Plan B and lots of white stuff
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:08 pmThis was my first outing of 2015 and it hasn't been easy checking the forecast daily and seeing the same diabolical weather, wind, rain, rain and wind. So when the this weather window appeared I told Mrs F, I had to get a good dose of fresh air
I was initially thinking of heading south again to check out some pastures new, but the weather wasn't too be as good in the borders so I decided to head up the A9 (again) and stroll up The Sow of Atholl and her neighbour. I checked the 'live' camera's last night and there was certainly plenty of snow at the road side, but a bit of snow doesn't deter me
Set off from Fife in the dark at 7.30, scooted up the M90 to Perth and then once north of Perth the temperature started to drop and snow was at the road side. Reached Blair Atholl and -5deg, noticed that the guy who has his camp just south of House of Bruar is still there, got a much bigger tent and quite an encampment
When the section of dual carriageway was reached south of Dalnaspidal the snow at the side of the carriageway was certainly a bit deeper and all the layby's were not accessible, I was fearing the worst
I was planning to park in the last layby before the turn off and my fears were confirmed, no access, so I thought about turning down the side road to Dalnaspidal, however there was a bank of snow across the entrance and 2 cars abandoned at the end of the road covered in snow
I didn't have a Plan B but was determined not to drive back to Fife still covered in cobwebs, so I thought Ben Vrackie
Was up there in the summer a few years ago and remember it being a superb hill, so I had to use plenty of brain cells to remember how to get to the car park Set off from the top car park at 9.30 and was hoping I would be able to exit the car park later on
- Choice of spaces, there were 11 cars in the car park when I returned
- The way up
I remember from the last time I was up Vrackie, the path out of the car park seemed to be the hardest and steepest, however that turned out to be a scoosh compared to what was in store later
- The first nice wee bridge
- The 2nd nice bridge
- A flavour of the snow depth, initially
- First glimpse of the summit
- Everywhere is white, the path/foot steps are becoming less obvious
Just before I reached Loch a Choire I caught up with Brian (from Perth) and he was heading up Vrackie for the umpteenth time, was up 61 times last year
A short time later we in turn were caught up by another chap (Lindsay) and he apparently is also a Vrackie regular and apparently holds a record, was up Vrackie every day during the last leap year - now that is commitment Just before reaching the Loch the fresh dumping of snow has obliterated the path, so let the trailblazing begin and to say it was hard going at times is an understatement
There aren't too many days when your gaters fill up with snow, but as there were times when the snow holes were up to my thighs.- Next summit view - look at the sky!
- Loch a Choire looking frozen with a nice sprinkling of snow
- Brian trailblazing on all fours
- Loch a Choire from on high
- Pitlochry in the distance (if you look closely)
- Looking south, note the big shiny thing in the sky!
Once past the loch the usual path was covered with drift snow so we trailblazed up to the right heading towards the minor peaks, the going was really tough, mainly because I am not used to lifting my feet so high
After plenty of toiling we reached the summit, it was bitterly cold and lunch was taken in a sheltered spot out of the wind. The views were stunning, every hill, hump and bump was a lovely shade of white
- The north
- North east
- Pitlochry
- Summit pose
- Nice icicles
- Interesting rock formation - Indian Chief?
The descent was quite good fun as anyone who has descended in snow will verify, it was made even better by seeing loads of fellow walkers struggling ascending like we did earlier. Naturally I had to mention how grateful they should be that the we created the path
- Interesting snow formation
For anyone who has not ventured up Ben Vrackie, hopefully a few of these photo's will tempt you, it really is a superb walk and day out and I can see why there are quite a few Vrackie regulars
Hopefully there will be a few more quiet weather days in the near future Next
(which is nothing compared to the guys you met). Never had snow quite so deep on it though.
