Our annual Cairngorms jolly with expedition friends was the first for years that we haven’t snatched at least one climb (soft, melting snow made the gullies unattractive and meant anything more interesting wasn’t in condition).
Instead we headed onto the plateau, aiming for an unlikely ascent of Macdui amid strong winds and deep slush, more than half expecting to decide not to bother before we got too far into the blanket cloud. Amazingly, another pair of unenthused climbers decided to join us, and we were very grateful for the extra trail-breaking capability! There was a strong headwind on the lower slopes, but even when it started raining and we lost visibility it didn’t really seem bad enough to turn back, so on we went. Actually the snow was reasonably solid up high. Dave thoroughly enjoyed navigating in a whiteout, especially when we found the summit at the first time of asking after several featureless kilometres on the same bearing. Somewhat surprisingly it wasn’t windy at all there, so we enjoyed a sandwich before heading back to the corrie edge, pausing to inspect some palatial snow holes on the way. Less surprisingly, we didn’t see anyone until we reached the top of the climbs and the ski slopes. Back at the car by mid-afternoon, feeling quite pleased with ourselves!
A similar venture the following day didn’t appeal and we opted for a low-level walk up to Loch Eanaich (between Sgor Gaoith and Braeriach). Varied scenery, a good leg stretch and quite spring-like in the lower reaches of the glen.
On Monday there was time for a morning’s outing before heading home. In glorious sunshine we drove towards Schiehallion, only to discover that it appeared to be the only mountain in the Highlands in cloud! Luckily it dissipated before we reached the summit and our main concern was the brilliant reflections off the snow patches (we’d accidentally left our sunglasses in the car)…
Yellow Van Mountaineering 