Cairngorms magical mystery tour
Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 1:05 am
Date: 12 July 2010
Time taken: 7.5 hours
Ascent: More than I thought (1900m)
Distance: 26km
Weather: Sunny, turning to overcast, rain at end
I’ve got a bit of a list of places in the Cairngorms that I’ve wanted to visit or re-visit on a good day. Too many and varied to fit into a single route, but Kinley and HighlandSC’s recent(ish) reports (Core of the Cairngorms/Cairngorm Wanderings) inspired me to concoct a route to take some of these places in. I worked something out, but there were so many options that I decided just to follow my nose on the day. Things that I definitely wanted to include were1) My favourite route onto the plateau from the N (Fiacaill Choirean t-Sneachda), 2) A decent view of Loch Avon, 3) Views of the crags around the headwall of Loch Avon, and 4) The elusive Corbett of Creag Mhor.
Left the ski carpark at 9.20 am, having fought off a cloud of midges at the car (first of the season for me - I feel less smug now!). Followed the main path towards Coire an Lochan, breaking off onto a less clear one which led me up the bouldery front of the Fiacaill. At the subsidiary summit, the boulders got larger and it was an easy scramble down to the col. From here the last section of the ridge rears up fairly abruptly, and looks terrifying. It is in fact very straightforward.
When someone told me years back that there was a narrow scrambly arete in the Northern Corries, I didn’t believe them. My first time up it was a winter ascent, ending in a blizzard in the dark on the summit of Cairngorm. Since then, I’ve always done it as a summer route, and it has become something of an annual outing.
Fiacaill ridge from the initial summit:
Coire an Lochan:
Back to the initial summit:
The rock is extremely firm and grippy, and the best route sticks to the crest as close as possible. The crux is a chimmney just to the right of the crest, and it is full of holds. This time, I stepped back onto the crest before getting into the chimney, and found this to be an easier, if slightly more exposed route. If you get there and decide you aren’t up to it, the whole thing can be avoided on a scree path to the right. This defeats the object in a way, but is probably more interesting than the other routes onto the plateau. If you stick to the crest, you emerge right onto the edge of the plateau, only 5 minutes from Cairn Lochan.
Final ridge rears up:
Crux chimney:
Looking back from above the crux:
Across Coire an Lochan to Sgoran Dubh Mor from Cairn Lochan:
Braeriach from Cairn Lochan:
The summit of Cairn Lochan is almost Trotternish-like, with a gentle grassy plateau ending abruptly at vertical cliffs. I took a couple of photos, then moved on to newer territories for me. Crossing one of the main Ben Macdui paths, I found myself at the top of Hell’s Lum Crag. This appeared rather abruptly, with Hell’s Lum itself looking positively terrifying. I assume this manky stinking gully is where Tom Patey honed his skills in the ‘50’s.
Ben Macdui from the top of Hell’s Lum:
Feith Buidhe:
Re-ascending slightly, I traversed around to the Feithe Bhuide, and crossed fairly easily. However, the next section between Garbh Uisge Beag and Garbh Uisge Mor was more problematic. The sensible way would’ve been to ascend 20 or 30 meters and cross rough boulders, but I decided to go for an area of slabs. These were terraced, and moving between the terraces wasn’t too difficult, as the grip was good. However, I soon came across a patch of late snow. It was probably only 15-20m across, but it required steps to be kicked, as the angle was quite steep. As I had no winter gear with me, I had to use my fingers as axes, resulting in some very painful tingling for the next 2 hours! Still, it was good fun, and fitted well with my ‘make it up as you go along’ philosophy for the day. Crossing the Garbh Uisge Beag and Mor was easy enough (although due to wearing cheapy trainer/fell running type shoes, I got wet feet), and soon I was ascending Shelterstone Crag. Views to Loch Avon were everything I could have hoped for and more. The edge of Shelterstone was abrupt and extremely unstable, with dodgy looking boulders tottering over the abyss. I’d read that this crag was pretty much vertical, but lying on the edge looking over really brought this home.
Shelterstone Crag:
Bloody hell, it is vertical! Loch Avon from the top of Shelterstone:
Looking back to Feith Buidhe. I traversed the slabs with the snow patches on in the centre of the photo:
Loch Avon:
End of Loch Avon:
This delivered me nicely to Carn Etchachan. Handy, as this was one of many tops I had missed while Munro bagging. Loch Etchachan was close by, and the map didn’t appear to show any great difficulty in reaching it. Couple of outcrops to avoid, maybe. Another problem, as the whole hillside appeared to consist of steep grass, broken crags and slippy slabs. I managed to negotiate a way down, sometimes on my arse, and it occurred to me that this was probably some kind of mountain karma repayment for giving Davetherave some slightly suspect advice on descent routes from Bidean nam Bian! Still, it wasn’t too bad, and for once I hadn’t missed an obvious easier route just around the corner.
