White Out and Dig Out in Lochnagar - A Tale Of Motion Sickness And Rough Accomodation!

 With the rare opportunity of a few days available to spend on the hills I joined up with Matt Dawson of Trekking Skills to grab some precious Winter Mountain Leader & International Mountain Leader Award log book days.
 Following on from our recent IML Winter training week spent on snow shoes in France we headed to the Lochnagar region of Scotlands Cairngorm mountains where we could again put the snowshoes to use.

 After a much later than planned arrival in the Lochangar region due to a mechanical breakdown we headed to the bothy at Callater Lodge where we arrived at approx 4am!

Beginning our walk to the bothy in the early hours!

 With a full moon in a partially cloudy sky we walked without head torches until we reached the bothy at approx 4am.

Matt gets ready for a spot of well needed shut eye!

 After a few hours sleep we had breakfast and packed up our kit, the rucksacks were heavier than we would have liked but we had to carry food and cooking equipment, plus sleeping bags and bivi's as well as all the usual extra kit that should be carried for winter conditions. The weather hadn't lived up to the bright forecast and cloud hung around 700m on the sides of the Glen and as we made our way up 'Carn an t-Sagairt Mor' we were soon hit by strong winds, driven snow and low visibility. From here on it was snow goggles on and head down looking at the compass, visibility was now minimal and it was impossible to see the difference between the white of the low cloud and the snow laying on the ground - white out conditions!

Matt navigates through continuous white out.

 Discussing our options we opted to alter our original plan of walking to the summit of Lochnagar as there would nothing to see but the inside of a cloud and our time would be better spent navigating our way to the 'Lunkard Bothy'. Previously planned objectives often have to change as conditions on the ground develop in my opinion.
 Using features in the terrain along with compass bearings and pacing we walked on to 'Broad Cairn' before deciding to head in a southerly direction to intersect with 'Jock's Road' which we would then follow to the bothy, of course 'Jock's Road' would be under the snow pack so we would be relying on our navigational skills.
 It was during this leg that I experienced a sense of complete disorientation! Whilst following only the compass bearing and with no visible reference points I began to think I was walking in a circle and began to feel dizzy and sick, I would liken it the feeling of the room spinning when drunk (so i'm told). I had to ignore what my senses were telling me and believe in what my compass was showing me, though I could also have followed the sound of Matt's stifled laughter at my confusion!!
 We continued as darkness descended, though this made little difference as we had seen nothing but a few metre's in front of us all day, until we found the 'Lunkard Bothy'.

 We could of easily missed the bothy as it is dug into the hillside and not the tallest of structures, it was also fairly well covered in snow.

That'll be the bothy under there!

 Not exactly what we were hoping for when we found the bothy with only the top 8inch of the door showing above the snow, we broke out the shovels unaware that worse was to come!

It seems there a 'bit' of snow may have got in!

 After digging away the snow that was blocking the door we opened it to be greeted by a wall of snow inside! We had to tunnel nearly 2metres until we broke through into the bothy, which was grim to say the least!

Matt tunneling into the bothy!

 After eventually getting into the bothy we quickly got the stoves going to make some well needed nourishment before setting up our sleeping bags and bivi's for the night in our 'basic' accommodation.

I didn't see this in the brochure.

 Getting out of a warm sleeping bag into the cold interior of a winter shelter is not the most enjoyable experience but we were keen to get out of the cold, damp bothy/snow shelter and get moving. Quickly making breakfast whilst packing up our kit we were soon ready for the off and decided make our way back towards 'Glen Clunie' around the hills to the South of  'Loch Callater'.

A second day of navigation without visual references, bonus!

The view we had for the best part of 2 full days.

  As we ascended from the bothy we were soon in familiar 'white out' conditions and again had to rely on our compass bearings and contour interpretation as we made our way to 'Carn an Tuirc' before descending down to Lochcallater Lodge.

Matt pleased to be back at Loch Callater.

