Walkhighlands

Being new to this game I have got to admit that I saw myself as a "three season" walker but having never walked up in the hills full of snow before I thought that I had to reserve judgement until I had. My mate Milner, with the same thoughts as my own, asked if I fancied taking a walk up Braemar way. Having no experience walking in the snow before I suggested we should head up to Glen Shee where we would be in sight if anything was to go "wrong". The roads weren't as bad as I thought they would be (apart from the road either side of Ballater which slowed us down a lot) considering the amount of snow that had fallen over the last couple of days. With me having my works Christmas do the night before it was never going to be an early start. By the time we got parked, as the ski centre was very busy, and changed it was going on 12 o'clock. We were hoping to get in Carn Aosda as well as The Cairnwell.


So off we went staring with Carn Aosda. The weather was really good. Apart from the obvious being very cold the sun was out with only a slight wind. Perfect for us novice . We started to ascend just right of the ski lift that was not running which was an experience. One leg the snow would be up to your ankle and the next would be up to your knee . If anything it made for good exercise but we thought it would be best to ascend next to the ski lift were the snow had been compacted. How much easier this was to walk on but today was all about trial and error.


It was hard going at times trying to keep your balance especially on the steep parts of the ascent but with summit in sight we eventually made it .

One thing I love about walking in the highlands is the views. The feeling of being isolated from the world. Granted that there were probably a thousand folk skiing just behind me but to look over the Cairngorms to the north was just brilliant.





Time had been ticking on so with the sun setting we decided to call it a day and head back to the car which was a shame as I thought we would have got both munro's done but I'll blame that on the works night out.

It was a good day out, even though it was only for 2 hours, and I was quite surpised how much I enjoyed walking in the snow and will differently be doing it again. I think I can call myself three-and-a-half season walker now although next time I'll maybe lose the hangover .

Ahh, Braemar

Too much squiffy eh? That never happens to me...

The pics are lovely, cracking report Neil, cheers for the views

Great report did these oh some years ago now but will be back there next month to do 3 from inverey with bikes looks like theirs plenty of snow

Great report, cracking pics - always better to do 1 night out and 1 munro than 2 munros together ......... for us novices I mean (I think I'll follow your lead)