Top of Shelterstone, Hell’s Lum and Cairn Lochan from Carn Etchachan:
Loch Etchachan:
Loch Etchachan was another part of the Cairngorms that I’d liked, but had never got around to going back to, so I was quite happy to be here. My next move was unclear. I could descend to the foot of Shelterstone Crag and walk along Loch Avon. However, I suddenly had a desire to go up Beinn Mheadhoin, as I had only done this once before, and had rather liked it. So up I went, with some vague notion of coming back to the top of Stacan Dubha then descending to Loch Avon. The summit tor was a pleasant little scramble, and it was here that I met the only other walker of the day. Had lunch and a brief chat (he said there had been no midges at Linn of Dee, from where he had set off. Didn’t seem fair! ) before leaving him to continue to Derry Cairngorm.
Derry Cairngorm, Reagan a Choire Etchachan and Sron Riach from Beinn Mheadhoin:
Summit plateau and tors of Beinn Mheadhoin:
Beinn Mheadhoin summit looking S:
I decided to drop my daft notion of going back to Stacan Dubha (another excuse to come back again), and decided to make for the outflow of Loch Avon instead. That way I would save time and still get some good views of Shelterstone and Hell’s Lum crags. The route down was straightforward for once, and I was surprised to find a faint path developing lower down. Then I remembered that this route to Beinn Mheadhoin was described in many Munro guides, which explained it.
Loch Avon:
Shelterstone Crag:
Loch Avon:
…and again:
Loch Avon was really beautiful, and I vowed to come back and walk right round it sometime (did this a couple of years back, but could barely see my hand in front of my face!). The path down to the Fords of Avon was a bit on the boggy side, but passed quickly enough. The scenery changed here, with bog and moorland taking over from crag and loch, and soon I was at everybody’s favourite stone tent, the Fords of Avon shelter. A bit whiffy inside, but otherwise it was fairly clean and tidy. Not sure I would stay here by choice (I was glad I’d knocked a plan to do so on the head a few years back due to laziness), but in an emergency it would be very welcome.
Fords of Avon shelter:
Bothy book:
From here, the ascent to Creag Mhor was easy, initially through thick heather, but soon turning to much shorter turf underfoot. The summit was the SW-most in a line of tors on a broad ridge. Views were certainly pleasant, especially looking back to the now distant bowl of Loch Avon, but after the high plateau, this summit was a slight anti-climax. Fortunately I remembered HighlandSC’s recent Barns of Bynack report, so to put the va-va-voom back into the walk, I decided to head out via Bynack More, rather than skirting around it on the Lairig an Laoigh path. Slightly unexpected turn of events, as it was only 6 months ago I was last up Bynack More. However back then, I had been in a white-out, and barely been able to see my feet, never mind the barns, so it seemed like a good move.
Loch Avon basin from Creag Mhor:
A barn of Bynack from Creag Mhor:
Quick jog down to the path, before crossing over to ascend Bynack More. Other than getting the fright of my life by flushing a couple of grouse, this was an uneventful ascent up steep heather. The first (and biggest) barn was soon in front of me. It was pretty impressive - somewhat larger than the tor on the summit of Beinn Mheadhoin. Good fun could probably be had trying to ascend it, but I was way behind schedule (I had told my wife I’d be home in about 45 minutes from now), so I pressed on to the summit via the smaller barn.
Lower barn:
Upper barn:
From Bynack More looking E towards Geal Charn:
Last look at the plateau:
Descending to Bynack Beg (another top missed out previously), I was able to get a good view of the N ridge of Bynack More. This was interesting, as in February, I had been convinced I was teeterting above a long steep slope, about to set off an avalanche. It all looked a bit silly now, as the imagined steep slope was pretty minor!
Here, I decided to make use of the often described Munroist’s route across Strath Nethy and back up to the col S of Stac na h-Iolaire. Up to this point, I had had the odd spit and spat of rain, but most of it had been falling elsewhere. Now, leaving Bynack Beg, it started properly, and didn’t let up for the entire trip back to the car. I made a rapid descent down to Strath Nethy and back up the other side, but the path seemed to vanish in the bottom of the strath, leaving the lowest 50m each side of the river a crash through thick heather. At the col, I almost made the mistake of descending N towards An Lochan Uaine, but managed to correct myself. By now I was soaked, and just in T-shirt and shorts. I hadn’t bothered to put my coat on, and now it seemed pointless. After squelching across to the Coire na Ciste carpark, I jogged up the road to the car to keep myself warm. The journey back home involved lots of heating!
I was happy with the route. Despite the rain at the end, it had been an enjoyable tour of some of the best bits of the Central Cairngorms. To cover some more highlights, I think I will need to do a route through the Lairig Ghru, up Angel’s Arete, and onto Braeriach via the Pools of Dee. Some other time maybe!
