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Carn a Coire Boidheach - A mist opportunity

Carn a Coire Boidheach - A mist opportunity


Postby icemandan » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:45 pm

Munros included on this walk: Càrn a' Choire Bhòidheach

Date walked: 17/11/2011

Time taken: 6.5 hours

Distance: 25.5 km

Ascent: 1250m

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This hadn't been the plan. We'd set forth from Glen Mhuic, having admired the audio-visual capercaillie experience in the visitor centre, with the intention of doing Broad Cairn and Carn Bannoch. The mist loomed low over Loch Mhuic as we headed west past the lodge.

The Balmoral estate is unusually well maintained - the lodge had new gutters, a well maintained roof, drains on the track were in perfect condition and we were passed by a shiny estate land rover. It's almost a relic of how these estates must have been 100 years ago when their owners had enough money to keep them going (apart from the land rover and the fact that 100 years ago we would have been chased off by men with guns). I hope that highland estates don't start to become a status symbol for Russian oligarchs - we might see those days return.

Anyway we carried on past the lodge up an excellent path towards the Dubh Loch.
P1010220.JPG


The mist was right down - not such a good day for photography.
P1010222.JPG


At this point one of my companions developed a muscle strain and was having trouble going uphill. The other two went down. Having done Broad Cairn and Carn Bannoch (a very long time ago with Dundee University Rucksack Club) my thoughts turned to the unclaimed munro of Carn a Coire Boidheach.

This meant following a faint path along the Allt an Dubh Loch and into the upper corrie. Amazingly on this rough rocky path there were mountain bike tracks. Visibility was nil now and a line of old fence posts provided a route through the boggy headwaters. Eventually the burn curled round and a short climb led to the Lochnagar path.

I made a bee line for the summit - a flattened rock strewn dome with a small cairn on it.

P1010223.JPG


It felt like a strangely pointless objective - an unremarkable random point in the landscape - no reason to go there apart from the fact that it is on a list. I wondered briefly if this is what reaching the South Pole feels like. The cloud was thinning and I briefly entertained hopes of another inversion - but it was not to be.

Time was pressing and I skirted the top of Lochnagar before picking up the excellent path down to the lodge.
icemandan
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Re: Carn a Coire Boidheach - A mist opportunity

Postby adamarchie » Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:03 pm

Dan, I know how you feel about Carn a Coire Boidheach. It was my 50th Munro and surely the least worthy of the name that I've ever climbed. It's redeeming feature is the Stuic on the north side, which I hope to go back for at some stage. Fortunately I was doing it as part of the full round of the five (albeit had climbed Lochnagar before) so it wasn't too much of an anticlimax.

Have you been up any Munros still less worthy of the title? And (to open a debate almost as old as the hills themselves) what would be your vote for a current "top" to replace it? Mine goes for one or other of the Tarmachan ridge hills. There's no way that superb ridge is only worthy of one.
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Re: Carn a Coire Boidheach - A mist opportunity

Postby Beery Hiker » Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:06 pm

The summit looks familiar even in the mist. We did this one last year after Lochnagar but we did see the views from both. The top of the Stuic was a better viewpoint...
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Re: Carn a Coire Boidheach - A mist opportunity

Postby HalfManHalfTitanium » Thu Oct 20, 2016 1:58 pm

Beery Hiker wrote:The summit looks familiar even in the mist. We did this one last year after Lochnagar but we did see the views from both. The top of the Stuic was a better viewpoint...


Must get round to posting up the Lochnagar and Ben Macdui walks from that week sometime!

I must admit, in good weather I enjoyed Carn a' Choire Boidheach. It was a good view from the top (would not be good in mist, I agree) and the hill is redeemed by having The Stuic as part of it, which was a stunning spot.

A random thought here - there is a "top ten Munros" featured on this site - is there a Bottom Ten?

For me,
[list=]The Cairnwell is the worst I've visited, not the fault of the hill itself but of human intervention.
Carn Aosda is also quite nastily scarred.
Carn an Tuirc, although it has a decent outline seen from the road, must hardly qualify as a Munro, because the dip between it and Cairn of Claise seems negligible.
Carn Bhac is a mess of peat bogs - but when I was there, the summit was a wonderful viewpoint for the wilderness all around.
The Monadh Liath get slated a bit too, but I like them (as long as you avert your eyes from the forest of wind turbines to the north).[/list]
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