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A great thanks to all those who gave advice on my "How Windy Is To Windy" (
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24814) post, despite the 50-70 mph winds forecasted, I decided to crack on with the day given the clear weather but knowing it would be a big challenge to do such a long walk and I might have to turn back. I think this is the only walk report of someone doing Derry Cairngorm and Beinn Mheadhoin in one day from the Cairngorm ski car park...
After a mix of trains and buses I managed to cover the 50 miles from my house to the Cairngorm ski car park in 3hrs (public transport in NE Scotland is absolutely grim! I did however get to see an Osprey flying over the Train Station whilst I was waiting for my bus. Then met two stunning girls from the Isle of Lewis in Aviemore for a week on the bus out and managed to arrange a drink in the pub after our two different walks - it was going to be a good day!
Setting off at 10:00 I was immediately stopped by a middle aged American couple from Texas who wanted to know where the Cairngorm summit was. Looking up and staring at it I joked, "That information doesn't come cheap mate." To which he actually offered me £5 if I showed him the way! After a giggle about how wonderfully these two fitted my US stereotype I felt the least I could do was lead them up the first leg of my route, the Fiacaill a' Choire Chais, and then point them towards the summit. My first mistake of the day! I was on quite a tight schedule to do the 23km with 1750m of assent in under 8 hours (the last bus back), my route planner said I'd do it in 7 hours but that didn't incorporate the gale/storm force winds. The couple didn't quite have the same sense of urgency in the initial stage, pardon my harshness, but probably because the wife was a similar size to the mountain we were climbing. As a Scot, I couldn't bear to hand the money back, and I'd have felt to harsh to run off and leave them. At least the frequent stops provided a few photo opportunities:
Rainbow over Loch Morlich:
Fiacaill Ridge, first did it when I was 13 and then again when I was 17, and it's definitely my preferred route of getting onto the plateau:
Even in one of the northern corries the wind was providing a bit of a nuisance and making things tough, a combination of that and the slow couple meant I was already 20 minutes behind schedule when I reached the top of the ridge. So I set the Americans in the right direction (they wanted to do Ben Macdui too but I suggested chinos and no map probably meant they shouldn't) and I started running down towards Coire Raibert where I got a bit of respite from the wind. Following the path down I couldn't see Loch Avon so the descent then re-assent on the other side looked both stunning and ominous:
A bit further on I got to the 'Ford' in Coire Raibert. This set the tone for all the river crossings I had to do that day, I'm not sure what they're usually like but there wasn't much in the way of easy stepping stones and every river was an absolute torrent:
Soon down into Loch Avon the views were astounding, a shower started but the strong winds soon to that:
An unfriendly headwind made the assent up the other side, past the shelter stone, tough going and as soon as I poked my head up out of the valley it felt like a bus hit me. I pushed on and even managed to make up time I had lost when I reached Loch Etchachan, once again the ford past Little Loch Etchachan wasn't much of a ford, but I'd soon continued along the path. I walked along the path until I'd passed Creagain a' Choire Etchachan and headed up to the Bealach (height 1053). I decided that I simply couldn't leave a munro when I was barely 2km away so I started my duel with the winds and headed for Derry Cairngorm. At this point the wind was a side wind and I pretty much had to lean 30 degrees to my right whilst walking forward. It put strain on places I didn't think it was possible to strain! Kevin29035 was bang on when he told me "Side-on is a psychological nightmare!" Once I'd dropped down to the next bealach (1014) I began the assent clambering up the boulder strewn slopes - it was grim. I was 'cruisin for a bruisin' by heading up the ridge and the wind landed some heavy blows in this round. I was lifted off my feet a couple of times but thankfully it put me down surprisingly gently and it actually felt like I was levitating! Eventually I reached the summit in a time far slower than I had planned which made me nervous about missing the last bus, so I barely sat on the summit for a minute before heading on.
View towards Ben Macdui from Derry Cairngorm:
I decided to try and get some shelter by dropping down the east side of the mountain and contouring back to the 1014 bealach, it worked a little but the wind was still massively slowing things down. The side on nightmare continued as before. I made it back to Loch Etchachan and couldn't help but feel the wind may have won a few rounds but the boxing match, and more importantly the summit, were mine!
The assent up Beinn Mheadhoin was the easiest thing I did all day, with a tail wind on the way up it practically flew me to the top where I jogged on towards the summit. Roller blades and a kit surfer would be the way to climb this munro!
View down Glen Derry from near the summit:
Nearing the summit:
Even with the wind the tiny scramble up the west side of the barn wasn't difficult, I did have to crawl on my belly a few times to avoid being blown off though!
The view back the way I came from the barn summit:
More importantly, the views towards Moray between Cairngorm and Bynack More:
I headed down the west side of the mountain and headed for the Creag Dubh. I negotiated a way down to the west of the crag and stream. My word was it step though! A combination of steep, slippy and muddy ground and a strong wind meant I did relive my childhood days and slide on my bum a few times, not always intentionally!
View towards the Saddle over Loch Avon:
I made it down to the Loch and realised there was no ford over the river marked on the map. If the previous fords had been pretty tricky, what was a river where it wasn't even labelled as one going to be like! My fears were confirmed and a deadly (not quite) stream/river was rocketing past with nowhere to cross. I was thankful for my half-shin high military boots and long water proof trousers as I went for the just stick your feet in and cross the thing asap approach. I'd managed to make it across with no water in my boots even though I was knee deep! All those times my boss had told me to polish my boots more had came in handy.
With the wind buffeting down Loch Avon and me starting to get pretty tired, meant the walk up to the Saddle and then towards the Ptarmigan restaurant wasn't going to be pleasant. It wasn't. A few kms into this leg, nearing the bealach between Cairn Gorm and Cnap Coire na Spreidhe there was even a bit of snow:
As I headed to the Ptarmigan restaurant I saw the reindeer herd, which despite all my time here I'd never seen before. I decided not to push how close I could get and just headed along the path. A stag with some decent horns staring me out confirmed I made the right choice!
At the Ptarmigan itself I saw two unusual birds. On closer look one of them had a definite grey head and a bright yellow/orange beak. I thought they could be snow finches, having seen them in the alps a while ago these were fairly similar, but I didn't think you got them in the UK? I managed to get a photo before they flew away, it's not the best but I've circled the male in the grass and the female/juvenile just in front. Perhaps any birders better than I could have a look, zoom in and give their opinion?
A zoomed in shot:
In the end I made it in 7 hours 2 minutes, and missed by bus by those two minutes! Thankfully a man gave me a lift back to Aviemore saving me a 58 minute wait for the bus!
This was also my first walk using poles, it took me an age to get them to stick to the right length, but once I did I found the extra balance when crossing rivers great and they really helped on steep assent and descent. They were a bit of a nuisance when I was on rocky ground, Derry Cairngorm etc, and had to use my hands to climb a bit. Overall though, I’d totally take them out again.
