March across The Fara

[gld73]

The weather forecast for Monday on MWIS was a mythical "Negligible wind, Over 90% chance of cloud free munros" across all the Highlands, so I was dithering about where to go. Having just done the 2 East Drumochter munros Carn na Caim and A' Bhuidheanach Bheag the day before in the snow I didn't want to do anything too strenuous so settled on The Fara which meant I didn't need to have an early start. Turned out to be an excellent decision and a really enjoyable walk.

Having read a few trip reports on WH in the morning I wasn't really sure what to expect as there are some mixed opinions, but having been just across the other side of the A9 the day before, at least I had a good idea of the snow level. I wasn't expecting it to be at all busy on a Monday in March and right enough I arrived late morning to find I was the only person parked at the level crossing area.

View south down Loch Ericht from the dam

It was a nice easy walk along the track to the fire break, a slightly soggy first few metres especially around the gate, but then the steep ascent was on really nice bouncy terrain up the fire break. At the top of the tree line the big patches of snow started and on the ascent I was avoiding them as much as possible (I didn't on the descent!). It meant a little bit of tussock-hopping, but avoiding the boggy areas was easy, and navigation was easy, just heading straight up with the occasional old fence post as a useful guide.

Occasional fence post - and peat hags under there somewhere apparently ...

The WH route description mentions some peat hags, but by that height it was pretty snowy and the hags were all conveniently filled in, making it easy to walk straight across. The walk then steepened again with the old dry stone wall occasionally poking above the snow, again acting as a useful guide. There was one other set of up/down footprints faintly visible in the snow from someone doing it in the last couple of days, so even at weekends I guess it must be quite a quiet hill, given its location so close to several munros.

Bits of wall still visible as a guide

Before the last stretch of wall and the summit cairn came into sight, there was a very steep section - But it wasn't a long stretch (and wouldn't have been a long slide down!) so just made the walk more interesting, having to kick in foot holes to go up and I didn't need to get the crampons on.

Had time on the descent to take a photo of the slope

So then the summit cairn, a satisfactorily big one (no wandering around looking for it!) appeared at the end of the by-now-reappeared wall.

wall leading to the rather grand summit cairn

Despite being at the summit, there was still barely a breath of wind - MWIS had got it spot on. The 360-degree views were fantastic too; it was a fairly cloudy day, but I could hardly see any munros which had cloud low enough to cover their summits. Unfortunately most of the photos I took at the top were panorama ones which, by the time I've re-sized them to go in a WH walk report, don't do the views justice!

panorama from summit to the east Drumochter munros

panorama looking south west from summit

The wide ridge/plateau heading south-south west was a very inviting walk, a mix of snow-free and snowy sections. I'd been undecided about whether to do the full circuit of the WH route or not, but the ascent route had been so good I decided it would be good to go down the same way rather than walk several km back on the loch side track. I still did most of the length of the ridge though as it was so easy once I was up there and in the good conditions I was reluctant to leave! I went over the 901m point for the additional views, but then headed back from there, returning to the 911m summit cairn and back down.

full length of Loch Ericht

The descent was fast as I followed in my own footprints so had more confidence I wasn't going to go thigh deep at any moment! When I reached the level of some snow/some grassy tussocks, unlike the ascent, I stuck to the snow and it was much quicker and more enjoyable . The steep descent down the fire break was also surprisingly good, the springy surface helping soften the impact on my dodgy knees. I had my gaiters with me but hadn't bothered putting them on, the conditions had been so perfect that neither snow nor bog went over the tops of my boots

So easy navigation, great views, barely any wind, boggy ground covered by snow .... possibly my favourite walk of 2018 so far! And I didn't see another soul asides from a deer and 2 ptarmigan ...