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Munros: A' Mharconaidh, Beinn Udlamain, Sgairneach Mor.
Sub 2k Marilyns: Conic Hill.
Date: 01 and 02/12/2018.
Distance: 19km + 5.5km.
Ascent: 1045m +470m.
Time taken: 4 hours, 50 minutes and 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Weather: Mixed, with calm sunny spell followed by light snow/rain. Calm and misty on Conic Hill.
Not an overly promising weather forecast for the weekend, but it didn't look that bad either. East seemed to be brightest, so I opted for a straightforward circuit from the A9 for Saturday. I was walking by 10:30 am (not quite as early as intended), and the conditions looked fairly benign, if not overly inspiring.
Heading into Coire Domhain Having passed under the railway, I followed the track into Coire Domhain for a short distance before hitting the slopes of the Boar of Badenoch. Not having been up here before, I thought this would be a nice little addition to the route.
Sgairneach Mor 
The Sow 
Sgairneach Mor from The Boar of Badenoch The slopes were steep but easy, and I was on the summit before too long. Still grey, but this is one of the best spots to look up and down the Drumochter pass from. A fresh covering of snow on the plateau was thin enough that it didn't really slow down my pace towards A' Mharconaidh.
A’ Bhuidheanach Beag 
South through the Drumochter 
North through the Drumochter There were a couple of hags at the col, then a more heathery ascent for the first section of A' Mharconaidh. I began traversing rightwards towards the ridge on the other side of the corrie, but this wasn't any less heathery so I reverted to going straight up. Again it didn't take too long to get onto the A' Mharconaidh plateau.
Cloud pouring over Sgairneach Mor 
On A’ Mharconaidh The weather made a turn for the better here, with the sun coming out to the west. It looked like my fairly uninspired choice of hills was fully justified, as I seemed to be in the centre of the best weather
. I chatted to a couple at the summit briefly - they had reached the same conclusion!
Drumochter from A’ Mharconaidh 
North ridge of A’ Mharconaidh 
Ben Alder from A’ Mharconaidh Even better was the walk over to Beinn Udlamain - the views over Loch Ericht to Ben Alder and the Laggan hills opened up and it continued to get brighter. Also, unlike most recent excursions, there was barely a breath of wind
.
Sgairneach Mor 
Across Loch Ericht to Ben Alder and Geal Charn 
Loch Ericht and Loch Pattack 
Sgairneach Mor I stopped for lunch near the summit of Beinn Udlamain, overlooking Loch Ericht. Carrying on over the top, things began to get a little greyer, and the cloud moved in as I descended. It was looking like the weather window had conveniently opened for the most scenic part of the walk, and was now closing again.
Beinn Udlamain 
Alder and Ardverikie hills 
On Beinn Udlamain 
TheFara 
Back to A’ Mharconaidh 
A’ Mharconaidh 
The Fara 
Beinn Bheoil 
Loch Ericht panorama 
Stob an Aonaich Mhor and south down Loch Ericht 
Heading for Sgairneach Mhor I was out of the cloud as I descended towards Sgairneach Mor, then back in again. Originally I had been keen to look over into the corrie on Sgairneach Mor which looks out to the A9. Having been here before in winter conditions, I knew this held a good cornice, and was pretty impressive. I couldn't see it at all when I got there, but having enjoyed the views earlier, I wasn't too bothered.
Summit of Sgairneach Mhor I dropped rapidly down the ridge back to Coire Domhain. My previous visit a good 12 years ago had also taken in the Sow of Atholl, but the weather didn't invite this detour today. Besides I had been up there just a few weeks ago. Instead I tramped through increasingly soggy snow, which turned into a boggy vehicle track. This conveniently delivered me to a bridge and the good track back to the car. A satisfying day out, but my feet were wet again. Maybe this afternoon was finally the time to stop procrastinating and buy new boots?
____________________________________________
The original plan had been for a bothy weekend somewhere with Jackie but she still had a cold (surely nothing to do with our summit camp a couple of weeks back when she already had a cold
). In order to stop her from making any further daft plans, I suggested a nice easy walk that didn't involve any tents or bothies.
As it happened, I had looked at my Marilyn count a couple of months ago and realised it was rapidly approaching 1000. I only tend to check a couple of times a year, but 6 months spent down south at the beginning of the year had clearly pushed the numbers up faster than I had expected. That tied in nicely with Sunday. Conic Hill seemed a good bet - a nice easy walk (to avoid aggravating Jackie's cold and to break in the new boots that I had bought the day before
), good views (theoretically!) and not too high, meaning more chance of seeing something if the weather was poor.
The weather forecast was poor in the morning so we had a lazy start and didn't start walking until 1:30pm. The weather was really benign, but the cloud was right down to sea level almost, which was a bit disappointing. Given the lack of views, this barely deserved a report in its own right. Since Jackie has already
written a great one, I have just tagged this onto the end of the previous day's wander instead, with minimal words (and photos
)
Loch Lomond 
Heading for the proper summit 
Almost clearing 
1000th Marilyn dram - Aberlour 
Heading down Druim nan Buaraich Fortunately the hilarity of the afternoon made up for the lack of scenery - I'll need to go up Conic Hill again! We celebrated with an early dinner in the Oak Tree Inn while the forecast apocalypse moved in, then I dropped Jackie back in Glasgow and headed up the road home. A fairly leisurely but enjoyable weekend
.
