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One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

One night in the Monadh Ruaidh


Postby Collaciotach » Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:36 pm

Munros included on this walk: Beinn Bhrotain, Braeriach, Cairn Toul, Càrn a' Mhàim, Monadh Mòr, Sgòr an Lochain Uaine, The Devil's Point

Date walked: 07/06/2013

Time taken: 25 hours

Distance: 54 km

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Day 1

The Gael calls them the Monadh Ruaidh to differentiate them from the Monadh Liath to the West

The irony of the English translation Cairn Gorm or "Pairc Naiseanta Carn Gorm" may be lost on most

It translates roughly as the "blue mountain national park" and this terminology sits on the welcome boards at the thresholds alongside the name "Pairc Naiseanta a Mhonadh Ruaidh" ...... " the red mountain national park "

Don't even start me on "Angel's Peak" and "Devil's Point" ... I sort that out later :wink:

I set off at midday on Friday, inspired by Rockhopper's route to circuit the Cárn an t Sabhail traverse with the add on of Cárn a Mhaim and finishing over the Monadh Mor via Beinn Bhrotain....... rathad fada !

We had climbed Sgor Gaoithe and Mullach Clach a Bhlair the previous week so I knew the terrain ahead with the intention to pass along the peat hags above Loch Einich for the bealach between Braigh Riabhaich and Sgor an Lochan Uaine.

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Sealtainn air ais Sgorr Gaoithe


A bit of a slog with a heavy overnight pack reached the bealach around 3.5hrs after leaving Achlean and left the pack for the climb to Braigh Riabhaich.

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Sgor an Lochan uaine


We wandered along the cliff with some big cornices left from Winter /Summer :D and found ourselves "air a mhullach" quickly .

A big broad flat top on this one would be tricky in poor visibility and a nightmare in a white out !

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Braigh Riabhaich / Summit


I was keen to keep moving so we did not hang about too long before back down to the bealach and over onto Sgor an Lochan Uaine

A bonnie wee peak this one and ended up my favourite of the four

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Sgor an Lochan Uaine


A' nis , de tha cearr leis Sgor an Lochain Uaine ? ,an t ainmean ceart ..... so why "angels peak" ,guess it must be a "Victorian" thing and typically does not represent the topographical features of the mountain scape in any way.

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Lochan Uaine


Cum a Ghaidhlig ainm ann ... keep the Gaelic name in use, it describes the hill simply .

We were soon on Carn an t Sabhail quite rocky terrain and an cu was skittering over the rocks in good speed ,I was more careful good ankle break country this although being dry it was a blessing I think this would be more of a challenge in wet weather

I met two nice folk on the summit here turned out to be Foggieclimber and Rachael heading for Braigh Riabhaich ..saoghal beag gu dearbh :lol:

Sealltain math sios ann an Lairig Dhru .. good views into the Lairig Ghru and in the distance our final peak

Bod an Deamhain :clap:

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Lairig Dhru agus Bod an Deamhain


The descent is harsh over Coire an t Saighdear and onto the bealach above Corr Ruaidh , a long boulder field and sore on the feet , again would be worse in wet weather I reckon.

I dumped the sack again and made my way up to the carn it was about 7pm a long afternoon already and still a camp to find.

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Mullach Bod na Deamhainn


A ribhist "the devils point" tha beachd agamsa bha e .... the "Victorians" again :roll: ,a pity the name appears to be sticking.

I used the break on Bod an Deamhainn to assess the next days ascent of Coire Cath nam Fhionn it looked a long way off and steep.

We made our way down and past Coire Odhar and round into the head of Gleann Guisachan and had the tent pitched by 9pm in a wee heathery spot by the Uisge De :D

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Am Phiobaill


An latha fada gu dearbh agus bha sinn sgith .... we had a meal and a couple of cans of Cider before bed with an gille dubh beginning to feel the pace of the day

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An cu


Time taken around 9 hrs from Achlean and with a heavy pack, no bad going and the real bonus no midges this far East .. yet :D

DAY 2

A good nights sleep saw me up at 4.30am and off up Carn a Mhaim to catch the sun up, at 500mtrs in the Lairig Dhru I was not going to pass the chance to bag this one ! opted for the straight up approach and surfaced just between the two carn about 1hr 15mins later.

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Carn a Mhaim


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Bod an Deamhainn


I had a pleasant 1/2 hour on this wee cracker with nice views down Gleann Doire, however, time to move as the Coire Cath nam Fhionn beckoned.

