walkhighlands

Share your personal walking route experiences in Scotland, and comment on other peoples' reports.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

Macdui with a club

Macdui with a club


Postby Scotjamie » Tue Oct 05, 2010 11:07 pm

Route description: Ben Macdui and Cairngorm

Munros included on this walk: Ben Macdui

Date walked: 05/10/2010

Time taken: 8 hours

Distance: 17 km

Ascent: 900m

Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

Macdui ....with a club
A few walk reports have mentioned early signs of winter, indeed snow, so I thought I’d go back a few years for this walk.
I am not a member of a walking club. It’s not a prejudice against club membership, more a lack of social confidence allied to the Marxist tenet “I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members”.
Like many, I have a strong preference for solo walking…..or walking with Malcolm. Malcolm is comfortable to walk with. He walks and talks steadily. I can stop for a rest and admit it’s because I’m knackered rather than stopping to take my sack off to alter my layering.
It was Malcolm who invited me to join his former work colleagues on a certain national bank’s ‘club weekend’ in the Cairngorms…a club anniversary outing, though to my slight embarrassment I do not remember which anniversary. It was a spring weekend in 2007 and it was a kind invitation. I knew I would feel a little bit intimidated by the collective mountain abilities, the cumulative knowledge, the bagging totals, not to mention some of the beards
munro beard.JPG

The club had booked out much of the Loch Morlich YH, by this time renamed the Cairngorm Hostel. Malcolm and I shared a bunkroom with two others, one of whom demonstrated particularly strange sleeping habits, emitting noises that evoked creatures long extinct. The night’s repose was interrupted every 40 minutes or so by a two minute stream of foul oaths and threats, which stopped as suddenly as it started. It would be unfair to identify him in any photograph
three and one.JPG
…..I think the experience bonded the remaining three of us for the rest of this beautiful April day’s walking. Just like a current TV advert “you know who your friends are” as we headed from Coire Cas up the west ridge of Coire an Lochain, on to the 1083 top
you know who your friends are.JPG
Crunchy snowfields and hazy spring sunshine views across to Braeriach, Sgor an Lochain Uaine and Cairn Toul
Braeriach corries.JPG
Braeriach across the LG.JPG
Cairn Toul, Sgorr and Lochan Uaine.JPG
Sgorr an Lochan Uaine and Braeriach (Malcolm's pic).jpg
and thereafter on to Ben Macdui. Retracing steps to Lochan Buidhe we crossed the plateau, enjoying the snowfields above Corrie Dhomain, and a lengthy lunch stop with views across to Beinn Mheadhoin
Beinn Mheadhoin lunch.JPG
At this point the other bunkroom companion asked the midnight curser if he was aware that he had uttered loud profanities at regular intervals last night. He admitted with no hint of embarrassment that he understood it to be a regular nocturnal occurrence, and that these weekends offered his wife some respite. He said he hoped it had not been too much of an inconvenience. Malcolm quietly but firmly pulled me back and removed my walking pole from my tightening grasp. After lunch we strolled along the northern corrie edges overlooking the Fiacaill Ridge
Northern Corries 3.JPG
Northern Corries 2.JPG
Northern corries.JPG
It was a busy day around the corrie edges and on Cairngorm itself so we escaped back into Coire Cas and onto Glenmore for a late afternoon pint. The evening was as club evenings must be
A sandwich club.JPG
thoroughly enjoyable for all….very welcoming people – I may well be tempted to join a club at some point…..maybe later….
User avatar
Scotjamie
Wanderer
 
Posts: 1170
Munros:148   
Joined: Jul 27, 2009
Location: north berwick

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby neilfowlie » Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:36 am

Great report there pal and some cracking photo's. :thumbup:
How is hill walking in the snow? I have been in two minds wheather or not to venture out on the hills when the snow kicks in. Is it best going out with someone with a bit more experience on the subject???
neilfowlie
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 49
Munros:76   Corbetts:6
Fionas:1   
Sub 2000:4   
Joined: Jun 16, 2010
Location: Aberdeen

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby bootsandpaddles » Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:59 am

There should be a separate room in all hostels and bunkhouses for people who:
Snore
Make other disturbing noises in their sleep
Won't turn their mobile phone off at night
Rustle plastic carrier bags for half an hour when other people are trying to sleep
Spend more than 10 minutes in the shower
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
User avatar
bootsandpaddles
 
Posts: 700
Munros:282   Corbetts:103
Donalds:7
Joined: Aug 5, 2008

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby walk aboot » Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:03 pm

Great report and photos, Scotjamie :D . Er what's with the shorts-wearing in Winter :shock: , a club tradition or something?

