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I hadn't intended going out at all this weekend, but a sudden turn to an acceptably clear forecast, albeit accompanied by ferociously cold winds at the tops meant a change of plan, which is a more impressive way of saying heading up a hill was marginally preferable to dossing around the house all day
The forecast was for a clear morning, with poor weather coming in later afternoon. I woke up at 4:30am, had a bit to eat and headed for Glen Shee. The roads were better than expected and i was well up Glen Isla by 5:30am, so i stopped off at backwater dam as the stars were still out.
- Backwater Dam, Glen Isla
After faffing around here for a very cold half hour, I headed off through Glen Shee and soon arrived at the small layby south of the gate into Baddoch Cottage. It was absolutely freezing, and my fingers were hurting just tying my bootlaces. I set off shortly after 7:00am, through the gate and following the access track to the cottage, which looks to be some sort of holiday cottage now. It was empty anyway.
- Baddoch Cottage
- Back towards Glen Clunie
I headed on past, following the fine track up the glen. After around 1.8 miles comes the burn crossing, at which i faffed around trying to find a crossing point
Eventually i found one, and got across without any amusing slips or disasters. A rougher path heads up the hillside from here. It gains height fairly quickly. My legs were pretty stiff after a spin class the night before and I wasn't hugely enjoying this part. The skies were dull, it was freezing and I was starting to get the "Can I be ars*d?" today question.
- Heading to Socach Mor
I stopped at the Socach Mor cairn for a breather after taking a wee while to reach it. The ground was a mix of frozen turf and solid snow, though I'd imagine this bit is extremely boggy in spring/summer.
- View from the Socach Mor cairn
Swapping the walking pole for the ice axe, and donning thicker gloves, I headed along the gentle rise to approach the initial, and steep-looking ascent of An Socach itself.
- An Socach
My laziness in failing to invest in crampons resulted in me spending 20 minutes cutting steps in the steep and solid snow. The sun had come out to brighten my mood and I was nice and toasty after the step-cutting. After the initially steep section, the slopes ease slightly and it's a fairly easy walk up to the massive summit plateau. The sun stayed out for the rest of the walk, but it was absolutely bitter, with strong winds dropping the temperature to what felt like around -10. The views however were fantastic.
- Beinn a'Ghlo in the distance
- Carn a'Gheoidh, Carn Bhinnein and Glas Tulaichean
- Glas Tulaichean (zoomed)
I didn't stop long at the first cairn, I'd had the gloves off for about two minutes and was absolutely baltic
I headed off along the plateau. It's a fair distance to the summit cairn at the far end, and the strong wind was bitingly cold, and in my face the whole way. It took around 40 minutes to reach the summit shelter (also visited the wee cairn beyond - just in case
). The views were still glorious, despite the cold.
- Back to the 938m Top
I'd been looking forward to a wee shelter to eat my cheese pieces, however it was not to be
- Snow-packed Summit Shelter Cairn
It was too cold to hang around so i set off fairly quickly, looking forward to descending out of the wind. Though another photo-stop couldn't be helped.
- Beinn Iutharn Mor and it's wee brother
- Glas Tulaichean, Mam nan Carn and Beinn Iutharn Beag
The walk back was considerably quicker, partly due to wind assistance, but mainly due to the fact that it was absolutely freezing, and I wanted a sheltered spot to have my piece. I headed back along the plateau and carefully descended, soon picking up the steep section where i'd previously cut steps. Rather than gingerly work my way down the steps, I opted for a combination of bumsliding, using the axe as a brake. It wasn't bonny but was good fun and made quick work of the descent. Having seen no-one all day I met a couple of guys at different stages on the way up, I hope they enjoyed the hill as much as i did.
- Steep section
- Back towards Socach Mor
The rest of the walk was a relaxed meander to the Socach Mor cairn, then down to the vehicle track. A last shot back up the hill was impossible to resist though, and a big contrast to the dullness of the early morning ascent.
- Socach Mor and An Socach - A slight contrast to the ascent!
After that I wandered along the vehicle track, bumped into another couple of walkers and found shelter to finally eat my cheese piece
All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable winter walk, especially as i hadn't been expecting much on the way up. It's probably fairly bland in summer, but this makes a tremendous winter walk.