I struck camp by 7.30am and headed up Gleann Guisachan ,a lovely place but not any Firs left :( and it took a wee while to hit the bottom of the Coire.

I followed the line of the burn up here, good deer tracks help the ascent, but with the pack and heat it was a slog which induced a rest at the coire floor before the final push onto the bealach :D

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Coire Cath nam Fionn


It was a relief to reach the bealach between Beinn Bhrotain and Monach Mor and dump the pack and before going up onto the summit of this boulder field ! .... the day was growing warmer by the hour.

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Beinn Bhrotainn


Over on to the Monadh Mor and sweating buckets ....they are a pair of flat tops these two!

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Sealltain air ais


We did not linger on Monadh Mor instead we heading down into the bowl before Tom Mhor and had a grand skinny dip in the burn sorry no pics ....then a sleep on the roll mat in the sun for two hours .... with the shorts back on :wink:

The walk back was uneventful but the weather grand we eventually hit the car at 3.30pm another long day.

I noticed many things about these hills that differs them from the West but the biggest factor was perhaps in the Glen lands ,there is not the same degradation in grasses and heathers as yet and in comparison to the West, with Glen Guisachan especially looking like the cro dubh (black cattle) had not long departed.

The place names keep the place alive to me and I wonder who the soldier was that was in Coire an t Saighdear and who sat on Clach nan Tailear. The Gaels had a simple practice of naming after topographical features and local events it works in descriptive terms more than any caic handed re branding will ever do, so folks keep the Gaelic names in use ,it is the essence of the mountain lands.

Slainte
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Last edited by Collaciotach on Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Collaciotach
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby SusieThePensioner » Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:49 pm

Wow! You seemed to have certainly been blessed with the weather and some beautiful views :thumbup:

Collaciotach wrote:a "Victorian" thing
The Victorians have a lot to answer for regarding all manner of things :lol:

Collaciotach wrote:couple of cans of Cider
I hope it was Somerset cider :wink: :lol: (that's where I originate from)

Collaciotach wrote:so folks keep the Gaelic names in use ,it is the essence of the mountain lands.

Hear hear........as long as I can know what it means in English, please :D

A great report and a great walk!
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby mrssanta » Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:15 pm

Well that was a good trek with a lot of up and down. We liked sgur an lochain uaine best as well with a great backdrop of the dee tumbling over the cliff into garbh coire. Great picture of the wee black fella up to his neck in heather, he does well on his wee legs.
Susie the SMC has a good book called hill names of Scotland which is excellent and explains the Gaelic, Norse and Scots names
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby simon-b » Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:51 pm

A massive round, Collaciotach, an impressive outing. Two years ago I was on the Carn an t-Sabhail - Braigh Riabhach range and had to cope with wet boulders and mist on the plateau near the edges of the corries, so the points you made about conditions struck a note with me. At least I wasn't in a white-out. I enjoyed your pictures of the views I'd missed.

I guess one Carn Gorm in the Monadh Ruaidh is no more ironic than one Sgurr Dearg in the Black Cuillin, or one Stob Ban in the Grey Corries. Incidently, I thought the spelling corrie rather than coire seemed appropriate when I was typing in English, but spell-check still underlines it.
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby Collaciotach » Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:13 pm

simon-b wrote:A massive round, Collaciotach, an impressive outing. Two years ago I was on the Carn an t-Sabhail - Braigh Riabhach range and had to cope with wet boulders and mist on the plateau near the edges of the corries, so the points you made about conditions struck a note with me. At least I wasn't in a white-out. I enjoyed your pictures of the views I'd missed.

I guess one Carn Gorm in the Monadh Ruaidh is no more ironic than one Sgurr Dearg in the Black Cuillin, or one Stob Ban in the Grey Corries. Incidently, I thought the spelling corrie rather than coire seemed appropriate when I was typing in English, but spell-check still underlines it.


Aye I was happy with the conditions indeed ! .. irony is that the "Pairc Naiseanta" should be named the Monadh Ruaidh after the range not after the single top :wink: .... Coire is Gaelic for Corrie :D
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby Collaciotach » Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:15 pm

mrssanta wrote:Well that was a good trek with a lot of up and down. We liked sgur an lochain uaine best as well with a great backdrop of the dee tumbling over the cliff into garbh coire. Great picture of the wee black fella up to his neck in heather, he does well on his wee legs.
Susie the SMC has a good book called hill names of Scotland which is excellent and explains the Gaelic, Norse and Scots names


The wee fella has met his match he did not want to go out to work today :D ... hard on his paws Mrs he is stiff indeed.

