A white Morven indeed.

[neilfowlie]

A few years back before I decided to take up hill walking I remember driving over from Strathdon to Ballater and looking at this hill standing out from the rest thinking you would get a cracking view from up there. Since then I've always fancied walking up Morven. Having a week off I thought I'd get a few walks in. Didn't count on my car taking three days to pass it's MOT. So, finally on a wet looking Thursday morning I was ready to tackle my second Corbett.
I heard there was still snow up on the hills but silly me thought this wouldn't be a problem where I was going. I arrived at a wide fork in the road about 0.5km passed Bridgefoot where I believed to be the parking spot. With the car parked and with me raring to go I set off. From the car I could see that there seemed to be far more snow than I imagined there would be on top but with the clouds breaking up and the sun coming out it looked like it would be a great day out.

Morven with Balhennie "house" in the distance

The ground right from the off was boggie. I'm guessing the heavy rain that morning and the melting snow doesn't do this almost pathless hill any favours. It's a steady walk through a couple of fields which leads to the ruined farm house at Balhennie and from then it is straight up. With no path I used the few trees dotted about the side of the hill as a guide to keep me walking in a fairly straight line.

Looking East from behind Balhennie. My car parked to the right.

One of the tree's I used as a marker

The snow to start with was patchy in places and not very deep at all and with my gaiters on I was quite comfortable but the higher I got, the deeper it got and harder it was getting. This wasn't going to be a quick up and down as I thought.

The start of the white stuff

Looking towards Culblean Hill

The clouds had broken up almost completely above my head and with sun beating down it was time to take a couple of layers off. The views that started to open up behind me were great. With the likes of Loch Kinord below me and Mount Keen opening up to the south this was so worth the effort.

The task ahead

Looking towards Loch Davan and Loch Kinord

The Buck in the far distance

Looking back

Mount Keen

This remembered me of when my friend Milner and I climbed Carn Aosda before we had decided to walk up the edge of the ski lift where the snow has been compressed. Here I didn't have that luxury. So it did cross my mind to turn back and if the weather had been off then maybe I would have but with the sun out and plenty of time on my hands I continued on. As I reached the 600mtr mark there is almost a flat section of ground before the next climb starts. It was time for a quick stop, admire the views and get some water down me. By now the north face of Lochnagar could just be seen.

Looking east with Pressendye to the left

At 600mtrs, the second false summit ahead.

Looking back at the "flat" section of Morven

At about 720mtrs I approached Little Cairn and from here I could see the next "summit" appearing from behind - Mid Cairn.

Little Cairn with Mid Cairn in the back ground

I decided to stop here for 10 minutes to re-fuel. I couldn't believe I had been walking for 2.5hrs and had only travelled 2km. I'm far from the quickest walker but I thought I would be doing a little bit more than 1km per hour but I suppose it's all about trial and error. I still had a kilometre to go so I reckoned it would be at least 1pm before I got to the summit.

Approching Mid Cairn, 820mts.

On top of Mid Cairn

From Mid Cairn I could finally see the summit of Morven. With the wind coming from the west, which had been nonexistent walking up the east side of Morven, had now started to pick up. Never has 0.5km looked so far.

In the distance, the summit - 872mtrs

The summit zoomed in.

It took me 15 minutes to final reach the top from Mid Cairn, 3.5 hours in total but well worth it for the views.

Morven - 872mtrs

Lochnagar

Mount Keen

Bennachie, far distance centre left

Loch Davan, zoomed in.

After a quick bite and one last look around it was time to go. I had thought about heading south east and pick up the track just past Bad na Beinne which would in turn take me back to Balhennie but I thought it would be easier to retrace my steps through the snow. Let the truth be told, I was knackered.
A great day out again on my own or so I thought when I say this little fella about half way down....

I'm not alone....

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[ChrisW]

Great report Neil, hard to believe I was up there a couple of weeks before that - bathed in sunshine with virtually no snow to be seen, took a less direct route than yours but really enjoyed the hill
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10274

[neilfowlie]

Sorry ChrisW, been off line the last week or so. Had a look at your report. Superb! It's like two different hills with the same views. It is hard to believe there is only 2 weeks between both walks and a totally different feel to reading about the walk. Will have to try this Corbett again when you can actually see a path.