Five out of six

[martin1909]

Today we set off to do the four Glas Moal Munro's and include Tolmount and Tom Buidh on the way. Six Munros, an ambitious feat given that my two mates had never been up a Munro before. As we drove into Glenshee and into view of The Cairnwell ahead, my mates began to wonder what they had gotten themselves into.

We parked the car at the small car park about a kilometre or two north of the Ski Centre and headed for our first Munro of the day, Carn An Turc. The tracks leading up this hill, after the second set of sheilings, are much more defined than what I thought they would be having read some reports although they are quite rocky in places. The ascent is quite a steep one in some parts (steep for me not being the most athletic guy lol) but offers fine views of the three Cairnwell Munros to the west.

Headin up Carn An Turc looking towards Glenshee Skii Centre and The Cairnwell

The weather was absolutely superb with cloud bases at about five thousand feet by my reckoning and the temperature was comfortable. After about an hour and forty five of walking we reached the summit and the two friends joining me had both bagged their first Munro.

Ryan, Jack & I atop Carn An Turc

Looking over the Cairnwell Munros from the summit

To their relief, my rantings of "once you’ve made the initial climb up, the rest isn’t so steep" proved itself. A short walk over the rocky summit of Carn An Turc and we were on our way down to meet the well defined track heading to Cairn of Claise. We made good time on this section of our walk and about 30 minutes after setting off, we reached the second of the day.

Cairn Of Claise Summit

A short break at the top for some photos and we were off again. Unsure what to expect path/track wise after the end of the marked path on the OS Explorer map, we were easily able to follow a defined track which took us to Tolmount, broken in places by a few very wet and splodge bogs and a small river close to the base of Tolmount.

Heading for Tolmount with Tom Buidh summit just out of shot to the right

After crossing this river, a short and gradual ascent took us up the days third, Tolmount.

Tolmount summit

Tom Buidh, our next stop

At the top we enjoyed some lunch...the best part of the day for the inexperienced two with me

After a rest, we made our way down Tolmount and up Tom Buidh. Not an overly challenging section of the days walk. There is only one metre difference in height with these two, Tolmount bewig the larger of the two and there isn’t much of a descent on the walk between the two.

Mayar & Driesh from Tom Buidh summit

From Tom Buidhe, we had a long walk back along the path which eventually skirts just below the summit of Claise and then onto Glas Moal. Again, although a long one, not an overly challenging walk as its flat for a large part and then only really a gradual climb back up.

The path weaved around by Claise and took us to the base of the Glas Moal summit. The two I was with were getting tired and sore by this point (and who can blame them, I did throw them into the deep end for their first Munro experience) but as Glas Moal was so close we couldn’t leave it undone. From the intersection with the path that takes you down to the car park via Sron na Gaoithe, we were a 20/30 minute walk up to the summit of what would be our last Munro of the day.

Some more great views from up here and also a chance for me to try out my new toy for the first time, the Jetboil system, which I would highly recommend to anyone owing to its lightweight, compact design and the fact that the boil time is at least half that of an open gas stove.

Glas Moal...our last summit of the day

Trying out my new toy for the first time :)

On reflection, it was a superb day. A bit of a pain not getting Leacach done as well but that will be there for another day.

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

[cb_8211]

Well done to your mates! They were my first 3 Munros and know the feeling