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First hills of the year, thought Beinn Udlamain and Sgairneach Mhor looked like an easy day with the option of adding on the other 2 if I felt up to it
Hadn't been on the A9 past Perth before so that was interesting, got to the layby & set off about 8:30. Followed the road to a railway underpass:
Then wandered up the landrover track, drifting snow was deep in places but mostly ok:
First bridge over Allt Coire Dhomhain and ridge to Sgairneach Mhor:
Second bridge, straight up from here on an easy gradient:
View from the ridge including the Sow of Atholl and the low cloud which I was just about to walk into
:
No views today, but here's the first cairn/trig point:
Pattern for today - get to claggy cairn, down to bealach, back up to claggy cairn etc. Sometimes there were fence posts to follow:
Beinn Udlamain cairn, my favourite so far despite the lack of a trig point:
More fence:
Decided to go for the four, got pretty cold on the way to A' Mharconaich so I was hoping for a worthwhile cairn. Instead I got this
:
Onwards into the murk:
Another cairn on the way to Geal-charn, impressive after the last travesty
:
Mountain hare for company:
Down to the bealach...and finally! A view! Loch Etricht:
Geal-charn sporting a bonus cairn:
Time to head back down out of the clag:
More cairns on the way back to the road:
Cloud lifting on A' Mharconaich now grrr
:
Headed straight back towards the cottage instead of following route so I missed the start of the track, which would probably have made the descent easier. On the track:
Level crossing:
And back to the road, there's a path at the side so no probs:
Easy start to the year, I would go for the 4 if you're travelling far as 2 would be a pretty short walk.