Beinn Dearg (Blair Atholl), 3rd December 2011
On Saturday 3rd, my old buddy Steg and I had decided to go and take in a hill. It had been a hectic time since we were last out climbing a Munro, with both of us changing jobs, me moving house and all the other things that life can throw at you in six months, so we were very much looking forward to heading back onto the hills.
I had packed my gear on the Thursday night since I knew I wouldn’t have a great deal of time on the Friday (and because I was excited about the prospect, lets be honest), and the plans were set for Saturday.
On Saturday morning I was up at 6:30 and arrived at Steg’s place at 7:30 to a welcoming bacon roll. As ever, there was a faff, and in this instance we had to nip to the Scout Hall to pick up an ice axe that Steg thought he had in his garage. Nevertheless, we were on the road by 8.10 and it was a clear run up to Blair Atholl – the car feeling good after it’s recent service. We made good time and by 10:05 we were on the bikes ready to start our trail ride up the track to Beinn Dearg.
I’m used to cycle commuting – it’s flat, my pannier balances my bike out nicely and I wear trainers. But out there it was a lot more difficult – the rucksack was heavy, the hills were steep and movement in my Yeti’s and Berghaus boots was quite restricted. It was energy sapping and my legs burned with every pedal stroke uphill. However, we made it up into the woods and it had stayed nice and dry so far.......
As we left the forest, we climbed ever higher up into the glen, crossing the Allt Slanaidh burn a few times. About 11.30 the snow started, lightly at first, but then heavily. We were aiming for the point at 600m where we would lock the bikes to each other and start our ascent of the hill on foot. Progress became slow and going uphill on the bike just wasn’t happening. There was no grip from the tyres and we ended up pushing the bikes through the ever-deepening snow. There was a 50m descent just before we locked the bikes up however which was great fun, and just a taster of what was to come later in the day. The snow by this point had stuck to the tyres in lumps and was blocking brakes and gears so the descent was a frightening plummet with some steering and feet as brakes.
We made it to our designated bike-dropping-off point at 12:45 and had a quick bite to eat before we started our 400m ascent to the summit.
It was cold, but as we started to climb, the snow gave us good purchase and the pace was good. Beinn Dearg’s ridge is a long flat affair – 3km. While I’m sure a plateau like this would be welcome on a nice summer’s day, in December it was a very different story. Once we got onto the back of the hill, the winds came at us from the North-West, driving snow into the sides of our already-frozen faces. Then it cleared. The Cairngorms and the snow blowing around was a stunning sight. I wanted to take photos but by this point I was concerned that we might not have enough time to get off so we tried to pick up the pace a bit. We could see the summit ahead, so we pressed on.
We made it, but the weather was about to take a turn for the worse...
As soon as we hit the summit at 3:15, we decided we would head back down straight away since the weather was closing in very quickly. There was a quick job to be done first though. You know those little whisky favours you get at weddings? Well, I found a few when we moved house and decided that the best place to drink them is at the top of a Munro. So this trip was the turn of Chris and Vicky, with a cheeky single malt, split between the two of us on the summit. It tasted incredible against the backdrop of the howling gale and snow. Thanks Chris and Vicky!
We got all our warmest gear on (crampons were on by this point) and started to descend the way we came up. Or so we thought. We should have taken a bearing because we were losing height too quickly and coming off the wrong side of the hill. It was starting to get dark so we took a few bearings and got ourselves back on track. We made it back to the bikes for 5:30. That’s the first time I’ve had to do night-nav with the compass and it’s a lot more difficult than during the day, but it is a great feeling when you find that the practice you’ve put in through the years pays off and taking a bearing and following it becomes an automatic skill.
Back at the bikes, we figured it wasn’t too late to head back down the western side of the track, by the bothy. The road was downhill almost all the way but the bikes were sliding about in the snow and visibility, even with a decent set of lights was still difficult. It was absolutely exhilarating, and I fell off a couple of times, but we made it back to Bridge of Tilt in about 1:45 – a lot faster than it took us to get up there in the first place.
