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Mayar would be my first Munro in god knows how many years. It was also the first of hopefully many Munro's with Gill. It was a cold day out and we set off from the Glen Clova ranger station car park at about 09:30 wrapped up and ready to go. Gill quickly realised that had she not worn gloves and a hat, as she had originally intended, she would have regretted it. The walk up to Corrie Fee from the car park was fairly shallow and enjoyable through the Glen Doll forest. 45 minute later we reached a snow capped and windy Corrie Fee. This was the first part of the walk where we were exposed to the winds and further up the walk we would be subjected to the temps of about -10 in the wind. We climbed up the back of corrie fee, carving our own path at times, and at the top stopped for a well earned rest. Gill was beginning to think at this point that Munro bagging was not for her
. Twenty minutes rest, a cup of tea and a snack had us back on our way. The initial ascent from our stop location was quite steep and challenging but when the top was reached it was a shallow walk up to the summit of Mayar. We decided not to have lunch atop Mayar as we were weary of the time given that we still had to summit Driesh so from there we walked across the plateau. Gill fell a good 4 or 5 times as there was ice all over the place. When we got to the base of the ascent path to Driesh we had lunch and a cup of tea. Gill and I discussed walking up Driesh based on the fact that we knew daylight was not in abundance at this time (14:30 approx.). We decided to give it a bash but a short way up fears over safety forced us to turn back. I'd have probably continued if it was just myself but a combination if ice and winds stronger that I can ever remember up the hills forced us to turn back as it was just not safe. We slowly descended (Gill on her bum at times) and then walked back down to the car park via the Kilbo Path.
All in all this was a great day. I was proud of Gill not giving up and summiting Mayar, hopefully the first of many Munro's we do togethter.
Next time I go hiking in the snow however I will definitely be taking either sunglasses or ski goggles.
Gill at Corrie Fee
Gill at Mayar summit
Me at Mayar summit
Snowy summits
Gill on her backside
