Cairnwell on a hot May Day
Posted: Sun May 28, 2017 1:42 pmFriday 26th May 2017 was predicted to hit 30 degrees celsius in the north of Scotland.
I started from the Glenshee Ski centre carpark at 13:30pm with a few two litre bottles of water in my backpack. I was amazed at the head start this affords you - some 2160 feet, leaving only 1000 feet ascent to bag a munro!
The octagonal cafe at the start of the route:
Almost at the top of Carn Aosda and a look back down the valley:
Top of the Ski Tow (one of many!):
I followed the Walkhighlands route by bagging Carn Aosda first, in less than 1 hour from the car - Amazing!
Panorama from the top of Carn Aosda:
View towards the next munro - Carn a'Gheoidh:
Pano of Carn Aosda on left and The Cairnwell on right:
And another of the same:
Mountain hares and red grouse about here, as does Golden Plover. If you hear a loud "peep" that will be a Golden Plover!
Hartley Hare:
It was really windy atop the second munro stopped and talked to a pair of older gentlemen who were kind enough to take my photograph with the eastern munros of Glenshee behind me. Directly behind is Glas Maol, the highest. To the left are Carn an Tuirc (where I wildcamped) and Cairn of Claise closet to me.
Pano of the summit of Carn a'Gheodh and the north:
The most amazing moment of the day was when an RAF Hercules transport plane rose magestically about The Cairnwell, it must have come up the valley and pulled up to aim for the transmitters, I got it and it's companion Hercules disappear off down the valley perpendicular to Glenshee (see the video)
Back atop the ridge on the way to The Cairnwell and yet another Ski tow:
The final munro - The Cairnwell is so weird with all of the buildings and transmitter masts.
Bumped into a fella at the top of this one too, who took my photo in amongst the clutter:
The weather was lush, the heat of the day gone and visibility was amazing. Another pano down the Glenshee pass towards Braemar:
View back to the ski centre - not far away!
The walkhighlands route sticks to the tracks but I saw a direct route to my car parked across the east side of the road in the large stoney car-park, so gunned it straight down the hill to the car. Great feeling to have 3 munros bagged in 3.5 hours!
A quick bite of dinner and then down to the carpark 2 km down the hill towards Braemar to park up and get some height for a wildcamp on Carn Aan Turic
Second half here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=72704&p=350519#p350519
I started from the Glenshee Ski centre carpark at 13:30pm with a few two litre bottles of water in my backpack. I was amazed at the head start this affords you - some 2160 feet, leaving only 1000 feet ascent to bag a munro!
The octagonal cafe at the start of the route:
Almost at the top of Carn Aosda and a look back down the valley:
Top of the Ski Tow (one of many!):
I followed the Walkhighlands route by bagging Carn Aosda first, in less than 1 hour from the car - Amazing!
Panorama from the top of Carn Aosda:
View towards the next munro - Carn a'Gheoidh:
Pano of Carn Aosda on left and The Cairnwell on right:
And another of the same:
Mountain hares and red grouse about here, as does Golden Plover. If you hear a loud "peep" that will be a Golden Plover!
Hartley Hare:
It was really windy atop the second munro stopped and talked to a pair of older gentlemen who were kind enough to take my photograph with the eastern munros of Glenshee behind me. Directly behind is Glas Maol, the highest. To the left are Carn an Tuirc (where I wildcamped) and Cairn of Claise closet to me.
Pano of the summit of Carn a'Gheodh and the north:
The most amazing moment of the day was when an RAF Hercules transport plane rose magestically about The Cairnwell, it must have come up the valley and pulled up to aim for the transmitters, I got it and it's companion Hercules disappear off down the valley perpendicular to Glenshee (see the video)
Back atop the ridge on the way to The Cairnwell and yet another Ski tow:
The final munro - The Cairnwell is so weird with all of the buildings and transmitter masts.
Bumped into a fella at the top of this one too, who took my photo in amongst the clutter:
The weather was lush, the heat of the day gone and visibility was amazing. Another pano down the Glenshee pass towards Braemar:
View back to the ski centre - not far away!
The walkhighlands route sticks to the tracks but I saw a direct route to my car parked across the east side of the road in the large stoney car-park, so gunned it straight down the hill to the car. Great feeling to have 3 munros bagged in 3.5 hours!
A quick bite of dinner and then down to the carpark 2 km down the hill towards Braemar to park up and get some height for a wildcamp on Carn Aan Turic
Second half here:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=72704&p=350519#p350519
