24C - BEN MACDUI
From Ben Macdui looking down on Carn a' Mhaim (l). Devil's Point and Beinn Bhrotain r of the river Dee. Photo https://big-gorse-bush.blogspot.com/
6.8 miles 530 metres
Start Saturday 23.30
Ben Macdui Sunday 00.26
Carn a' Mhaim 01.15
Finish 01.33
Squares: yellow - changeover. Circles summits: green this leg, purple - to do. Map Colin Matheson
Time: Estimated 1.27 Actual 2.03
Mark writes:
On the long drive round from Linn of Dee to the Cairngorm car park, every mile north seemed to produce more cloud. Things are not so bad however, as we get round with all the valleys in deep shadow and the tops a beautiful vivid orange as the pale granite glows in the evening sun. The cliffs of Coire an t' Sneachda, highlighted against the shade below look particularly impressive.
I leave Graeme to enjoy the disco at the car park and trudge up through the ski junk with my hood up – really cold here with ground frost forecast for Aviemore. This changeover at the col below Cairngorm is the highest at 1100 metres and I am glad of sleeping bag and bivvy as I watch the clouds gather and darkness draw in.
Ifor is really putting everything into this relay and his shout as he approaches in the gloaming reflects that urgency. It is 11.30 and nearly dark – the first section looks slightly tricky, especially in the cloud and the dark – am I dropping too far? I thought this would be flat. The compass reassures but I wasn't expecting to cross all these streams.
Just as I start the climb I suddenly come out of the cloud, it has been pluming off Cairngorm and has a sharp edge. It is now 12.15 a.m. And to the north, visible above this sea of cloud which is sinking down into the Lairig Ghru there is a fantastic blood red glow in the sky behind a sea of sillhouettes.
The Grey Man of Ben Macdui is no longer a threat on this starry night, but the boulder field of the Taylor Burn is – tortuous. After 15 minutes pugatory I am able to stride out to the top of Carn a' Mhaim Once more a rough descent and one I suspect most people avoid in the day, but the map says down to Corrour so straight down it is.
Light in the window provides great encouragement and soon Eddie is off for his own adventure. Apologies to those who were expecting a good night's sleep at the bothy for my 2 a.m. Crashing about.
The mountain bike at the end of the track provided fast but painful progress back to “Mother Earth”. My chuntering was pitiful as I bemoaned my cold toes but the laces on my shoes were frozen solid by the time I got back – well, what do you expect in June?
Peaks done 153 Hours elapsed 162 Peaks to do 124
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