I would go for it.
But in the event I only topped Cairn Gorm, as related below, by the standard route - which is this...
20210717-110419. This was the first time I'd started any Cairngorms walks from the Aviemore side - purposely, for I guessed that the ski area wouldn't be very pretty. And it surely isn't!
I just followed the wide path that heads in the direction of the south east end of the Fiachail a' Choire Chais ridge.
20210717-112357. On the way up I spotted this beauty, which I couldn't identify.
20210717-121906. Pausing for a breather an hour or so after starting, the view back WNW towards the ski centre, Loch Morlich in the background.
When I'd started out there had been a nice cooling breeze, but as I'd progressed up the path it had got considerably stronger; and once on the ridge it was gusting strongly, regularly throwing me off balance.
20210717-123259. Looking roughly SW from the 1041 spot height towards Stob Coire an t' Sneachda (LHS) and Cairn Lochan (RHS), Braeriach in the background between the two.
20210717-123250. Same widened out to a bit of a pano, with the start of the steeper slope up to Cairn Gorm summit visible on the LHS.
20210717-130458. To the South, Loch Etchachan is visible, with Ben Macdui to the right of it.
20210717-130515. Same in pano, with Stob Coire an t' Sneachda and Cairn Lochan showing to the right
The wind had been increasing all the time as I ascended after getting on to the ridge - I'd guess it was gusting up to 40mph, so I had to walk sailor fashion, splay legged, so as not to be blown over, which was a bit of a struggle. On top of this I was feeling somewhat under par, for reasons I couldn't really identify.
20210717-132538. Looking approximately south west from the summit, with the twin conical peaks of Cairn Toul and Sgorr an Lochan Uaine featuring strongly in the middle background.
20210717-134025. Summit Cairn viewed looking west.
20210717-134645. Having eaten a bit of lunch on the summit, I took a bit of a wander around, walking to the edge of the plateau to the South so that I could see better into Glen Avon. This view is looking south towards Beinn Mheadhoin, the foreground concealing the 550m drop into Glen Avon.
20210717-134702. Same in pano, with Loch Etchachan showing just right of centre.
20210717-135217. Looking ESE towards Loch Avon, and more or less in the direction I would take to descend to The Saddle and then ascend to Bynack More. But I just didn't feel like the slog, still feeling well under par; and with the recollection of the cardio consultant's advice not to overdo it, I had a good excuse to leave Bynack More for another day
.
20210717-135228. The route I would have taken up to A' Choinneach and on to Bynack More, had I followed my original intention (Bynack More in the middle of the pic, middle background).
20210717-135257. Same in pano.
So I returned via the path that passes alongside the Ptarmigan station - a descent of 45 minutes or so.
20210717-150108. Looking back from the car park - it doesn't really look like a 650m ascent.
Very little wind at lower levels, so I parked up near a field, took my camping chair into the field, brewed up, and read my book. After which I have to say I felt much better!!!
3D view of route
