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Due to a combination of poor weather on all my days off, and crashing my car on the A9 when I got a puncture on the way to a winter mountain skills course (not injured, just without a car for 3 weeks!), I didn't do a single hill in February. Got my car back on Wednesday 4th, and was on a day off with good weather on Thursday 5th, so time to break that bad run of hill-free weeks.
Thought I might have got a bit unfit with the lack of mountain walking recently, so didn't want to pick anything too epic. Seemed like a good time to do Creagan a'Chaise from Cromdale - not too far to drive, and a good one to do in clear conditions in winter from what I'd read ... and when I set off, my intention was just to do that one rather than both the Cromdale grahams.
I didn't bother with an early start, so parked in the village car park in Cromdale and started the walk at 1130. Up the Haughs road, the Coronation cairn already visible from the village.... navigation wasn't going to be a problem today. Turned right towards the farm and castle, then left through the farmyard and continued following the track. Didn't do the castle detour as I thought I'd be coming back this way.
- On the track heading to the right of Claggersnich Wood, the Coronation Cairn visible up top on the left
Followed the track up around Claggersnich Wood, then left the track to head directly up to the Coronation cairn. I maybe should have stayed on the track a bit longer as the walk description mentions a path, but the heather on this section was short enough for it to be a straightforward ascent, and I just came across the path once it was covered in snow near the cairn.
- Looking back from the heathery hillside to Cromdale village in the centre
- Approaching Coronation cairn, with a couple of other pairs of footprints in the snow though I didn't see anyone else anywhere on the Cromdale hills on this day. Creagan a Chaise is the hill in the background
- From the cairn looking to the next target, the summit of Creagan a Chaise
I'd expected the hills here to have more snow cover, but it was patchy and rarely over ankle deep. From the Coronation Cairn, the route ahead was obvious, down a dip, up again, and curving round to the left, to the big cairn on the summit of Creagan a Chaise, already visible. There were bits of ATV tracks visible in some places, but with the snow and short heather, it was just as easy following my own route rather than trying to stick to tracks which disappeared in places.
- Lots of snow on the final approach to the summit as I approached from the north side
There was thick snow on the short steep section up to the summit, but once back on a flat area getting the sun, there wasn't much around the trig point and large Jubilee cairn. Lovely views over to the Cairngorm munros, which were certainly holding on to their white winter coats better than the lower hills. On first glance at the cubby hole in the cairn, I thought people had left rubbish in .... on closer inspection I realised it was actually a half full bottle of Glenlivet whisky (12yr old malt), plus the visitors book in plastic bags wedged under a stone. I didn't have a dram, but did sign the book.
- Sunshine and not much snow at the Jubilee cairn and the summit trig point
- Half a bottle of Glenlivet and a visitors book at the cairn
- South to the snowy Cairngorms
Looking back the way I'd come, I thought the other graham, Carn a Ghille Chearr, was the hill clearly visible back along the other end of the ridge/plateau. As it had taken me less than 2hrs to get to Creagan a Chaise's summit, I started to think maybe extending the walk to Carn a Ghille Chearr was a good possibility after all - the weather was pretty much perfect for it (excellent visibility and very little wind) and my feet were still dry, the snow and cold weather keeping the boggy plateau a bit crunchy rather than soggy. I decided to at least head towards it and if I felt I wouldn't be completing it in daylight, could just head down and do the other summit another day.
- Passing the Coronation Cairn again, this was the route I was now taking towards Carn a Ghille Chearr (looking at Carn Eachie, as the graham is only a wee bit higher and hidden behind it)
So I more or less retraced my route back to Coronation Cairn, but then continued along the high ground instead of heading back down the way I'd come up. A check of the map showed the hill I'd been looking at thinking it was the other graham was actually Carn Eachie, with the only slightly higher Carn a Ghille Chearr a bit further beyond it.The ground seemed to get boggier which wasn't as enjoyable as the preceding few kilometres, and I lost more elevation than I'd expected before having to ascend again. My boots eventually decided to give up their waterproof status, but never mind, the sun was still shining so I wasn't going to freeze.
- For once, a mountain hare stayed still long enough for me to get a (bad) picture
- Reindeer prints? There were quite a few of these large prints around, though no reindeer in sight today
Once I reached Carn Eachie, the terrain was fairly flat with short vegetation for the walk over to Carn a Ghille Chearr's summit for the second graham of the day. I even jogged a bit of it before deciding hiking boots weren't the best footwear for that. Took a couple of photos, but didn't linger for long as it was a still fair walk back to Cromdale from there.
- From Carn Eachie the route to Carn a Ghille Chearr is straight ahead over easy terrain
- Carn a Ghille Chearr summit with Ben Rinnes in the background
- Ben Rinnes zoomed
- Looking towards Glenlivet area, so I'm guessing these are the Ladder Hills?
For my return route, I more or less retraced my steps to Carn Eachie and then down to the bealach. Instead of continuing back along the plateau/ridge, I headed down west, thinking that past the snow I'd spot the path shown on my OS map as heading down to Wester Rynaballoch, or another shown as going to Easter Rynaballoch. I didn't see either of them, though I wasn't looking too hard as the descent through the knee-deep heather was very straightforward (would have been tough going up through it mind!). Not being on the paths to either Wester or Easter Rynaballoch, I fell between the 2 stools and so just headed for the section of single track tarmac road between them. Turned out this wasn't a great decision, as near the bottom I had to clamber over 3 barbed wire fences and go through a swamp which filled my boots with muddy water. It was nice to climb the 3rd fence and come out on the Haughs Road for the easy 4km walk back to the car, passing a couple of much easier access routes on to the hill than the one I'd come down, as well as the turn off to Lethendry Farm that I'd taken at the start of the walk.
- Heading back down Carn Eachie to the bealach. Creagan a Chaise in the distance (right of centre)
- Heathery descent to the minor road at Rynaballoch
So a longer walk than I'd originally planned, but all the better for it