by otter606 » Tue Jan 02, 2018 10:51 pm
Munros included on this walk: Mount Keen
Date walked: 02/01/2018
Time taken: 4.5 hours
Distance: 17 km
Ascent: 700m
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I thought Mount Keen would be a good, easy, hike for a post New Year, short winter day.
From Glen Mark the ascent is indeed straightforward. Once we gained the south ridge at 700m the path disappeared under the snow. Not too much of problem on the ascent, take a bearing and keep heading uphill aided by a strong south-easterly wind.
Of course, trying to find hit the path on the way down was a bit trickier. We headed a little too far west of south and ended up coming down the steep heathery slopes next to the stream just to the West of Couternach.
I'd taken my Garmin with me - interesting to see on the exact route ( which I can't link to because of restrictions) that
clearly despite heading off the summit on a bearing of 185 we actually were heading SW off the summit - just goes to show the effect of a strong wind in near zero visibility to push you off course.
The bad weather and snow definitely made it a more interesting day out than we were expecting.
