A beautiful winters day...
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:59 pmTraining walk no. 3 for the 13in24 challenge see http://www.facebook.com/13in24 for more details. After only climbing Cock Cairn in Glen Tanar the week before we were looking to stretch our legs a little more on this training walk. It was a reasonably early start leaving Aberdeen at 7am. We were parked up at the Sean Spittal Bridge and ready to start at 8.45am. It was cold morning with the car reading -3oC before we got going.
Our route took us up Carn an Tuirc across to Tolmount and Tom Buidhe and finally back over to the Cairn of Claise. We started off the climb to Tuirc in the shadow and it was bitterly cold, although once we got our sweat on it was reasonably warm. It was to get even warmer when we reached the top and the sun was beating down. On the way up we managed to just about miss the climb through the scree but could've done with being a little further north as the scree slope was tough going. It was all the more frustrating to see a couple of mountain hares bounding up the slope in front of us. Once we reached the top though it was most definitely worth it.
We made our way down towards Tolmount spotting about 20 deer running down away towards Garbh coire. We made it to Tolmount in good time but didn't hang around for long as it was chilly at the top. We followed some footprints down into the col then followed them up to Tom Buidhe. The summit was quite busy so we decided to descend towards our next target Claise and stop for lunch in the col. The sun went behind the clouds when we stopped and it was freezing so it was a quick stop and we motored on to Claise. We met more folk at the summit and discussed our route down with them. They had come from Glas Maol and we were considering going for that as well, but Rich had ran out of water so we decided to call it a day and head back to the car. Wishing we parked a further south in the other car park as the march back up the A93 to the lay-by at the bridge wasn't good on the feet, with the boots steaming when we took them off at the car.
Another great training walk though and we had a walk the next day with Carn Bhac and Beinn Lutharn Mhor the targets.
Our route took us up Carn an Tuirc across to Tolmount and Tom Buidhe and finally back over to the Cairn of Claise. We started off the climb to Tuirc in the shadow and it was bitterly cold, although once we got our sweat on it was reasonably warm. It was to get even warmer when we reached the top and the sun was beating down. On the way up we managed to just about miss the climb through the scree but could've done with being a little further north as the scree slope was tough going. It was all the more frustrating to see a couple of mountain hares bounding up the slope in front of us. Once we reached the top though it was most definitely worth it.
- Looking back down to Glenshee
- View over to the Cairngorms, slightly obscured by a bit of whispy cloud
- Worthy of National Geographic?
- Group shot
- Great weather
We made our way down towards Tolmount spotting about 20 deer running down away towards Garbh coire. We made it to Tolmount in good time but didn't hang around for long as it was chilly at the top. We followed some footprints down into the col then followed them up to Tom Buidhe. The summit was quite busy so we decided to descend towards our next target Claise and stop for lunch in the col. The sun went behind the clouds when we stopped and it was freezing so it was a quick stop and we motored on to Claise. We met more folk at the summit and discussed our route down with them. They had come from Glas Maol and we were considering going for that as well, but Rich had ran out of water so we decided to call it a day and head back to the car. Wishing we parked a further south in the other car park as the march back up the A93 to the lay-by at the bridge wasn't good on the feet, with the boots steaming when we took them off at the car.
Another great training walk though and we had a walk the next day with Carn Bhac and Beinn Lutharn Mhor the targets.
- Tolmount summit views
- Summit of Cairn of Claise
- Towards Glas Maol
- Tracks leading the way down
