Carn a'Gheoidh & An Socach

[Backpacker]

As luck would have it, a mate popped up on Facebook asking me if I was out this weekend and another couple were looking for a couple of ideas for Saturday, a plan was quickly formulated for An Socach (my 3rd attempt at it)

We left from our various bases and met up at the ski centre around 9am, the plan being to do Carn a'Gheoidh then head over to An Socach as Graham had missed out on it when he did the Cairnwell 3 and Gav & Moray hadn't yet done any of them.

We made our way up the path towards Loch Vrotachan then hung a left towards our 1st target of the day. There was still a bit of snow but nothing to be concerned about. The views across to the various ranges were outstanding and many a stop for photo opportunities were taken.

Within about 90mins we had reached Carn a'Gheoidh where we had a wee sit down for snacks, drinks and to plan our assault on An Socach. A cairn at the far end on the summit plateau appeared to mark our way down which quickly turned into a path of some description which led the way, past various hides, obv for the rich and famous to enjoy a spot of shooting. On the way down we spotted a few paths which led up the southern face of An Socach, we just had to make our way up there. once we reached the bottom, a spot of rock hopping was required to get us over the stream.

Once over we ploughed up through the heather, finding bits of path to follow, although looking back down on it, there were a few paths which would have got us up there. Regardless we were on the final pull up onto An Socach's massive plateau. This required a fair bit of effort as it was near on vertical but we did eye spy a potentially easier way to get back down on the way back. Once on the plateau it was a gentle wander over to the summit. this did cause a bit of debate as the was a wind shelter and a Cairn about 100 yards away, although once at the cairn, we decided the wind shelter was higher. After a short break we headed back, the path back down was far easier than the one up and we pretty much made a beeline towards Loch Vrotachan, this involved what seemed to be and endless trudge through pathless heather not helped by my calves deciding now was a good time to start burning, after a good while we were up and heading back towards the ski centre.

Was a good day out and well done to all esp Graham's wee boy who made it round with no complaints, he's going to be a machine when he's older & well done to Gav and Moray who are now closing in on the quarter century.

Few photo's from today.
DSCF0348 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0349 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0350 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0351 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0354 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0357 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0358 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0359 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0360 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0361 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0363 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0364 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0365 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0366 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0367 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0368 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

DSCF0369 by GaryE1872, on Flickr

[cmarcol]

Well done - especially to the wee lad! Was such a great day for it. We did the Cairnwell 3 yesterday and I did look at An Socach but seeing as I hadn't done my homework thought better of it! Next time!