We made it back to the car, exhausted and red-faced from the snow exposure but glad to have climbed the hill. Then, it was a quick trip to Pitlochry for scampi and chips and finally the long drive home.
I had packed my gear on the Thursday night since I knew I wouldn’t have a great deal of time on the Friday (and because I was excited about the prospect, lets be honest), and the plans were set for Saturday.
On Saturday morning I was up at 6:30 and arrived at Steg’s place at 7:30 to a welcoming bacon roll. As ever, there was a faff, and in this instance we had to nip to the Scout Hall to pick up an ice axe that Steg thought he had in his garage. Nevertheless, we were on the road by 8.10 and it was a clear run up to Blair Atholl – the car feeling good after it’s recent service. We made good time and by 10:05 we were on the bikes ready to start our trail ride up the track to Beinn Dearg.
I’m used to cycle commuting – it’s flat, my pannier balances my bike out nicely and I wear trainers. But out there it was a lot more difficult – the rucksack was heavy, the hills were steep and movement in my Yeti’s and Berghaus boots was quite restricted. It was energy sapping and my legs burned with every pedal stroke uphill. However, we made it up into the woods and it had stayed nice and dry so far.......
As we left the forest, we climbed ever higher up into the glen, crossing the Allt Slanaidh burn a few times. About 11.30 the snow started, lightly at first, but then heavily. We were aiming for the point at 600m where we would lock the bikes to each other and start our ascent of the hill on foot. Progress became slow and going uphill on the bike just wasn’t happening. There was no grip from the tyres and we ended up pushing the bikes through the ever-deepening snow. There was a 50m descent just before we locked the bikes up however which was great fun, and just a taster of what was to come later in the day. The snow by this point had stuck to the tyres in lumps and was blocking brakes and gears so the descent was a frightening plummet with some steering and feet as brakes.
We made it to our designated bike-dropping-off point at 12:45 and had a quick bite to eat before we started our 400m ascent to the summit.
It was cold, but as we started to climb, the snow gave us good purchase and the pace was good. Beinn Dearg’s ridge is a long flat affair – 3km. While I’m sure a plateau like this would be welcome on a nice summer’s day, in December it was a very different story. Once we got onto the back of the hill, the winds came at us from the North-West, driving snow into the sides of our already-frozen faces. Then it cleared. The Cairngorms and the snow blowing around was a stunning sight. I wanted to take photos but by this point I was concerned that we might not have enough time to get off so we tried to pick up the pace a bit. We could see the summit ahead, so we pressed on.
We made it, but the weather was about to take a turn for the worse...
As soon as we hit the summit at 3:15, we decided we would head back down straight away since the weather was closing in very quickly. There was a quick job to be done first though. You know those little whisky favours you get at weddings? Well, I found a few when we moved house and decided that the best place to drink them is at the top of a Munro. So this trip was the turn of Chris and Vicky, with a cheeky single malt, split between the two of us on the summit. It tasted incredible against the backdrop of the howling gale and snow. Thanks Chris and Vicky!
We got all our warmest gear on (crampons were on by this point) and started to descend the way we came up. Or so we thought. We should have taken a bearing because we were losing height too quickly and coming off the wrong side of the hill. It was starting to get dark so we took a few bearings and got ourselves back on track. We made it back to the bikes for 5:30. That’s the first time I’ve had to do night-nav with the compass and it’s a lot more difficult than during the day, but it is a great feeling when you find that the practice you’ve put in through the years pays off and taking a bearing and following it becomes an automatic skill.
Back at the bikes, we figured it wasn’t too late to head back down the western side of the track, by the bothy. The road was downhill almost all the way but the bikes were sliding about in the snow and visibility, even with a decent set of lights was still difficult. It was absolutely exhilarating, and I fell off a couple of times, but we made it back to Bridge of Tilt in about 1:45 – a lot faster than it took us to get up there in the first place.
We made it back to the car, exhausted and red-faced from the snow exposure but glad to have climbed the hill. Then, it was a quick trip to Pitlochry for scampi and chips and finally the long drive home.
Comments