Time taken: 7.5 hours
Ascent: More than I thought (1900m)
Distance: 26km
Weather: Sunny, turning to overcast, rain at end
I’ve got a bit of a list of places in the Cairngorms that I’ve wanted to visit or re-visit on a good day. Too many and varied to fit into a single route, but Kinley and HighlandSC’s recent(ish) reports (Core of the Cairngorms/Cairngorm Wanderings) inspired me to concoct a route to take some of these places in. I worked something out, but there were so many options that I decided just to follow my nose on the day. Things that I definitely wanted to include were1) My favourite route onto the plateau from the N (Fiacaill Choirean t-Sneachda), 2) A decent view of Loch Avon, 3) Views of the crags around the headwall of Loch Avon, and 4) The elusive Corbett of Creag Mhor.
Left the ski carpark at 9.20 am, having fought off a cloud of midges at the car (first of the season for me - I feel less smug now!). Followed the main path towards Coire an Lochan, breaking off onto a less clear one which led me up the bouldery front of the Fiacaill. At the subsidiary summit, the boulders got larger and it was an easy scramble down to the col. From here the last section of the ridge rears up fairly abruptly, and looks terrifying. It is in fact very straightforward.
When someone told me years back that there was a narrow scrambly arete in the Northern Corries, I didn’t believe them. My first time up it was a winter ascent, ending in a blizzard in the dark on the summit of Cairngorm. Since then, I’ve always done it as a summer route, and it has become something of an annual outing.
Fiacaill ridge from the initial summit:
Coire an Lochan:
Back to the initial summit:
The rock is extremely firm and grippy, and the best route sticks to the crest as close as possible. The crux is a chimmney just to the right of the crest, and it is full of holds. This time, I stepped back onto the crest before getting into the chimney, and found this to be an easier, if slightly more exposed route. If you get there and decide you aren’t up to it, the whole thing can be avoided on a scree path to the right. This defeats the object in a way, but is probably more interesting than the other routes onto the plateau. If you stick to the crest, you emerge right onto the edge of the plateau, only 5 minutes from Cairn Lochan.
Final ridge rears up:
Crux chimney:
Looking back from above the crux:
Across Coire an Lochan to Sgoran Dubh Mor from Cairn Lochan:
Braeriach from Cairn Lochan:
The summit of Cairn Lochan is almost Trotternish-like, with a gentle grassy plateau ending abruptly at vertical cliffs. I took a couple of photos, then moved on to newer territories for me. Crossing one of the main Ben Macdui paths, I found myself at the top of Hell’s Lum Crag. This appeared rather abruptly, with Hell’s Lum itself looking positively terrifying. I assume this manky stinking gully is where Tom Patey honed his skills in the ‘50’s.
Ben Macdui from the top of Hell’s Lum:
Feith Buidhe:
Re-ascending slightly, I traversed around to the Feithe Bhuide, and crossed fairly easily. However, the next section between Garbh Uisge Beag and Garbh Uisge Mor was more problematic. The sensible way would’ve been to ascend 20 or 30 meters and cross rough boulders, but I decided to go for an area of slabs. These were terraced, and moving between the terraces wasn’t too difficult, as the grip was good. However, I soon came across a patch of late snow. It was probably only 15-20m across, but it required steps to be kicked, as the angle was quite steep. As I had no winter gear with me, I had to use my fingers as axes, resulting in some very painful tingling for the next 2 hours! Still, it was good fun, and fitted well with my ‘make it up as you go along’ philosophy for the day. Crossing the Garbh Uisge Beag and Mor was easy enough (although due to wearing cheapy trainer/fell running type shoes, I got wet feet), and soon I was ascending Shelterstone Crag. Views to Loch Avon were everything I could have hoped for and more. The edge of Shelterstone was abrupt and extremely unstable, with dodgy looking boulders tottering over the abyss. I’d read that this crag was pretty much vertical, but lying on the edge looking over really brought this home.
Shelterstone Crag:
Bloody hell, it is vertical! Loch Avon from the top of Shelterstone:
Looking back to Feith Buidhe. I traversed the slabs with the snow patches on in the centre of the photo:
Loch Avon:
End of Loch Avon:
This delivered me nicely to Carn Etchachan. Handy, as this was one of many tops I had missed while Munro bagging. Loch Etchachan was close by, and the map didn’t appear to show any great difficulty in reaching it. Couple of outcrops to avoid, maybe. Another problem, as the whole hillside appeared to consist of steep grass, broken crags and slippy slabs. I managed to negotiate a way down, sometimes on my arse, and it occurred to me that this was probably some kind of mountain karma repayment for giving Davetherave some slightly suspect advice on descent routes from Bidean nam Bian! Still, it wasn’t too bad, and for once I hadn’t missed an obvious easier route just around the corner.
