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Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Snow White on Glas Tulaichean


Postby dawnfoth » Sat Nov 03, 2012 7:41 pm

Date walked: 03/11/2012

Time taken: 6 hours

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So the weather man said it was to be cloudy in the East but brightning up later on. I am hoping not that cloudy. After the beautiful weather we have had, surely it can't be that bad. :D

Ok, so this is a long day for this time of year and an early start is necessary, but did you really have to get up at 0510 Dawn!! :shock: I mean seriously. Who does this? I haven't got up at this time for hills in the last 10 years!

In the car at 0600 and looking forward to the day.

At 0745 I leave the car park at Damunzie House Hotel, which for your information is £2.50 - pop into reception and they will give you a raffle ticket. The stags are bellowing on the opposite hill, Ben Gulabin making their presence known.

There is frost on the ground and the road is slippy. There is a sign indicating the route to Glenlochsie Lodge or Gleann Taitneach, so you can't go wrong here.

at start sun up.jpg
At the start of the day looking South East


I was aware that there is a disused railway line and found it immediately, though it does disappear and a landrover track intervenes. If you follow the landrover track it will take you to the Lodge, but there is a river to cross twice, so in spate this may be a bad decision. I took the railway line as I didn't want to get wet at the start of the day so I went cross country I cut across the heather to reach it. It was easy to follow, though a bit soggy in places even with the snow and frost on the ground. There were a couple deer on the track below. There is a little bridge crossing the stream and I cut across to the track. Took me 1hour to reach the Lodge (I think thats a bit slow).

bridge to hill in the distance.jpg

deer.jpg


The snow is thick on the ground (about 3-4 inches) just beyond the Lodge and its soft and fresh. Further up, it gets alot deeper. I have short legs, but I was knee deep on more than one occassion! :roll:

The cloud is also low and I have this feeling it isn't going anywhere in a hurry! :( The only other prints in the snow are that of deer, a very large Stag, Grouse and hare. I plod on and eventually a pile of rocks appears. Hurrah! I must be doing something right! :D Further up another cairn, then just when I am hoping for another one to re-assure me, there's nothing.

white out.jpg

on way up.jpg

at cairn no 2.jpg


My eyes feel strained. The sun is shining, but I am surrounded by blinding cloud and the ground all around me is white! This was to be the order of the day. :(

I followed the track, which was only obvious because it was solidly white. It seemed to go on forever. I think perhaps because I couldn't see anything, I had no idea how high I was. So finally, I reached a point where I decided to get the map back out and the track should veer off to the right. Found it within minutes and headed up in the only direction that seemed logical. There was a large cairn and a fence post.

fence post.jpg


What to do now...? My compass is running rings around me. I think its broken. I can see my footprints and the summit has to be higher than this cairn, so I wander off, literally. I know that I can follow my footprints back. I stumble on another fence post. Then I see it!! Yaaaas!! The trig point. I have made it. :D Took me guide book time to summit 3hr 20mins

the trig point.jpg


If there wasn't a track heading up this hill, I would never have managed it and I would have turned back long ago. Bugger if I am going to kill myself trying to get to Carn an Righ. It will have to wait for a different day. After all, it's not going anywhere!

I have a sandwich on the summit, but its too cold to hang about for anything else. I shovel it in and quickly put waterproof trousers on and follow my prints back.

I meet a couple about half an hour from the summit, then a rather handsome chap followed by two blokes and a couple. Seems I am not alone on the hill after all. I was hoping to sledge on my bum, but the snow is too soft and the ground just isn't steep enough. Boo!

its clearing.jpg

looking down glen lochsie 2.jpg

glenlochsie lodge and the route out 1.jpg

snow spider.jpg

me.jpg

inside the lodge.jpg


When I reach the Lodge I have some orange jelly with mandarin segments - delicious! I am in no hurry to get back and decide to take the track back. The river was not as easy as I thought it would be to cross, but I did get over it without getting soaked both times. I think in summer this would definately be a faster route (other than the disused railway line).