MacDui is my favourite hill I haven't done yet :) (translates as a hill I've really been looking forward to doing for so long now that when I do actually walk it, it will have to be a perfect day).
User avatar
walk aboot
 
Posts: 2465
Munros:36   Corbetts:4
Donalds:1
Hewitts:2
Wainwrights:2   Islands:27
Joined: Feb 12, 2009
Location: Glasgow

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby smudger71 » Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:24 pm

ha... :lol: thats exactly what i thought...very brave souls walking in shorts in the snow!!!! or are they some sort of advanced flesh coloured thermals meant to look like bare legs!!!

can t wait to get out in the mountains this winter (not in shorts though..wouldnt want to scare away the already scarce wildlife with my legs :shock: )...never been into the mountains in winter!!!

peoples walking preferences are a constasnt source of entertainment for me...i like both alone and with others...but tend to come down half dead when i go on my own as i always feel the need to go far too fast and take too few breaks....but its fun and I always enjoy the time to think...walking with others means i enjoy the scenes far better and return to the car in a much better condition...having said that as my son gets older i suspect he will start to punish me for dragging him up mountains at the age of 7!!!.

great photo's...now want to go east a bit more!!!
User avatar
smudger71
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 97
Munros:162   Corbetts:47
Fionas:24   Donalds:87
Sub 2000:14   Hewitts:65
Wainwrights:11   
Joined: Aug 9, 2010
Location: Glasgow

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby kinley » Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:32 pm

Cheers for that - liked your perspective 8)

Not inclined towards group walking myself :lol:
kinley
 

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby LeithySuburbs » Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:58 pm

"Macdui with a club" Thought Donald Trump had his eyes on the high plateau for his next venture when I read the title :? .

Some nice pics here anyway :) . I too am not inclined to walk in a large group - not due to any social inadequacies, more due to a strong sense of independence and love of solitude. I will sometimes walk with 1 or 2 partners but would not want to do it every outing...
User avatar
LeithySuburbs
Ambler
 
Posts: 1965
Munros:259   Corbetts:56
Fionas:29   Donalds:33
Sub 2000:41   Hewitts:14
Wainwrights:23   Islands:13
Joined: Feb 19, 2009
Location: Inverness

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby Merry-walker » Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:05 pm

I walk with my dog, she can't answer me back :lol:
User avatar
Merry-walker
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 1771
Munros:65   Corbetts:53
Fionas:12   Donalds:1
Sub 2000:5   
Joined: Aug 22, 2010
Location: Scotland

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby Scotjamie » Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:51 pm

neilfowlie wrote:How is hill walking in the snow? I have been in two minds wheather or not to venture out on the hills when the snow kicks in. Is it best going out with someone with a bit more experience on the subject???

Hi Neil
This was a sunny April day in 2007 through shallow snowfields, so scarcely winter walking in snow. I have undertaken a winter skills course (recommended) but prefer to be a three season walker. Perhaps a question in the discussion forum will elicit advice from more experienced winter walkers and climbers. Judging from your question, experienced companion a definite for now.

bootsandpaddles wrote:There should be a separate room in all hostels and bunkhouses for people who

Agree boots... indeed as a hopeless sleeper I recommend separate rooms full stop :)

walk aboot wrote:Er what's with the shorts-wearing in Winter , a club tradition or something

Thanks walkaboot - I was invited as a one-off guest for one trip, so not being a club member, I can only guess the origins of the snowshorts - tales of ordinary country folk, presage to some strange bothy ritual involving batteries a wet suit and the sign of the pentagram. Whatever it was, it may surprise you to know that the female club members seemed singularly unimpressed by the flashes of leg. Macdui a great hill and really enjoyed it previously as part of a multi-day.

smudger71 wrote:some sort of advanced flesh coloured thermals meant to look like bare legs

thanks smudger - 'advanced' wasn't the word that sprang to mind, more 'primordial' - agree with your sentiments

Thanks Kinley and Leithy - I was invited as a one-off guest for one trip, and did appreciate it, but it confirms for me that less is best on the hills.

Merry-walker wrote:I walk with my dog, she can't answer me back
- you're clearly barking, merry walker - hope you've recovered from Tolmount and bounding back up hills
User avatar
Scotjamie
Wanderer
 
Posts: 1170
Munros:148   
Joined: Jul 27, 2009
Location: north berwick

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby Merry-walker » Wed Oct 06, 2010 8:57 pm

Terrified of going out but walk up Airlie Monument today helped, cheers :D
User avatar
Merry-walker
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 1771
Munros:65   Corbetts:53
Fionas:12   Donalds:1
Sub 2000:5   
Joined: Aug 22, 2010
Location: Scotland

Re: Macdui with a club

Postby mountain coward » Fri Oct 22, 2010 12:23 am

bootsandpaddles wrote:There should be a separate room in all hostels and bunkhouses for people who:
Snore
Make other disturbing noises in their sleep
Won't turn their mobile phone off at night
Rustle plastic carrier bags for half an hour when other people are trying to sleep
Spend more than 10 minutes in the shower
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:


I'll second that! especially the mobile phones and rustling bags! And also those who slap the big light on because "I'm up so everyone should be up" and then go off to breakfast and leave it on!!! (or third that as I see ScotJamie also agreed first :D )
mountain coward
 

Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).




Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Download, Graeme D and 71 guests