Top of Shelterstone, Hell’s Lum and Cairn Lochan from Carn Etchachan:
Loch Etchachan:
Loch Etchachan was another part of the Cairngorms that I’d liked, but had never got around to going back to, so I was quite happy to be here. My next move was unclear. I could descend to the foot of Shelterstone Crag and walk along Loch Avon. However, I suddenly had a desire to go up Beinn Mheadhoin, as I had only done this once before, and had rather liked it. So up I went, with some vague notion of coming back to the top of Stacan Dubha then descending to Loch Avon. The summit tor was a pleasant little scramble, and it was here that I met the only other walker of the day. Had lunch and a brief chat (he said there had been no midges at Linn of Dee, from where he had set off. Didn’t seem fair! ) before leaving him to continue to Derry Cairngorm.
Derry Cairngorm, Reagan a Choire Etchachan and Sron Riach from Beinn Mheadhoin:
Summit plateau and tors of Beinn Mheadhoin:
Beinn Mheadhoin summit looking S:
I decided to drop my daft notion of going back to Stacan Dubha (another excuse to come back again), and decided to make for the outflow of Loch Avon instead. That way I would save time and still get some good views of Shelterstone and Hell’s Lum crags. The route down was straightforward for once, and I was surprised to find a faint path developing lower down. Then I remembered that this route to Beinn Mheadhoin was described in many Munro guides, which explained it.
Loch Avon:
Shelterstone Crag:
Loch Avon:
…and again:
Loch Avon was really beautiful, and I vowed to come back and walk right round it sometime (did this a couple of years back, but could barely see my hand in front of my face!). The path down to the Fords of Avon was a bit on the boggy side, but passed quickly enough. The scenery changed here, with bog and moorland taking over from crag and loch, and soon I was at everybody’s favourite stone tent, the Fords of Avon shelter. A bit whiffy inside, but otherwise it was fairly clean and tidy. Not sure I would stay here by choice (I was glad I’d knocked a plan to do so on the head a few years back due to laziness), but in an emergency it would be very welcome.
Fords of Avon shelter:
Bothy book:
From here, the ascent to Creag Mhor was easy, initially through thick heather, but soon turning to much shorter turf underfoot. The summit was the SW-most in a line of tors on a broad ridge. Views were certainly pleasant, especially looking back to the now distant bowl of Loch Avon, but after the high plateau, this summit was a slight anti-climax. Fortunately I remembered HighlandSC’s recent Barns of Bynack report, so to put the va-va-voom back into the walk, I decided to head out via Bynack More, rather than skirting around it on the Lairig an Laoigh path. Slightly unexpected turn of events, as it was only 6 months ago I was last up Bynack More. However back then, I had been in a white-out, and barely been able to see my feet, never mind the barns, so it seemed like a good move.
Loch Avon basin from Creag Mhor:
A barn of Bynack from Creag Mhor:
Quick jog down to the path, before crossing over to ascend Bynack More. Other than getting the fright of my life by flushing a couple of grouse, this was an uneventful ascent up steep heather. The first (and biggest) barn was soon in front of me. It was pretty impressive - somewhat larger than the tor on the summit of Beinn Mheadhoin. Good fun could probably be had trying to ascend it, but I was way behind schedule (I had told my wife I’d be home in about 45 minutes from now), so I pressed on to the summit via the smaller barn.
Lower barn:
Upper barn:
From Bynack More looking E towards Geal Charn:
Last look at the plateau:
Descending to Bynack Beg (another top missed out previously), I was able to get a good view of the N ridge of Bynack More. This was interesting, as in February, I had been convinced I was teeterting above a long steep slope, about to set off an avalanche. It all looked a bit silly now, as the imagined steep slope was pretty minor!
Here, I decided to make use of the often described Munroist’s route across Strath Nethy and back up to the col S of Stac na h-Iolaire. Up to this point, I had had the odd spit and spat of rain, but most of it had been falling elsewhere. Now, leaving Bynack Beg, it started properly, and didn’t let up for the entire trip back to the car. I made a rapid descent down to Strath Nethy and back up the other side, but the path seemed to vanish in the bottom of the strath, leaving the lowest 50m each side of the river a crash through thick heather. At the col, I almost made the mistake of descending N towards An Lochan Uaine, but managed to correct myself. By now I was soaked, and just in T-shirt and shorts. I hadn’t bothered to put my coat on, and now it seemed pointless. After squelching across to the Coire na Ciste carpark, I jogged up the road to the car to keep myself warm. The journey back home involved lots of heating!
I was happy with the route. Despite the rain at the end, it had been an enjoyable tour of some of the best bits of the Central Cairngorms. To cover some more highlights, I think I will need to do a route through the Lairig Ghru, up Angel’s Arete, and onto Braeriach via the Pools of Dee. Some other time maybe!