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Glenshee Three - 11 hours of snow wading pays off :)

Glenshee Three - 11 hours of snow wading pays off :)


Postby tombombadilio » Thu Feb 11, 2016 11:30 pm

Munros included on this walk: Beinn Iutharn Mhòr, Càrn an Rìgh, Glas Tulaichean

Date walked: 09/02/2016

Time taken: 11.25 hours

Distance: 32.9 km

Ascent: 1616m

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Greetings fellow walkers!

This is a walk I did based loosely on the quoman's 'Dawn Till Dusk' post from 2012.

Felt there's wasn't quite long enough at 27.25km ( :lol: ) so I added a few extra km. It was based on conditions and inability to see any tracks, so had to take a few longer, more cautious routes (like ascending Man nan Carn twice, which was fun :crazy: )

This is what transpired...


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Sunrise.jpg
0730: Left free car park. Checked with hotel reception re stalking. Sunrise.


Pink hills.jpg
Amazing pinkness creeping onto hills to the north.


Sun up proper.jpg
Was trying to sing all the different vocal sections of 'Let the Sunshine' from Hair, by way of praise to the weather gods at this point… Really difficult, hurts your throat.


Bridge of death.jpg
Bridge of death. Approaching this felt like the first 5 mins of an episode of Casualty, or Michael Buerk's '999'. So played it safe, a hands and knees job.


Glenlochsie Lodge.jpg
Glenlochsie Lodge. A bit droopier in the roof from when quoman snapped it in 2012. Keep your distance.


Long ridge to Glas Tulaichean.jpg
Long ridge to Glas Tulaichean. Ball-breaking walk. Ankle-deep wading most of the way with a not very strong but bitter wind in the face. Despite that, stripped down to base layer due to the exertion of it.


Glas Tulaichean shrouded.jpg
Glas Tulaichean shrouded, but what a blueness! :)


Glas Tulaichean trig point.jpg
1015: Glas Tulaichean trig point. Massively misjudged timings due to snow treacle, arriving late. Considering binning Beinn Iutharn Mhor at this point, not enough daylight.


Brocken spectre.jpg
Thought this was a Brocken Spectre at first. Now I gather it was merely a fogbow. Still tres cool though, my first.


Brocken spectre 2.jpg
Was a bit annoyed at first that this thing was following me as I wanted to walk on a bit and get a pic of it from a different angle. Tried three times before I realised that it must work like a rainbow. Don't laugh!


Cornice(ish).jpg
Cornice(ish) in Glas Choire Mhor. Didn't dare get any closer to the edge for this. See the quoman's post for something more dramatic.


Mam nan Carn shrouded.jpg
Mam nan Carn shrouded. Crampons on for this descent.


View back to Glas Tulaichean.jpg
View back to Glas Tulaichean.


Gleann Mor.jpg
Gleann Mor. Should've been called Gleann Mordor. Just pure hell, energy sapping hell, 2km of it. Knee deep in places and no hint of a track, roughing it all the way. No wind/cloud cover and starting to cook in the reflected rays.


Shoulder of Carn an Righ.jpg
Shoulder of Carn an Righ. Beautiful. So peaceful. No wind.


Carn an Righ summit.jpg
1310: Carn an Righ summit :( Done for the day - not enough daylight, not enough energy.


Footsteps on Carn an Righ.jpg
1335: Descent. Footsteps on Carn an Righ. Reckon they're mine.

About now I start half-floating the idea of reinstating Beinn Iutharn Mhor. It would make for a very long winter's day. Would I be able to get down to a low enough level, on a recognisable track for dusk?


Mam nan Carn summit.jpg
1423: Mam nan Carn summit. Will be seeing this again in about an hour. I chose to fully ascend it from Carn an Righ rather than contour around. The SW route up from the bealach looked safe and bouldery. I would then descend on the gentler slope from Man nan Carn summit to the NW bealach, up Beinn Iutharn Mhor, retrace my route to Man nan Carn, then descend the gentle ENE slope to that bealach to take me down to Loch nan Eun.


View NW to An Sgarsoch etc.jpg
View NW from approach to Beinn Iutharn Mhor. Just loving the novelty of a non-totally-white scene at this point.


Carn an Righ unshrouded.jpg
Carn an Righ to SW unshrouded but still sulking/skulking in shadow.


Beinn Iutharn Mhor.jpg
1456: Beinn Iutharn Mhor summit. Had a bit of a delirious sing and dance to celebrate the view after the disappointment of Carn an Righ.


Loch nan Eun.jpg
Loch nan Eun. Bigger than I expected. Thinking that's gonna take a while to go round. Light fading fast. Confirmed now that this will be my first headtorch-lit return.


Gleann Taitneach.jpg
Gleann Taitneach. Thinking that as long as I can get into that valley for dusk, the job's a good one. If only nature would stop being so damn beautiful then maybe I could quit taking pictures and get on!


Loch nan Eun from waterfall.jpg
1615: Loch nan Eun from waterfall. Crossing the outlet from the loch was mildly terrifying. Could see a quite opaque rushing of water through the ice and had no idea how deep this was having never been here in summer. Could this carry me away if I went through? After much psyching, went across higher up, on the level with the loch. Feet went deeper than I would have liked but gaiters did the job.


After this point it was time to quickly get down the tricky, partially obscured track beside the Allt Ghlinn Thaitneich while enough light remained, so no more photos.

Once on the land rover track it was head down, dig deep, plod on - and don't look at the map to remind yourself of how far it is to go. I think Napoleon (Bonaparte?, or maybe it was Dynamite :? ) who said: man goes farthest when he knows not how far he has to go.

Stuck to the east of the river, followed the track to Spittal of Glenshee to cross bridge then doubled back for 5mins to the free car park. At the car for 1845. Pooped but happy :D .
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tombombadilio
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Re: Glenshee Three - 11 hours of snow wading pays off :)

Postby dogplodder » Fri Feb 12, 2016 12:19 pm

I remember that as a long enough walk without BIM - so an impressive route in those conditions. What stamina! :clap:
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Re: Glenshee Three - 11 hours of snow wading pays off :)

Postby mamoset » Sat Feb 13, 2016 1:29 pm

Good report and pics there :clap: Is the road up to Glen Shee ok to approach from the south at the moment?
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Re: Glenshee Three - 11 hours of snow wading pays off :)

Postby tombombadilio » Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:33 pm

dogplodder wrote:I remember that as a long enough walk without BIM - so an impressive route in those conditions. What stamina! :clap:


Thanks dogplodder. Never had a man complement my stamina before :lol:

Racking my brains, what is BIM??
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tombombadilio
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Re: Glenshee Three - 11 hours of snow wading pays off :)

Postby tombombadilio » Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:44 pm

mamoset wrote:Good report and pics there :clap: Is the road up to Glen Shee ok to approach from the south at the moment?


Thanks mamoset. Amazing what pics a mere iPhone can do.

The road was fine. I came down from Braemar early that day and it was clear, the gritters seem to be pretty active at all hours ensuring it stays open. The way back was a bit hairy though at night, hit a blizzard at the top of the A93 at the Ski Centre, crawling, couldn't see anything. Plus was in a useless rear-wheel drive. Bit scary.

Returned to Englandshire a couple of days later and the road to the south of Glenshee was fine. Having spoken to some Braemarites though, this is very mild weather and they usually have a foot of snow at this time of year, so maybe I was lucky.

Hope you enjoy if you head up there soon, the Southern Cairngorms are at their finest just now :D
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tombombadilio
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