Sgor Gaoith

Heading north from Kingussie we stopped over at the Cairngorms to bag one Munro on a half-day hike. From Feshie Bridge we drove up the road leading to the parking a kilometre off Achlean farm. The day was quite nice. Sun and clouds took turns. From the parking we walked the road to the farm. A few hundred metres before the farm the path branched off to the left and we began the long but not too steep climb.

Once above the trees much of the ascent to Carn Ban Mor was clearly visible. Visible too was the fact that we were only two of dozens and dozens of hikers on the path. On we plodded overtaking a few walking parties and meeting two mountain bikers who rode down the path. This was quite appalling since the path was not at all suitable for bicycles in many places. Money spent on this very well-engineered path should not be put to waste by bicycles grinding up the path surface. At the short level section of the path before the final steep 250 metre climb the wind picked up considerably and we put on some more layers of clothes. Soon we reached the shoulder or col south of Carn Bàn Mor from where turned north, crossed the summit of this subsidiary top, reached the beallach at about 1020m below Sgorr Gaoith and climbed the final 90 metres to the summit of the Munro.

The wind was quite strong and we sought shelter to eat our sandwiches and have some tea. Directly east of the cairn a few ledges two metres below the summit offered a sheltered spot and perfect views of Loch Einich and the western slopes of Braeriach. Wonderful scenery, really wonderful! Soon after we left the cold summit of Sgorr Gaoith we were caught in a short snow shower- the only precipitation of the whole hike. On the way back we pondered bagging Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair, too, but decided we did not have the time to do that: Shopping for … [Read More]

2017-09-19T14:17:06+02:00May 2nd, 2009|2009, 2009 - 2000, The Cairngorms|

Carn Dearg

Three in one go was the plan of the day. The weather not looking too good we anticipated another day of soaking from the sky above and the spongey terrain below. Parking the car close to Shepherds Bridge we saw rain coulds coming up Glen Banchor. We donned our full rain gear and walked along the track on the broad floor of Glen Banchor which is a beautiful and scenic spot instilling in me a feeling of remoteness that contrasts starkly to the busy village life of Kingussie only minutes away by car.

After one or two bends in the landrover track the house at Glenballoch came into view. A few metres before crossing the Allt Fionndrigh we turned right and used the landrover track leading up the glen beside the Allt. We quickly gained height at first and soon reached the more level terrain of the upper glen. From there the landrover track led us in a northwesterly direction. The glen narrowed considerably, the landrover track ended and a path led to a cut in the grassy hillside on the western side ot the glen. The path led through this cut and we very soon found ourselves on a beallach from which the whole extent of Glen Balloch could be seen – in driving rain. The terrain underfoot was 100% soaked sponge. Unfortunately my boots were not watertight anymore. Oh my, one more of those days! From the beallach we headed up Gleann Balloch skirting the western slopes of Meall na Ceardaich and aimed for the head of the glen. From there we climbed the final 300 metres due west through a break in the crags above and got to the summit of Carn Dearg, Munro No. 1. A short rest, some sleet, some cookies, some strong wind, gloves and on we went to Carn Ban.

The fence posts offered easy guides on the ensuing 8 kilometre high-level tramp over Carn Ban, Carn Ballach, Meall na Creughaich, Meall a’ Bhothain, point 908m and finally Carn Sgulain, Munro No.2. The … [Read More]

2017-09-19T14:17:06+02:00May 1st, 2009|2009, 2009 - 2000, Glen Roy to the Monadhliath|

A’Chailleach

Three in one go was the plan of the day. The weather not looking too good we anticipated another day of soaking from the sky above and the spongey terrain below. Parking the car close to Shepherds Bridge we saw rain coulds coming up Glen Banchor. We donned our full rain gear and walked along the track on the broad floor of Glen Banchor which is a beautiful and scenic spot instilling in me a feeling of remoteness that contrasts starkly to the busy village life of Kingussie only minutes away by car.

After one or two bends in the landrover track the house at Glenballoch came into view. A few metres before crossing the Allt Fionndrigh we turned right and used the landrover track leading up the glen beside the Allt. We quickly gained height at first and soon reached the more level terrain of the upper glen. From there the landrover track led us in a northwesterly direction. The glen narrowed considerably, the landrover track ended and a path led to a cut in the grassy hillside on the western side ot the glen. The path led through this cut and we very soon found ourselves on a beallach from which the whole extent of Glen Balloch could be seen – in driving rain. The terrain underfoot was 100% soaked sponge. Unfortunately my boots were not watertight anymore. Oh my, one more of those days! From the beallach we headed up Gleann Balloch skirting the western slopes of Meall na Ceardaich and aimed for the head of the glen.

