An Socach on a 'good day'
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:00 pmWhere to start - the walk was planned on Friday to coincide with a decent weather window on a weekend, not that I am bothered 
Paul (Lightfoot) & myself decided on An Socach as it was on our doorstep, only 70 odd miles away
Chris (Jepsonscotland) had seen on here that we were planning to head north & asked for permission to accompany us & as we are very obliging we decided on a 9.45am meet.
The drive up to Glenshee was certainly different to the last time I drove up that way, no flooded roads & alot more traffic all heading up to the Glenshee slopes. It isn't very often that one sees so many vehicles in the huge car park at Glenshee.
Blue skies & 3deg at the start, all was looking good so off we set. There were about 5 other cars parked at the parking area, strange thing is we never saw any other walkers
We were all kitted out, umpteen layers, ice axes & crampons, which made my rucksack far heavier than I am used to
I will have to apologise to my fellow walkers, am not a happy bunny as I had a problem with the SD card in my camera, was able to see the photos on my camera but as soon as I removed the card into either my PC or laptop, I was dvised that the SD card was empty. To think I had some superb photos & I carried the camera up & down for nothing
The following photos have been supplied by Chris, which has involved plenty of saving & resizing
The initial walk along the track, over the bridge & across the burn was a doddle & we couldn't fathom out why it seemed to take an awful lot longer on the return The wind as we got higher, really picked up & every available bit of gear was donned on, I even tried to put on my waterproof leggings, only to find they they wouldn't go over my boots, so back in the rucksack for them. We were all making mental notes to ourselves as to what bit of kit we would of ideally liked. Paul has seen the light regarding walking poles, the last time we met he was unconverted, on this walk he was a one pole man & will be joining the converted, two poles are the way ahead I was regretting not bringing my balaclava & will be looking for some goggles before my next venture onto the white stuff. Chris was so well kitted out Paul & I were drooling & dribbling (mainly because of the wind really).
I am not sure we followed the WH route but we did occasionally come across boot prints, Paul did a cracking job leading the way up through the deep snow, it really is hard going.
The top layers of snow being picked up by the wind really was torture, Paul's description "it was like being sandblasted" really did sum up the experience.
The summit was reached quicker than we expected, 3 hours. So it was time for a few photos & then the fun of the descent began. There really is nothing like descending in snow, no matter how deep.
Back at the cars in just over 5 hours was a great effort, we had a cracking time. Thanks to Chris for the photo's, gutted to have lost mine
Paul's photo's will be added later, hint, hint
As if by magic here are Paul's efforts
Paul (Lightfoot) & myself decided on An Socach as it was on our doorstep, only 70 odd miles away Chris (Jepsonscotland) had seen on here that we were planning to head north & asked for permission to accompany us & as we are very obliging we decided on a 9.45am meet.
The drive up to Glenshee was certainly different to the last time I drove up that way, no flooded roads & alot more traffic all heading up to the Glenshee slopes. It isn't very often that one sees so many vehicles in the huge car park at Glenshee.
Blue skies & 3deg at the start, all was looking good so off we set. There were about 5 other cars parked at the parking area, strange thing is we never saw any other walkers
We were all kitted out, umpteen layers, ice axes & crampons, which made my rucksack far heavier than I am used to
I will have to apologise to my fellow walkers, am not a happy bunny as I had a problem with the SD card in my camera, was able to see the photos on my camera but as soon as I removed the card into either my PC or laptop, I was dvised that the SD card was empty. To think I had some superb photos & I carried the camera up & down for nothing
The following photos have been supplied by Chris, which has involved plenty of saving & resizing
- Onwards & upwards
- Follow the footprints
- A Chris selfie
The initial walk along the track, over the bridge & across the burn was a doddle & we couldn't fathom out why it seemed to take an awful lot longer on the return
The wind as we got higher, really picked up & every available bit of gear was donned on, I even tried to put on my waterproof leggings, only to find they they wouldn't go over my boots, so back in the rucksack for them. We were all making mental notes to ourselves as to what bit of kit we would of ideally liked. Paul has seen the light regarding walking poles, the last time we met he was unconverted, on this walk he was a one pole man & will be joining the converted, two poles are the way ahead I was regretting not bringing my balaclava & will be looking for some goggles before my next venture onto the white stuff. Chris was so well kitted out Paul & I were drooling & dribbling (mainly because of the wind really).I am not sure we followed the WH route but we did occasionally come across boot prints, Paul did a cracking job leading the way up through the deep snow, it really is hard going.
The top layers of snow being picked up by the wind really was torture, Paul's description "it was like being sandblasted" really did sum up the experience.
The summit was reached quicker than we expected, 3 hours. So it was time for a few photos & then the fun of the descent began. There really is nothing like descending in snow, no matter how deep.
Back at the cars in just over 5 hours was a great effort, we had a cracking time. Thanks to Chris for the photo's, gutted to have lost mine
Paul's photo's will be added later, hint, hint
As if by magic here are Paul's efforts
- Paul with a clever 'selfie'
or minus 15 wind-chill! 