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Despite the icy wind and the threat of snow, I decided that a quick drive down the A9 from Inverness for a short morning walk on Meall Mor was a good idea. I parked in lay-by 172 on the south bound carriageway and walked 50m back north towards the entrance to a forest road, almost immediately reaching a T junction. I went to the right, crunching through the new snow, the icy blast making my eyes water. The road was good at first but soon turned into a rougher, frozen rutted track leading up to the coms mast. Just before this, on the left, there was a metal gate through the barbed-wire fence, which saved a bother. There was a good view of the hill from here across the open heather moorland.
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- Over the moorland to Meall Mor
The heather was pretty deep so I was pleased to find a narrow track of sorts heading in the right direction. I followed this and then found a snow and ice covered stream which made for easy walking to just below the rock-faced final ascent.
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- The rocky summit of Meall Mor
I skirted round to the right to avoid the iced-up rock on to a nice easy ramp and came across the summit cairn very quickly.
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- At the summit cairn looking East
By this time, it was five-layer cold so, after a couple of quick photos and a look around, it was a speedy descent to the warmth of the car.
