Ben Macdui and Derry Cairngorm in the rain
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:55 pmStarted off early, around 5:30am from the house to Linn O’Dee - roads nice and quiet.
Weather was overcast as we arrived but we avoided rain for the flat stretch past Derry Lodge and up to Glen Luibeg. As we took the right fork in the path to head to Sron Riach the rain started to blow through so waterproofs were donned - a wise move as rain become persistant but not too heavy. Views up the glen were limited due to low cloud in the rain but must have looked impressive on a clear day.
On to the first bit of climbing up Sron Riach, this took it’s toll on the legs as we hadn’t done any climbing for a couple of months and started off too quickly. Once we steadied down it was a fine, if long, slog to the top. Then another climb to the cairn on Coire Sputan Dearg, still raining at this point and a stop was made to decide whether it was worth going on. Knew we weren’t too far from the summit so agreed to keep going as we had come this far in the rain.
Turned left and picked up the path towards the summit, passed the roofless shelter (looked inviting in the rain as it has a small partially covered ledge for sitting on) and on to the summit of Ben Macdui – where amazingly the rain stopped to allow for photo’s of us at the trig, almost saw the sun at this point. Saw out first people, saw no-one till the top then met a fellow climber who had came from a different approach. There was also a tent pitched at the summit – another keen climber??
Headed off back towards the Coire Sputan Dearg cliffs and to the left towards Loch Etchachan. Stopped along this way while there was a break in the rain for a food break. After this we skirted around Creagan a’Choire Etchachan and headed towards Derry Cairngorm. A scramble up the boulderfield, which is as awkward as noted by others in previous reports.
Rain was on again (with intermittent hail) as we reached the summit of Derry Cairngorm, and again the low cloud and rain obscured what would have been a stunning view from the top.
From here it seemed an endless decent through boulderfields which slowed the walk down a fair bit, especially when it was raining. As we reached Carn Crom the sun came out amongst the clouds and more or less stayed out on the descent down to Derry Lodge and back to the car park.
A long but enjoyable trek back to Linn O’Dee, where the midges enjoyed feasting on me as we changed out of wet gear before heading home – a few ‘bites’ as a trophy of a very enjoyable if damp walk (bonus was the waterproofs did their job
!!)
Weather was overcast as we arrived but we avoided rain for the flat stretch past Derry Lodge and up to Glen Luibeg. As we took the right fork in the path to head to Sron Riach the rain started to blow through so waterproofs were donned - a wise move as rain become persistant but not too heavy. Views up the glen were limited due to low cloud in the rain but must have looked impressive on a clear day.
On to the first bit of climbing up Sron Riach, this took it’s toll on the legs as we hadn’t done any climbing for a couple of months and started off too quickly. Once we steadied down it was a fine, if long, slog to the top. Then another climb to the cairn on Coire Sputan Dearg, still raining at this point and a stop was made to decide whether it was worth going on. Knew we weren’t too far from the summit so agreed to keep going as we had come this far in the rain.
Turned left and picked up the path towards the summit, passed the roofless shelter (looked inviting in the rain as it has a small partially covered ledge for sitting on) and on to the summit of Ben Macdui – where amazingly the rain stopped to allow for photo’s of us at the trig, almost saw the sun at this point. Saw out first people, saw no-one till the top then met a fellow climber who had came from a different approach. There was also a tent pitched at the summit – another keen climber??
Headed off back towards the Coire Sputan Dearg cliffs and to the left towards Loch Etchachan. Stopped along this way while there was a break in the rain for a food break. After this we skirted around Creagan a’Choire Etchachan and headed towards Derry Cairngorm. A scramble up the boulderfield, which is as awkward as noted by others in previous reports.
Rain was on again (with intermittent hail) as we reached the summit of Derry Cairngorm, and again the low cloud and rain obscured what would have been a stunning view from the top.
From here it seemed an endless decent through boulderfields which slowed the walk down a fair bit, especially when it was raining. As we reached Carn Crom the sun came out amongst the clouds and more or less stayed out on the descent down to Derry Lodge and back to the car park.
A long but enjoyable trek back to Linn O’Dee, where the midges enjoyed feasting on me as we changed out of wet gear before heading home – a few ‘bites’ as a trophy of a very enjoyable if damp walk (bonus was the waterproofs did their job
!!)