walk out moody skies.jpg


Returned to the car at 1345
dawnfoth
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby ally63 » Sat Nov 03, 2012 8:08 pm

dawn, i've been there (white-out conditions, not glas tulaichean) and it can be a bit scary, especially on your own but well done. on ben macdui i followed what i thought were my own footprints only to realise 3km in wrong direction they obviously hadn't been :shock: the main thing is when you make it back you have a sense of achievement. ps. i always carry two compasses just in case and (forgive me if this a teaching ur granny moment) make sure you store ur compass away from metal objects....they play havoc with the needle!)
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby dawnfoth » Sat Nov 03, 2012 9:41 pm

ally63 wrote:dawn, i've been there (white-out conditions, not glas tulaichean) and it can be a bit scary, especially on your own but well done. on ben macdui i followed what i thought were my own footprints only to realise 3km in wrong direction they obviously hadn't been :shock: the main thing is when you make it back you have a sense of achievement. ps. i always carry two compasses just in case and (forgive me if this a teaching ur granny moment) make sure you store ur compass away from metal objects....they play havoc with the needle!)


Thank you Ally! I have had worse moments on the mountains. Thankfully I was the first person on the mountain, so knew they were my tracks. I would never do that under any other circumstances and certainly wouldn't recommend anyone else to do it. :shock:

Metal objects? Hmmmm.... that answers that question. Thank you! x :D
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby Tomsie » Sat Nov 03, 2012 9:43 pm

Hope the offered you a tea to warm you up at the hotel..
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby dawnfoth » Sat Nov 03, 2012 9:46 pm

Tomsie wrote:Hope the offered you a tea to warm you up at the hotel..


Bloody Oath - the actually did! But I just wanted to get home :D
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby iainwatson » Sun Nov 04, 2012 2:38 am

nice one dawn :thumbup:

alot of snow about up there,well done for finding the summit and getting back safely :D
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby Lenore » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:22 am

Slightly scary one that! Good report; glad you got back safely!
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby Meatball » Sun Nov 04, 2012 4:05 pm

Good stuff!
Probably the right decision to turn around but that would mess with my OCD...or is that summit fever?!
Cheers for the fact finding mission too!
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby The Rodmiester » Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:20 pm

Well done getting the one done :) :clap: , two was always going to be a bit ambitious considering the amount of snow around and lack of daylight hours. Getting back safe is the name of the game. Keep the ones at the back for the longer summer days and treat yourself to a wee wild camp at Loch nan Eun. Dicy stuff taking the photo from inside the old lodge with all that snow on the roof! Best £2.50 ever spent, parking at the hotel. Look forward to your next report. :)
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby MacCookie » Sun Nov 04, 2012 6:27 pm

After a bit of indecision at the summit, I opted to come down Glas Tulaichean via Glen Taitenaich on Saturday. I'm glad I did, as the sun made a bit of effort and broke through the cloud briefly.

Image
A glimmer of light by MacCookie, on Flickr

Full set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maccookie/sets/72157631926691483/detail/

And on a slightly clearer day a few years back:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maccookie/sets/72157622530024628/detail/

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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby dawnfoth » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:06 pm

Meatball wrote:Good stuff!
Probably the right decision to turn around but that would mess with my OCD...or is that summit fever?!
Cheers for the fact finding mission too!


Oh My Goodness, Fifty Shades is thanking me! You are welcome! :D
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby dawnfoth » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:18 pm

MacCookie wrote:After a bit of indecision at the summit, I opted to come down Glas Tulaichean via Glen Taitenaich on Saturday. I'm glad I did, as the sun made a bit of effort and broke through the cloud briefly.

Ewan


Hi Ewan

Almost as soon as I reached the Lodge, I could see it was starting to clear - bloody typical :roll:
You have amazing pictures in your collections - I am guessing that's what you do! :D
Glad you got to see a bit more than I did.

Dawn
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Re: Snow White on Glas Tulaichean

Postby dawnfoth » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:19 pm

Thanks to all for your replies.

And to the PM.... I have tried, but cannot reply to your message - perhaps due to your message settings...?

D :D
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