WALK JOURNAL: CARN DEARG & CARN SGULAIN

[Moray Mountaineer]

Unfortunately we didn't have time to climb A'Chailleach due to weather conditions.

As I opened my curtains in the morning I was met by a ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds. "A great day" I thought to myself but then I quickly remembered that just because it was a good day here didn't mean it was guaranteed to be a good day up a mountain, especially the following week after "The Beast from the East". My friend, brother and I set off to Glen Banchor near Newtonmore, excited and bouncing for the hike, which made for a good car journey. Once we arrived at Glen Banchor car park things looked a little greyer than they were in Fochabers. Getting our gear on and off was probably the worst part of the day, that damn wind chill.
Once we were all geared up and checked our maps, we started off. Firstly over the foot path and heading to the deserted township. From here take a right that leads up a small path towards the mountains[*][img][img][/img][/img]

As you continue on your ascent to Carn Dearg the path widens into a jeep/ATV track. The cold had fairly set in over the past couple of weeks and the ground was hard from frost and snow so I couldn't tell you if the track is normally boggy or not. Keep walking on this track for 30 mins or so and keep your eyes peeled for a small foot bridge leading over the stream. With the amount of snow lying on the ground now getting much deeper it was hard to see where the path led to after crossing the bridge but with a quick squint at the map we were soon back on track. The depth of the snow was increasing greatly within short distance of our ascent up the small path, making underfoot conditions very challenging and hard to gauge but a Mountain Hare popped out of nowhere and showed us the way to the glen.