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Carn an t-Sagairt Mor & Carn a' Choire Bhoidheach from Loch Callater (with added Lochnagar)Weather forecast was scintillating and the Granite City Hillwalkers had nothing definite planned so decided to complete my set of White Mounth Munros by doing the un-pronounable Carn a' Choire Bhoidheach & Carn an t-Sagairt Mor from Loch Callater. This is the route recommended by Scottish Mountaineering Club Munro book. Being a local decided on an early start so I had the option to extend my walk to Lochnagar (bearing in mind that last time I had a 90% chance of a cloud free Munro I had a whiteout above 800m).
So on my way by 7:15. Weather was fine with some high thin cloud and a nip in the air (car said it was only 1C). Pleasant stroll up the glen, took the path up the hillside just before the Lochcallater Lodge and had an excellent view of Tolmount at the end of the glen. From the Glenshee side this Munro is a 1 star grassy hump, but from here it looks like a decent challenge.
Patchy snow kicked in about 550m (climbing out of Glen Callater) but the path was always easy to follow. Picked up the line of metal fence posts to the top of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor and was on the phone to my wife by 10am to let her know I now had Lochnagar in my sights as well.
The gentle rounded summit of Sagairt Mor was snow free, which was surprising as the MT of Carn an t-Sagairt Beag and the lower Carn a' Choire Bhoidheach were both covered (as was Lochnagar). So over the aforementioned top and on to the magnificent Stuic with its excellent view of the “back” of Lochnagar. Several photos were taken... Seemed almost a shame to divert to the gentle bump of Carn a' Choire Bhoidheach but it had to be done. Another 1 star candidate but ended up giving it 2 due to the reflected glory of The Stuic.
Back to the path round The Stuic and up to Lochnagar by 12:15 for my second visit in 13 months. A few folk there already, including the obligatory person in jeans (but not trainers this time), soon joined by a couple of ice-axe wheedling blokes who came up the NE ridge (but who obviously didn’t want to associate with any riff-raff). A big cloud had come over but views were excellent all round with Schiehallion, Beinn a’ Bhuird, Cairn Toul, Ben Macdui and the Lairg Ghru all clearly visible.
So back to The Stuic, then down the valley between Carn a' Choire Bhoidheach & Carn an t-Sagairt Beag and then contoured round the south of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor. This time nice views of Cairn Bannoch, Broad Cairn, Dubh Loch and even into the wee Loch Kander. Having done Cairn Bannoch & Broad Cairn from Loch Muick a few weeks ago and 5 (Carn an Turic, Cairn of Claise, Tolmount, Tom Buidhe, Glas Maol) form the Glenshee side last summer the whole layout of the area was falling into place and I was starting to feel as if I now know my local mountains.
As a came round Carn a' Choire Bhoidheach again my tracks up to seemed to be the only ones – but it was still only 2pm and I soon spotted a couple of small parties trekking between Cairn Bannoch and the aforemetioned un-pronounable one. Looked like clockwise was the perferred route for the White Mounth set today.
Caught up with a party of 3 on the path above Loch Callater but they over took me when I decided a fresh pair of socks would perk me up for the last trudge down Glen Callater. Passed a shiny new Range Rover at Lochcallater Lodge and the owner offered me a lift when I had but 500m to the car park! Full HRH story
over here and full Flickr set
over here.
All in all a pretty darn good day