From there we climbed the final 300 metres due west through a break in the crags above and got to the summit of Carn Dearg, Munro No. 1. A short rest, some sleet, some cookies, some strong wind, gloves and on we went to Carn Ban. The fence posts offered easy guides on the ensuing 8 kilometre high-lveel tramp over Carn Ban, Carn Ballach, Meall na Creughaich, Meall a’ Bhothain, point 908m and finally Carn Sgulain, Munro No.2. The … [Read More]

2017-09-19T14:17:06+02:00May 1st, 2009|2009, 2009 - 2000, Glen Roy to the Monadhliath|

Carn Sgulain

Three in one go was the plan of the day. The weather not looking too good we anticipated another day of soaking from the sky above and the spongey terrain below. Parking the car close to Shepherds Bridge we saw rain coulds coming up Glen Banchor. We donned our full rain gear and walked along the track on the broad floor of Glen Banchor which is a beautiful and scenic spot instilling in me a feeling of remoteness that contrasts starkly to the busy village life of Kingussie only minutes away by car.

After one or two bends in the landrover track the house at Glenballoch came into view. A few metres before crossing the Allt Fionndrigh we turned right and used the landrover track leading up the glen beside the Allt. We quickly gained height at first and soon reached the more level terrain of the upper glen. From there the landrover track led us in a northwesterly direction. The glen narrowed considerably, the landrover track ended and a path led to a cut in the grassy hillside on the western side ot the glen. The path led through this cut and we very soon found ourselves on a beallach from which the whole extent of Glen Balloch could be seen – in driving rain. The terrain underfoot was 100% soaked sponge. Unfortunately my boots were not watertight anymore. Oh my, one more of those days!

From the beallach we headed up Gleann Balloch skirting the western slopes of Meall na Ceardaich and aimed for the head of the glen. From there we climbed the final 300 metres due west through a break in the crags above and got to the summit of Carn Dearg, Munro No. 1. A short rest, some sleet, some cookies, some strong wind, gloves and on we went to Carn Ban. The fence posts offered easy guides on the ensuing 8 kilometre high-level tramp over Carn Ban, Carn Ballach, Meall na Creughaich, Meall a’ Bhothain, point 908m and finally Carn Sgulain, Munro No.2. The … [Read More]

2019-08-18T09:32:47+02:00May 1st, 2009|2009, 2009 - 2000, Glen Roy to the Monadhliath|

Geal Charn

This hill being the first in the 2009 outing we were still quite stiff when it came to getting our act together: putting on the gear, stuffing the rucksack, lacing the boots and all. Finally we were ready, though, and set out from Garva Bridge to climb this solitary Munro.

We crossed the infant River Spey, followed the landrover track for a few hundred metres and then walked on the open turf in the general direction of Geal Charn’s southwest ridge. At the confluence of the Allt Coire nan Dearcag and Feith Talagain the grassy path started to become a little steeper and the first stones appeared. We tramped up the ridge and were soon engulfed by fog and clouds. Passing a few minor crags at about 600m located on the western side of the hill the path climbed the somewhat steeper middle section of the hill before leveling out close to the summit.

Visibility was restricted to maybe 20 metres when we reached the cairn. A short break, a sip of water, one Mars bar, rucksack back on and off we went. With no views to be had of the rest of the Monadhliath hills we skipped the idea of returning by way of Glen Markie and simply retraced our steps to the car. A good hill for a short afternoon hike. A pleasant way to start the holiday and one of the few hills in 2009 which did not put our waterproof gear to the test! 🙂

2018-08-30T09:03:51+02:00April 30th, 2009|2009, 2009 - 2000, Glen Roy to the Monadhliath|

Stob Dearg

For many years Joachim, Markus, Stefan, Thomas and I have been spending a long weekend together once a year for hiking. After having been rather “flat” so far, we chose Scotland for 2008. For quite some time I wanted to introduce the boys to the beauty of the Highlands and above all to my passion for the Munros. But it was also clear to me that, in contrast to the previous hikes, I should and had to explicitly point out seriousness, weather conditions and conditional conditions. Which, of course, should prove to be the case. And since we still had a bed available and in my opinion Cord would also fit well with the boys, we granted him asylum for the 4 days in Scotland.

