Mix and match behind Newtonmore.

[davetherave]

Date. Saturday 6th and 7th November 2010
Completed by. Dave, Julie and Wilson
Weather Mist, sunny, very cold at times and Baltic during overnight camp.
Time. 7hrs + 8hrs
Distance. 33.7km
Ascent. 2152
Hills.
Munro’s x 2
Corbett’s x 1
Grahams x 2


Carn Sgulian, and A Chailleach

CarnAn Fhreiceadain

Creag Liath, Creag Dubh

Starting from.
Car Park at NN 691 998

our route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Took the decision to get out this weekend and get in a high camp if possible. Weather was meant to be fairly favourable, bit of wind and occasional snow flurries on the Saturday and improving on the Sunday.

Had a look at the Quo mapping software and decided on a route behind Newtonmore. A bit of a mixed bag really various hill’s to include Munro’s Corbett’s and Graham’s.

We headed North from the car park, up the track by the edge of the forest. Following the Allt a Chadrain for about 3km before heading Easterly until we met the Allt Na Beinne, we then crossed the 4x4 track then headed for Torr Garbh. This was a nice springboard to reach Carn Coire Na Inghinn and its 3 top’s. From the 749 spot heights we headed down the NE ridge to meet the track that would eventually take us to the top of the Corbett CarnAn Fhreiceadain. From the Corbett we followed the boundary line on the map to reach Am Bodach before heading NW to reach the foot of our 1st Munro Carn Sgulian.

1st views

odd sky

Cairn at Carn Coire Na Inghinn

looking to Carn An Fhreiceadain

Shooting hut/ Bothy

CarnAn Fhreiceadain
summit

corbett trig point

Wilson

wilson

wilson

Carn Sgulian summit ?

It is less than 2km as the crow fly’s to reach A Chailleach Munro No 2.
We head SW then SE, staying on the easier ground due to the bad visibility. Sooner than expected we had arrived at the summit. No chance of any pics as Vis was very poor.

A Chailleach

It was now 4pm on the dot and we had to decide where to camp……. I had originally wanted to get to the 908 spot to the west of Carn Sgulian and camp near there before making for Carn Dearg in the morning. This was no longer an option due to the time. We decided to head SW along the broad ridge and pitch the tent past Geal Charn at 889m.

Weather cleared for a short spell 5/ 10mins as we made our way along the ridge in our hunt for a pitch. But then it was a race against time. The fast moving cloud that was threatening to engulf us; it had appeared from nowhere and was moving fast along either side of the ridge. This was a very strange feeling, thick cloud either side yet the ridge was relatively clear.

The tent was then pitched in quick time and come 5.30 pm we’d had our supper and were tucked up in our bags. We never slept well, the cold was nipping me all night, took me a couple hours for my feet to warm up alone. And with (Wilson) the Mad dog making his escape from the tent to bark at the wind again, this was going to be a long night.
We woke at 5.15am, and although we had stirred nearly every hour or so we both did feel fairly fresh………….. until we had to get our boots on.

Our boots were solid; they had sat in the tent porch all night. The wind chill had got to them. They were rock hard. It took us 20mins just to get our feet in to our boots. And once they were in the were F&%”*g freezing. We did our best and packed up as quickly as we could, we really had to get some feeling back into our toes.

camp

camp

Carn Dearg

Carn Dearg sunrise

on our way

Carn Dearg again

Carn Liath Graham

Wilson's view

We carried on down the SW ridge to meet the track at the Allt Fionndrigh. We could just start to feel our toes at this stage; the sharp stabbing pains and the burning feeling were a sign of the blood trying to return to our toes.
We both fell in the Allt as we crossed…….. Wet and cold feet we decide to stop for a brew and rinse out our socks. We dried our socks on the stove as our water heated. We also decided to replenish our water, it was shocking to find out that one bottle that was half empty was frozen solid. The other was slushy. Boy it must have been very cold last night.

Fed and watered we are starting to feel much better; we decide to do the 2 Grahams on the way out. It’s a 300m climb to the summit of Creag Liath but we were blessed with some nice views, was worth the effort. It is then a South direction down towards the river Calder to cross at the bridge at NN 676 987 ****THIS BRIDGE DOES NOT EXIST**** there did seem to be slight remains of a bridge of sorts, but this was of no use to anyone. We crossed at a wire rope close by.
This was a tougher climb than Carn Liath. It was Steeper, Higher and Craggier. The effort made getting here was worth it. And the walk from the summit along the ridge to An Torr would put many a Munro to shame.
I did take what could have been a very nasty fall prior to An Torr on a steeper zigzag section. The path and rocks still had a lot of ice on them from the night before. I was descending when suddenly my leading leg went from under me, the inside knee of my trailing leg came down with a terrible thud. I suddenly felt very sick with the pain. I was very luck indeed that the stone I clattered was fairly flat and no real damage was done.

camp site was at left end of ridge

looking to Creag Dubh

in the distance

river crossing

The decent from this point on, and back to the car was made all the tougher due to the slip.

[davetherave]

looking to Newtonmore cemetry

back to Carn Dearg form Creag Dubh

Julie reaching the summit

A welcome relief

views

Another river crossing

[LeithySuburbs]

That looks like one cold campsite . No danger would you catch me doing that . Interesting route anyway . I do love Kingussie - it's a great base for exploring the nearby hills.

[monty]

Another epic journey Dave. Just about has it all. Nice views, freezing cold nights, swim in the river and a fall, lucky not to be hurt. Carn Sgulan has a couple of cairns on it so your picture could be either, but you did walk over it so it is probably the summit cairn. Wilson barking at the wind You and your lady are as tough as old boots. Great stuff

[malky_c]

Looks like a pretty eventful weekend, with some slightly unusual approaches to those hills

As ever, the camping idea seems to have paid off for you, even if it was a bit on the chilly side

Creag Dubh is high on my to do list - looks like the pick of the bunch.

[Alastair S]

Blimey that was some trip there Dave - hope the knee is OK & there aren't any after effect.

[kinley]

Aha! So that's where you got too - big trip for the time of year.

Have my eyes on a wee bit of that loop as a day walk

Hope the knee is OK

It certainly was a cold night - find these camps throw up some interesting problems.

Nice one

P.S. I made damn sure I had my boots nice and open when I left them - they were frozen solid but at least I could get into them

[gaffr]

These upland bridges can be painful when you discover they they disappeared....the one on the Calder was there when I crossed in the early eighties then when needed an couple of years later it had gone. You just have to to hope that a bridge marked on an O.S. map is still around when needed and if not there hope that it is a day of relatively low water. It appears to take some time for the O.S. folks to catch up with bridges no longer in place.....still appears on my multi map some 25 years after being washed away. Same for the, what was a substantial bridge, above the Bothy beside the Dulnain on Alvie estate which was zapped in the late eighties...still on the O.S. map. One very useful service from the folks on the Forum here is to make these omissions known when reporting. Poor old Wilson having to hunt in the vegetation for a wee creature to snap-up for some sustenance.

[mountain coward]

As I sit here in my house, trying to type with gloves and arm-warmers on (and the heating struggling away inconsequentially) and the jet-engine which is the wind roaring loudly over my headphoned heavy metal, I can't imagine going camping!

[blueyed]

i believe that if you do THAT you must have some water in your boots, right?

[kevsbald]

OMG that is one of the best photos of a dog's face I have ever seen. As you two are faffing about with the tent his expression is "Somebody, anyone, please take me away from this situation ." I love it!

[Merry-walker]

Amazing journey

I can't imagine camping out in this kind of weather (unless a lecky blanket is brought)

I loved that picture of Wilson with the snow ball on his nose