The ainmean aite are very important to me :D
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby Collaciotach » Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:16 pm

SusieThePensioner wrote:Wow! You seemed to have certainly been blessed with the weather and some beautiful views :thumbup:

Collaciotach wrote:a "Victorian" thing
The Victorians have a lot to answer for regarding all manner of things :lol:

Collaciotach wrote:couple of cans of Cider
I hope it was Somerset cider :wink: :lol: (that's where I originate from)

Collaciotach wrote:so folks keep the Gaelic names in use ,it is the essence of the mountain lands.

Hear hear........as long as I can know what it means in English, please :D

A great report and a great walk!



Moran Taing :D .... Aye translations allowed :lol:
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby simon-b » Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:44 pm

Collaciotach wrote: Coire is Gaelic for Corrie :D


True, Collaciotach. But if I'd typed something like "the edges of the coires", it somehow wouldn't look right. I guess of the corries would be nan coireachan or something like that? At least there's just one Gaelic word for the feature; in England it can be a cirque, a combe, a cove or a corrie.
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby Cairngormwanderer » Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:55 pm

For the record, Angel's Peak was coined by a Victorian climber to "balance" Devil's Point on the other side. Seton Gordon noted that by 1910 at least one keeper was referring to the hill as Sgorr an Aingeal (or whatever Gaelic for Angel is). And for those to coy to spell it out, Devil's Point could more accurately be translated as Devil's Penis. :shock:
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby Collaciotach » Tue Jun 11, 2013 6:36 am

Cairngormwanderer wrote:For the record, Angel's Peak was coined by a Victorian climber to "balance" Devil's Point on the other side. Seton Gordon noted that by 1910 at least one keeper was referring to the hill as Sgorr an Aingeal (or whatever Gaelic for Angel is). And for those to coy to spell it out, Devil's Point could more accurately be translated as Devil's Penis. :shock:


Ah thanks for that, I was curious where the English name had come from , I knew Bod nam Deamhainn was to risqué for the Victorians and they used the term Devils Point , I must look up SG
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby Cairngormwanderer » Tue Jun 11, 2013 7:09 am

Collaciotach wrote:
Ah thanks for that, I was curious where the English name had come from , I knew Bod nam Deamhainn was to risqué for the Victorians and they used the term Devils Point , I must look up SG


The reference you're after is pp 352-353 in the Birlinn reprint of Highways and Byways in the Central Highlands.
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby malky_c » Tue Jun 11, 2013 9:41 am

Another great report from 'nosebleed territory' :wink: .

Collaciotach wrote:The irony of the English translation Cairn Gorm or "Pairc Naiseanta Carn Gorm" may be lost on most


This has always confused me. A well known guide book (either the SMC guide or one of McNeish's efforts) says something like 'The name Cairngorms is derived from the Monadh Ruadh', which never made any sense to me :?
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby robertphillips » Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:05 am

Well done mr c epic walk that. :clap: :clap:
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby PeteR » Tue Jun 11, 2013 1:11 pm

Another cracking report and some great pictures :D

I almost entirely agree with you on keeping true to the Gaelic names. Certainly for the Mountains I would agree, as it does add something of the history and heritage of the area. And if nothing else if gives knowledgeable Scots a chance for a good laugh hearing me struggle with the pronounciations :lol: :lol: What I do take slight offence with though is this desire for Scotrail to adorn all Lowland stations with Gaelic equivalents to the stations name :shock: I'm not quite sure what that adds myself.
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Re: One night in the Monadh Ruaidh

Postby basscadet » Tue Jun 11, 2013 3:08 pm

Oh I enjoyed that. Done a few of these hills a few times from all angles, so good memories.. I never seem to get the fine weather when I'm over that way though :?

As for names.. I have heard of differences between the actual names of hills and what is marked on the OS maps. I guess in the beginning the OS folk just asked local people what the hills were called, and if some of those locals had a sense of humour.. well you could see what would happen. :shock:

I'm named after Seana Bhraigh, which apparently was Bhan Bhreac or something, but the guy they asked was trying to woo a lassie called seana at the time, so managed to get a hill named after her :lol:

It annoys me when they shorten things as well. My sister is named after Sgurr Fionnadh (of An Teallach fame) but they have shortened it to Sgurr Fiona on all the maps these days.. :?
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