A return to Glenshee, Glas Maol and Creag Leacach

[neilfowlie]

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It was a beautiful day when we arrived at Glenshee Ski Centre at 9.30am. It was time to complete Glas Maol Munros circuit from the Cairnwell Pass. A month had past when I did Carn an Tuirc and Cairn of Claise with Tom Buidhe. This was a long enough walk for me so Glas Maol and Creag Leacach had to wait for another day. In hindsight I should have parked the car at the bottom of the pass opposite Creagan nan Carn and tackled the path ascending Leacann Dudh first but that was in hindsight.
Andrea and I started our ascend following one of the chair lifts as a guide. The "path" wasn't too bad with just the odd muddy puddle to contend with. At the top of the ski lift we were able to pick up the path, after some carefull navigation through peat bog, that would take us to our first goal of the day, Meall Odhar, and then onto our first Munro, Glas Maol.

Carn Aosda from the Ski Centre

Creag Leacach, will be seeing you soon

Some spledid views looking down towards the Spittal of Glenshee with the side of Creag Leacach to the south and the silhouette of the North Cairngorms looking towards Braemar.

Creag Leacach

Looking down towards the Spittal of Glenshee

Looking North near the summit of Glas Maol

It was a steady enough climb towards Glas Maol and by 11.30am we had bag our first Munro of the day.

Glas Maol, 1068mtrs

Sitting at the cairn having a bite to eat it started to cloud over slightly but it was still warm enough to leave the jackets off for the time being. With about 2.5kms from Glas Maol to Creag Leacach we decided to make a move.

Instead of back tracking 250mtrs and picking up the path that would take us to our second Munro back we cut across the side of Glas Maol and joined up with the path just before the cairn at Bathach Beag. From here there were some stunning views down Glen Blighty.

Glen Brighty

Cairn at Bathach Beag and the Cairnwell Three

The closer we got to Creag Leacach the more we had to watch our footing as the path disappears to give way to small rocks and boulders as you approach the final ascent to the top. From here I could see Mount Blair to the south, Glas Tulaichean to the west and the Cairnwell Three slightly to the north.

Almost there..

Creag Leacach, 987mtrs

Mount Blair in the distance

Looking towards Glas Tulaichean

By 1.30pm it was time to head back to the car but now was the tricky part. Descending from Creag Leacach heading towards Meall Gorm was no easy task. Time and care had to be taken stepping from one boulder to the other until we reached the more flat grassy plain.

Leacann Dubh

From here we descend down to one of the tributaries of the Allt Coire a Bhathaich to which we had to ford across at the bottom and start the long walk up Leacann Dudh. This is when I wished I had parked the car at this end and not back at the ski centre.

A tributary of Allt Coire a Bhathaich

It seemed to take alot out of us to descend off Creag Leacach and then having to ascend almost 300mtrs up Leacann Dudh was a bit harsh. All in all though it was a nice walk up passing a shelter towards the end of the ascent. The ski lift were we had started from could be seen in the distance but we decided to descend down a track that would take us to the south end of the car park at the ski centre and then onwards towards our car.

All smiles towards the end though