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With just 3 Cairngorms to go I was looking to get the best out of the remaining of my local hills and it turned out just fine. Another middle of the night alarm and I was on my bike in near pitch darkness for the by now familiar ride up to Derry Lodge at 6:56. Only being night-time it wasn't so familiar. But the track was snow & ice free and I was pulling into Derry Lodge less than half an hour later. I needed my head-torch to get sorted for the transition to walking but five minutes up the Glen Derry path I dispensed with it. Still an hour to dawn so I guess I was roamin' in the gloamin' (sorry!)
Derry Cairngorm Pre-DawnTaken 10 minutes before sunrise on the slopes of Bienn Bhreac (at an altitude of 730m).
Beinn Bhreac SunriseAround 850m and the sun puts in its appearance. The hill with the transmitter atop is Morrone.
A couple of rocks mark the way off the main path to Beinn Bhreac. The wee path was pretty soggy to start with and then icy - so walked most of the way in the heather to the side of the path. Patchy hard & icy snow from 800m but further up it was just a few centimetres of fresh powdery stuff. Topped out at 9:10. Got out my wee anemometer thingy: minus 3 with a steady 15mph breeze, giving a wind chill of around minus 10. So it was on with another layer and out with the flask.
Sunny Beinn BhreacView south from the summit of Beinn Bhreac, taken at 9:39, an hour after sunrise. This smaller cairn is about 50 metres south of the summit cairn and seems to mark the outlines of what was a large stone shelter. Lochnagar on the far left.
Sunny Beinn Bhreac #2Another from the summit of Beinn Bhreac, looking south.
Beinn Bhreac PanoramaView west from the summit of Beinn Bhreac. Encompasses around 120 degrees. Click the link for a full sized version (goes for the next pano too).
As you can see from the [Photoshopped
] photos it was a wonderful day. With the frozen ground I made a beeline for Beinn a' Chaorainn. Really easy going over the first k. By stomping along you could just get your heel into the patchy snow. A bit slower through the frozen & extensive peat hags. This must be a real bog hell any other time of year.
Craig Derry PanoramaTaken about a third of the way between Beinn Bhreac and Beinn a' Chaorainn with the latter being the hill on the far right of this panorama. This view encompasses around 170 degrees, with north to the right.
Not GooeyThis is a view up the upper reaches of Glen Derry with a bit of Derry Cairngorm on the left (with some of Ben Macdui behind it) and Stob Coire Etchacan (a bit of Beinn Mheadhoin) to the right - and lots of frozen peat hags to the fore.
Ben Macdui From Beinn a' Chaorainn Starting the fairly gentle climb up to Beinn a' Chaorainn with (from left to right) Derry Cairngorm, Ben Macdui and Stob Coire Etchachan for company. The tracks on the snow are those of a mountain hare.
Derry Cairngorm From Beinn a' ChaorainnFrom the same spot as the previous shot but looking further south. Beinn a'Ghlo hills on the far horizon.
The direct route was also mainly on rocky ground as opposed to a large snow sheet further to the east where there is a shallow corie. Did think about donning my crampons but the slope was fairly shallow so I didn't figure I'd come to harm if I did slip so I just got the old ice axe out. On the way down I did end up on my arse once but didn't slide anywhere - so I've still to do a self-arrest in anger. Ran out of puff on the way up despite the easy going so needed a wee stop for some sustenance before topping out at 11:30.
Feathery RimeRime on one of the rocks in the summit cairn on Beinn a' Chaorainn. The sun was out hence the bare patch on the right.
Beinn a' Chaorainn CairnView north east from the summit of Beinn a' Chaorainn. The lower slopes of Beinn a' Bhuird to the right.
Ben Macdui From Beinn a' ChaorainnWith the summit cairn of Beinn a' Chaorainn to the fore.
BobblyTaken between Beinn Bhreac and Beinn a' Chaorainn and looking towards Ben Macdui.
For my route back I'd decided that if it wasn't too windy I'd keep high and made my way down to the west of Beinn Bhreac (Coire an Fhir Bhogha). The wind had dropped away almost completely by now so I stuck with this plan. This route has a number of advantages and one disadvantage. On the plus side I won't have to worry about the crossing of the Glas Allt Mor, no knee sapping steep descent to the Lairig an Laoigh but best of all the prospect of great views along Glen Derry. The disadvantage was more peat hag hell - well it would have been if it wasn't frozen but it was still harder than a nice path down in the glen. The hagginess lasted to just past the Craig Derry bit and there was even a path or two for bit of the decent. The heather got a bit thick around the 650m mark so I then angled straight down to Glen Derry & its nice path.
Glen Derry TreeView up Glen Derry with Beinn Mheadhoin at the far end. This was taken at around 580m which is pretty much the top of the tree line in these parts.
The iciest bit of the day was the kilometre after crossing to footbridge to the west side of the glen but I survived this and was back on my bike by 3pm and back to the car 20 minutes later. I was expecting to be at least an hour longer. All in all another great Cairngorm day.
Flickr set over
here. One or two from the latter part of the walk still to be added.