After we had flown from Cologne to Edinburgh at the lecture, Cord arrived in Cologne coming from Berlin, followed first the trip to Kinlochleven. In Callander we bought food and drinks and then drove through Rannoch Mor with obligatory photo break. The weather was fresh but pleasant. As we approached Glen Coe, majestically guarded by the big shepherd, my hint “we’ll go up there tomorrow” caused a rather disbelieving shake of the head. In the Glen Coe itself we took another photo break. After that we went straight to Kinlochleven to move to the beautifully situated Garbh Bhein Cottage, which offers great views of the Mamores. Beer, fire and dinner were the successful conclusion to the arrival day.

The next morning it showed up that my reference to the Scottish weather conditions and the insistent requests to take rainproof clothes had not been in vain. It was raining heavily, visibility was severely restricted and motivation had dropped considerably. Here it showed up that it is of advantage to have motivation artists and rainignoranten thereby. At 10 o’clock we stood – still a bit insecure, but at least fully dressed and equipped – on the parking lot near Altnafeadh and started, defying the rain!

The steep ascent through the Coire na Tulaich took up all our concentration, as we … [Read More]

2022-01-17T07:34:22+01:00October 15th, 2008|2008, 2009 - 2000, Strath Orchy to Loch Leven|

Binnein Mor

Day 2 of our 2008 Scotland walking weekend. Thomas had cooked us a lot of good food and we let the evening end with beer and fire! We had earned that. After we had hiked the big shepherd the day before, we turned to our local mountains on 05.10 so to speak. The Mamores were right in front of our front door and we had a direct view to Na Gearanach, which means “The Girls”. Also this day should remain memorable in many ways.

We saved some altitude meters and drove with the cars to Mamore Lodge, where we could park for an acceptable final fee. Especially Thomas suffered from knees and muscles and every saved meter came in handy. In a good mood and much more important – in the best weather – we marched off. Only Thomas didn’t, he shot off and soon had a few hundred meters between him and us. Something he had probably had breakfast, which we didn’t have. Nevertheless we took the opportunity to explore and look at the area around Kinlochlewen from a different perspective. The view of Loch Leven was as impressive as the appearance of the Blackwater Reservoir. But now it was time to catch the nags again and to point out to Thomas in time that the path would not continue to meander idyllically towards Loch Eilde Mór, but that also today 2 Munros were waiting for the ambitious climber. And that meant – right – ascent.

We then crossed the terrain towards Sgor Eilde Beag on an excellent Stalkers Path, which opened up the steepest parts in serpentines. Here it turned out that Thomas was really suffering and had to grit his teeth to survive here. A condition that unfortunately should not change throughout the day. Nevertheless, after almost 1.5 h we reached the first summit of the day, the 956 m high Sgor Eilde Beag. The first Munro should be climbed another 1.5 h later. From here we hiked on the beautiful ridge to the 1062m high Triangle-Top, which led … [Read More]

2021-07-05T21:55:59+02:00October 5th, 2008|2008, 2009 - 2000, Loch Linnhe to Loch Ericht|

Na Gruagaichean

Day 2 of our 2008 Scotland Hiking Weekend. Thomas had cooked us well in the evening and we let the evening end comfortably with beer and fire! We deserved that.

After we have hiked the day before the big shepherd we turned on 05.10 so to speak to our house mountains. The Mamores were right in front of our front door and we had a direct view of Na Gearanach, which means “the girls”. Also this day should remain memorable in several respects.

We saved some altitude meters and drove with the cars to the Mamore Lodge, where we could park against an acceptable final charge. Especially Thomas suffered from knees and muscles and every metre saved was just fine.

In a good mood and much more important – in the best weather – we marched off. Only Thomas didn’t, he shot off and soon had brought some hundred meters between himself and us. Something he had probably had a special breakfast, which we did not have. Nevertheless, we took the opportunity to explore the area around Kinlochlewen from a different perspective. The view of Loch Leven was as impressive as the appearance of the Blackwater Reservoir. But now we had to catch the horse again and point out to Thomas in time that the way would not continue to meander so idyllically towards Loch Eilde Mór, but that also today 2 Munros waited for the ambitious climber. And that meant, right, ascent.

