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At last, my first of 10 delayed winter/spring reports, 9 more still pending. It's been a month since we climbed Meall na h-Aisre and much has happened since, feels like this was years ago...
I spent most of March feeling like I was dreaming the same nightmare over and over again. Thankfully, the time spent on the hills helped me stay sane. I was waiting anxiously for every opportunity to turn off all the electronic devices (maybe except from the GPS
) and turn on my inner wild cat. Kevin, though he was less affected by the whole situation, shared my anxiety and also wanted to get away from the troubles of everyday as often as possible. He had a few extra days off to use in March and we hoped to use them to recharge batteries. In early March, there was still a substantial amount of snow on higher ground, so if weather smiled, we could enjoy some proper winter walking. We hadn't done much serious stuff in January and February, as most weekends were simply too windy to venture out on the higher ground. Now we had a chance to grab a few mountain tops (even if they would all be repeated ascents - we didn't care).
Since our previous visit to Meall na h-Aisre
in 2013, significant changes happened in the area. A new, wide track was constructed for the access to Beauly-Deny powerline and a large windfarm nearby, so one can now walk 90% of the distance to the summit on something like a yellow brick road. At least we had snow higher up to make this half-day entertaining. To return to Garva Bridge, we descended the south-eastern ridge and followed Allt Coire Iain Oig back to the car park:
The walk starts from the parking area just before Garva Bridge. The area was already occupied by several cars but we suspected that most walkers would be heading for the nearby Munro, Geal Charn (which we had repeated in winter conditions on a different occasion). The day was decent, sunny in the morning with only a small chance of snow showers later on.
- River Spey from Garva Bridge
Not much to say about the route itself. Just follow the track. Even a dog with a limp would find the way to the summit
Kevin marching on past the power pylons:
We noticed a few stags hanging around, most of them were more interested in chewing breakfast rather than running away from us:
Watch your chainage...
At this stage walking was a bit depressing, but I hoped for more inspiring landscape higher up... So far, we were instructed exactly which way to go
The track climbs up to 450m and then drops a little towards a small forest, only to make a 90* turn and start climbing again:
Looking back down in the direction of Garva bridge, River Spey visible down in the glen:
The track continues:
At about 600m, the track crosses Allt Coire Iain Oig which is only a stream at this height, but it was an interesting spot for taking pictures, with the melting snow around:
Past the bridge, the track curves around and leads up to the summit plateau. We walked through a 5-minutes snow shower but as soon as the cloud passed, we were out in the sun again and enjoying the easy stroll:
There was more snow on the final stretch and we lost the trace of the track, but navigation was straightforward. Kevin spotted one of the road indicators sticking out of the snow:
Cloud still bubbled around but we had nice views south and east, to the tops of Carn Liath:
Looking SW towards the Nevis range:
The summit now close, so He Who Knows It All Best is happy
The top is marked with a trig point. Lucy celebrated her 134th Corbett:
Cloud gathering above the tops of the Cairngorms:
More summit views - east and north-east:
The summit was windy so we decided to drop to the bealach above Coire Gorm to have something to eat and a cuppa. This side of the hill was still covered with thick snow but walking was easy on relatively soft surface... Time for a meow... I couldn't help myself
Looking to the SW top (844m) from the bealach:
The lower top is a fantastic viewpoint, probably better than the summit itself; we spent some time here despite the cold wind:
- Geal Charn and the distant Cairngorms
- Meall na h-Aisre (right) and the pano of mountains south of Glen Spean
Assessing the descent route:
Coming down was pretty straightforward. The fence marked on the map proved to be easy to cross - even easier than one might suspect:
Zoom to the Cairngorms:
We followed a small stream into the glen, where it joined Allt Coire Iain Oig. We remembered from our previous visit that there was a bridge further down so we just walked down along the river:
Allt Coire Iain Oig near the wooden bridge:
The ATV track from the bridge took us down to the powerline track and finally back to the car park. On the way, we discussed a possibility of climbing Carn Liath from Garva side and we now have an idea for an interesting route exploring the eastern end of the long Meagaidh ridge. Something I'm looking forward to in summertime.
In my next TR we will traverse a much underrated Munro
