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First description here so will make it short (ish).
Had planned on hiking up the corbett Sgor Mor and had set off early, however at Perth the signs were saying the Spittal to Braemar roads had the snow gates down so opted for a hike up Ben Vrackie.
See below vid of the walk
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSpJLwVKS3c&feature=autoplay&list=ULaeeRoarFaYE&lf=mfu_in_order&playnext=3&shuffle=784790[/youtube]
Was a little concerned about the road up to Moulin due to the snowfall the previous day, however the road was fine and I arrived at the carpark before dawn
- board at car park
The weather was mild but dry and the snow underfoot was wet so the crampons remained in the bag. The walk through the woods was helped with the head torch but by the time I had made a little more progress, the light was starting to come through. Some views back down towards Pitlochry
- Pitlochry at Dawn
Made good progress up to Loch a Choire where the loch was not iced over but had lots of slush in it. Met one other person here who was on way back down - he must have had an early start!!!!
- loch a' choin
From here to the sumit the path is excellent if not a bit slippy due to the wet snow. No ice so crampons stayed off and when I reached summit there was less snow than on the way up1!!
- summit
- summit
- summit
A brief stop on top then headed (carefully) back down. Still some fog lying in the Glens at this point.
Got back to car swiftly and home early for some extr brownie points!!