 Summary - We had an idea of what we wanted to do over the couple of days before we set out but were both happy to change the plan as we assessed the changing conditions and I believe we made the best of it by using the 'white out' to our advantage to practice our navigation skills in challenging conditions that we could easily encounter at any time whilst out on the hills in winter.

Doing the Legwork in Lochnagar!

 The 2nd week in April saw me make the long journey to Scotland and the Lochnagar Mountains where I would meet up with Helen, Adam & Andy who I had the good fortune to meet on the Winter Mountain Leader course at Glenmore Lodge in March.

Glen Callater

 The Lochnagar area can be found in the South-Eastern Grampians known as The Mounth and much resembles the nearby Cairngorm massif with a central plateau and Glens eroded from grey & pink granites drawing water from glaciated bowls into streams, lochan's, loch's before feeding into rivers such as the Dee, Isla & Tay.

 Meeting at the Ranger Station at Glen Doll the 4 of us readied ourselves and checked our kit for the 2 day winter route and overnight stay at the Stables Mountain Bothy at Callater.
 Our route took us up the flank of Corrie Kilbo on the well banked up footpath. On reaching the top of the Corrie we took a bite to eat and a drink before ditching our kit to walk to the summit of our first Munro of Driesh (947m), we then retraced our steps back to our kit before heading for our second Munroe of Mayar (928m).

The Alpine looking path to Corrie Kilbo.

Helen steps 'up' onto the trig point!

The plateau of Lochnagar.

  From Mayer we were to head to Tom Buidhe (957m) and our navigation skills were put to the test in the swirling white out conditions, as well as our resolve as the summit appeared to be moving away from us when we did get a glimpse!
 White Out conditions where it is next to impossible to see the difference between the ground and sky make navigation a challenge and faith has to be put into the use of the compass to show the direction of travel and map reading skills to be able to relate to lines of contour as most land features are covered beneath the snow!

Andy climbs the summit cairn(!) of Tolmount.

  Eventually catching up with the summit of Tom Buidhe we decided to bag a fourth Munroe of the day and took a route to Tolmount (958m) before heading for 'Jocks Road', the path which would take us down into Glen Callater and onto The Stables Mountain Bothy where we aimed to spend the night.

Glen Callater

At last the overnight bothy!

  The Stables bothy at Callater is operated and maintained by the Mountain Bothy Association and is open 365 days a year for anyone to use free of charge. Offering some where to shelter the bothies are ideal when planning a few days out in the mountains.

The Stables Mountain Bothy, indoor camping!

 After food (including cake for Helen's birthday!) and a good nights sleep we awoke around 7am and prepared for our 2nd day and long walk back to the cars!
 Deciding we wanted to make the 2days a circuit so as not to retrace our steps and to also bag a further 3 Munroe's we made our way from the bothy up the flanks of the Glen above Loch Callater and up to the summit of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor (1047) and the highest point of our route.
 The weather was much clearer than the previous day and we could enjoy views out across the area, we also saw large numbers of Mountain Hare and a couple of herds of Red Deer numbering 50-100 individuals.

Clearer skies en route to Broad Cairn.

 After the steep climb of the day to the summit of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor we chose a route that would see us remain on the high ground as much as possible and allow us to bag 2 more Munroe's of Cairn Bannoch (1012m) and Broad Cairn (998m).
 From our final Munroe of Broad Cairn we were treated to views into Loch Muick and out over the plateau.

Summit of Broad Cairn (998m).

 

 

 

 Leaving Broad Cairn we headed down to the bridge at Bachnagairn, where we could cross the South Esk River, after a brief food stop at a sheep fold and snow filled shelter.
 From the bridge we had a 5km walk along the river back to the Ranger Station at Glen Doll.

Food stop at the snow filled shelter.

River South Esk.

The final few metre's with the snow covered hills behind.

Summary 
In total the 2 day route was 39km in distance and we ascended just short of 1800m in height. We walked for approx 17hrs in total, and climbed 7 Munroe's.
We saw Red Deer, Mountain Hare, Ptarmigan, Black Grouse & Raven.

Quality 2 day route (though long!) with quality people!