We then crossed the terrain towards Sgor Eilde Beag on an excellent Stalkers Path, which opened up the steepest sections in serpentines. Here it showed that Thomas really suffered and had to bite his teeth together to survive here. A condition that unfortunately should not change during the whole day. Nevertheless we reached the first summit of the day, the 956 m high Sgor Eilde Beag, after about 1.5 hours. The first Munro was to be climbed about 1.5 h later. From here we hiked on the beautiful Ridge to the 1062m high Triangle-Top which led direktissma to Binnein Beag. Thomas … [Read More]

2019-03-04T10:41:08+01:00October 5th, 2008|2008, 2009 - 2000, Loch Linnhe to Loch Ericht|

Carn a’Choire Bhoidheach

Apart from being a very economical way of adding almost two percent of the total tally of 284 Munros to our tick list this tour is also an interesting and entertaining long plateau walk. Since we wanted to do them all in one go we started our tour at the Spittal of Glen Muick. As described in my tour of spring 2001 we climbed the landrover track beside the Allt-na-giubhsaich in fine weather.

At the col above Glen Gelder we took the well engineered path which within maybe half an hour brought us to the col between the Ladder and Meikle Pap. There Frank and I sat on some rocks and looked at the cliffs of Lochnagar. As said before by many people: Great cliffs and a beautiful Loch. Then we and quite a few other people climbed the boulders of the Ladder, crossed some flatter terrain, climbed the final steepening and reached the wide summit plateau. At the summit tor we took a break and checked the indicator.

After having bagged this first Munro we turned south west, descended form the summit and headed for the rounded lump of the White Mounth aka Carn a’Choire Bhoidheach whose summit is marked by a small cairn. Easy walking but nothing exciting. From the top of this second Munro we descended more steeply to regain the path leading over from the Stuic. It skirts Carn an t-Sagairt Beag and in due time lead us to the path that climbs Carn an t-Sagairt Mor our third Munro. At the cairn we sat in the sunshine and in strong wind and took another well-deserved break.

Soon the wind chill drove us on and we retraced our steps heading south east over the grass and moss to Cairn Bannoch. This summit is not much more than some fairly big rocks in a sea of grass. With another Munro ticked our last top of the day was Braod Cairn visible a few kilometres away. With a little descending and re-ascending this hill was finally reached. Five … [Read More]

2017-09-19T14:17:07+02:00May 9th, 2008|2008, 2009 - 2000, Glen Shee to Mount Keen|

Carn an t-Sagairt Mor

Apart from being a very economical way of adding almost two percent of the total tally of 284 Munros to our tick list this tour is also an interesting and entertaining long plateau walk. Since we wanted to do them all in one go we started our tour at the Spittal of Glen Muick. As described in my tour of spring 2001 we climbed the landrover track beside the Allt-na-giubhsaich in fine weather.

At the col above Glen Gelder we took the well engineered path which within maybe half an hour brought us to the col between the Ladder and Meikle Pap. There Frank and I sat on some rocks and looked at the cliffs of Lochnagar. As said before by many people: Great cliffs and a beautiful Loch. Then we and quite a few other people climbed the boulders of the Ladder, crossed some flatter terrain, climbed the final steepening and reached the wide summit plateau. At the summit tor we took a break and checked the indicator.

After having bagged this first Munro we turned south west, descended form the summit and headed for the rounded lump of the White Mounth aka Carn a’Choire Bhoidheach whose summit is marked by a small cairn. Easy walking but nothing exciting. From the top of this second Munro we descended more steeply to regain the path leading over from the Stuic. It skirts Carn an t-Sagairt Beag and in due time lead us to the path that climbs Carn an t-Sagairt Mor our third Munro. At the cairn we sat in the sunshine and in strong wind and took another well-deserved break.

Soon the wind chill drove us on and we retraced our steps heading south east over the grass and moss to Cairn Bannoch. This summit is not much more than some fairly big rocks in a sea of grass. With another Munro ticked our last top of the day was Braod Cairn visible a few kilometres away. With a little descending and re-ascending this hill was finally reached. Five … [Read More]

2017-09-19T14:17:07+02:00May 9th, 2008|2008, 2009 - 2000, Glen Shee to Mount Keen|
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