Heavyweight trainning

[davetherave]

Over Night Camp

Date. Friday 14th and Saturday 15th May 2010
Completed by. Dave, Julie and Wilson
Weather. Clear with mainly blue skies
Time. 11.5 hrs
Distance 30.5 km
Ascent. 1600 m
Hills. Munro’s x 5
Corbett’s x 1

loch Muick Circuit.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Lochnagar,Carn a Choire Bhoidheach,CarnAn Sagairt Mor, Cairn Bannoch and Broad Cairn
Conachcraig

Starting from. Loch Muick visitor ctr


This was it, the start of our heavy pack training, and with several big routes planned for the near future we decided on doing the lochnagar circular route to include the above 5 munros and catching the Corbett Conachcraig on route.

Arrived at the visitor ctr on Friday afternoon and set off at 4pm for the Corbett Conachcraig. After heading n/w for about 1km we entered the woods at Allot Na Giubhsaich once through the forest we took a direct route up the steep heathery slopes and soon reached the the 850 top then promptly headed for Caisteal na calico at 862m, this top was a rather rocky affair with nice views to the cliffs of Lochnagar. From here we headed for the true summit of Conachcraig.

Our plan was to catch Lochnagar and set up camp between Lochnagar and Carn a Choire Bhoidheach………….. Never quite worked out that way.

Soon we had descended the Corbett and were heading towards Meikle Pap passing a memorial on the way.

This was where the dark cliffs of Lochnagar first came into view, still looking rather wintry from a distance with the last of the snow still clearly visible. Heading S/W we soon gained height up the steep face and started to creep our way round the cliffs heading for the summit.. It was around this point we came across at least 15/20 mini cairns ( can I assume this is to assist in bad weather ). Anyhow time was getting on and it was nearing 8pm. Was getting rather windy and visibility had dropped so we decided to set camp on what must have been the only descent pitch around.

Soon it was morning and we awoke to freezing temperatures, the ground was rock hard and visibility was very poor (if only we went for the summit last night) By 6.45 am we were on the summit and for 5 mins the sun burned through giving us some nice views after all.

Back to the tent we headed had some breakfast, packed the gear and were on our way soon after 8am and come 10.15 we had reached Carn a Choire Bhoidheach and CarnAn Sagairt Mor .

From here looking S/E, Cairn Bannoch and Broad Cairn are easily noticeable in the distance and with negligible height to be climbed this should be a nice run in.

From the stable hut at the foot of Broad Cairn near Corrie Chash we decided to take the lower footpath along Loch Muick before joining the 4 x 4 track about halfway along the Loch and finally heading back for the visitor centre to end a super 1 ½ days walk.

[maddjock]

fantastic.. a high level camp... cant beat it...
the tent looks a bit familiar...

[davetherave]

Thats our second high level camp in a month.

The tent is a vango spirit 200+ , good tent but a bit on the heavy side.

[gaffr]

Young Wilson seems to be putting on a fair bit of muscle. Will he have his own panniers soon? Is he a Beardie?

[davetherave]

Gaffr
Yes you are right he is a Beardie Collie, and he will be carrying his own gear very soon. We really do need to lighten our packs some how. fair's fair so they say.

Gaffr are you familiar with the curved ridge ? if so do you think it would be possible for the dog to achieve this route, or would it be a step to much.

Dave

[kerrera]

A Vango Spirit, nice. A bit on the heavy side, but well worth the walk. Where does the dog sleep?

My bitch (dog) is now 9 months old and she looks like a tic cushion. I'm thinking about spraying her with SSS.

[davetherave]

Where does the dog sleep?

the vango spirit has a large enough porch to accomadate all our gear and also sleeps the dog rather comfortably. As said the only downside so far is its a wee tad heavy.

As for the tic's, well he hasnt had any yet. Dont think they can penatrate his hairy body.

[LeithySuburbs]

remember, in Scotland, a 'tic and a tick are very different things

Looks a great day anyway . When I did the 5 Munros, I had never heard of a Corbett so never thought to include it .

[monty]

Nice report Dave. I done these last month in the snow. Its good to include the corbett because its a long drive to go back and do it on its own I bet it felt cold camping so high up

[maddjock]

fantastic.. a high level camp... cant beat it...
the tent looks a bit familiar...

Thats our second high level camp in a month.

The tent is a vango spirit 200+ , good tent but a bit on the heavy side.

lol I know, I've had mine now for a couple of years or so and had to wait a fair bit to get it in that colour also. The weight doesn't bother me at all, and is the only item of my backpacking gear that I hadn't replaced with a lighter equivalent for the Skye walk. It gets a lot of use and has stood up to a fair amount of abuse and still looks great.

[gaffr]

Been off-line for a bit.....my old modem thing has just given up the...well everything! Managed to get a router thing...but getting it fixed to do things is another game...at the moment have managed to get online with the explorer thing but still no e mail connection..must have pressed a wrong key somewhere.
Anyway...beardies...Mrs.Barley who used to be in Aviemore had many Beardies that used to do a job with the searching on the hills...very fine animals. Another very old one used to guard the gate at a shepherds house nearby.... he must have had a career in rounding up sheep in the Monadhliaths. I've only ever had one wee dog, Wilfred, part Charlie Spaniel and part Collie who did well over a hundred munros. Her limit, I realised, was on An Teallach, so I never took on anything too rocky again....her final big hills were the Carnach top and Fhuaran in Kintail. I feel that the C Ridge would have been too much for her...even in her prime!