Walking in to "The Party"

It has been an honour and privilege this weekend to be a part of a group that celebrated the completion of all the Munro's by Jack Campbell a member of the Stonehaven Mountaineering and Hill Walking Club.  His final Munro was Beinn Mheadhoin (13th highest) 1182m or in old money 3878'

I left Linn of Dee car park on Friday afternoon laden like a pack horse to walk to Loch Etchachan where we intended camping and partying thru the night.  It may come as no surprise that I had no intention of taking the most direct route, instead opting for an ascent on Carn a' Mhaim.  I had noticed the brown lines on the map were a bit close together but the reality always comes as a wee bit of a shock when you are standing at the bottom looking up.  I met a few hikers coming to the end of the Lairig Ghru hike, but very few coming down from the tops.  I met only 1 other hiker on the hill today about 940m, the usual pleasantries were exchanged and we headed off in opposite directions.  The wind was picking up now with some quite ferocious gusts but at least it was keeping the rain away and all the tops were visible.  Soon I spotted the wee summit cairn of Carn a' Mhaim almost 4 hours after I had left the car park.  Rain I can cope with Snow I will tolerate but wind grrrrr.



Carn a 'Mhaim cairn


I kid you not it was this windy at the summit, I was holding on and the camera was weighted down with boulders to stop it taking off.  From here its a great path along the Ceann Crionn Carn a Mhaim ridge (not narrow) and what views across to The Devils Point & Corrour Bothy way down on the banks of the River Dee.  Unfortunately the sting in the tail is a 227m drop and before long you are faced with another long ascent 390m and most of it spent balancing and stepping over or onto boulders brilliant fun.

Ridge path & The Devils Point

I suppose the bonus of such an ascent is that you get an excuse to stop frequently and take in all that surrounds.  It was on one of these many stops I spotted the dark clouds and in a matter of 10 minutes this strange white stuff was landing on my jacket SNOW in May WHY??  I have already mentioned the wind, and maybe it was my friend after all the snow flurries were short but still worrying I have a few km's to cover before I met the rest of the group at the loch.

Blowing Snow on the ridge

It took me 1½ hours to pick my way thru 2km & 390m ascent of  boulder field to reach the col below the summit of Ben Macdui.

The frequency of the snow flurries and the increasingly strong gusts of wind made the decision not to summit on Ben Macdui much easier.  In a few minutes I could see my destination, but its still 300m below me.

Loch Etchachan & Beinn Mheadhoin

I could at last see the loch, but tents NO, check the map yep its the right loch, I suppose they could be sheltered someplace where I cant see??  A wee slide over the snow and back to the path and head downwards, no noise drifting up the mountain side, its not looking good is it.  Maybe there has been a last minute change of plans and everyone intends heading in tomorrow morning.  In no time I am at the loch and I am the only one there, its a bit windy and not worth hanging around its 2000hrs and it will be dark soon.  As soon as I reach the outflow of the loch I see figures making their way to the Hutchison Memorial Hut figures makes sense too windy up here so camp up lower down the slope.  Half an hour later I am crossing the stream and knocking on the door of the hut, kettle is boiled and here have a smoked salmon & apple cracker ohh what bliss.

Gettin the party started Hutchison Memorial Hut