Deep in Cairngorm Powder

     I drove up to Aviemore early on Sunday morning and made the essential stop at Tesco and headed up through Glenmore to the lower ski centre car park. My bag was packed ready for the trip ahead and the day was growing late, 2:30pm as we started up onto the hill. The plan was to walk in over Cairngorm towards Loch Avon and stay in the Hutchinson Memorial Hut. The snow was soft and the going tough as we zig zagged our way up through the ski tows, working on our timings as we went. We were concentrating too much on our map work that we hadn't noticed the darkness coming in and soon enough the head torches were out. 

Piers heading off into the clag on Cairngorm

     The bright lights and droning noise of the piste bashers driving up and down the slopes reminded us of the infrastructure and development on this mountain and how different I would feel in a couple of hours time as we walking within the deeper Cairngorms. One driver thought we were lost and wandering the mountain, with the car only 20 minutes away, but I guess it has probably happened. He gave even funnier looks when I replied that we'd only just set off and were walking into a hut over the back of Cairngorm. As we passed the Ptarmigan and onto Cairngorm summit the wind increased and it began to snow, another group of eight walked by and the line of torches nodded as I nodded back. 

The Hutchinson Memorial Hut, Cairngorms

     We bumped into another torch as we descended off Cairngorm towards the 1141 cairn. Ben was knelt in the snow, bag off, looking at his map. Turns out he was headed the same way as us but didn't feel entirely confident descending the steep slope to Loch Avon. So Ben tagged along and descended to Loch Avon and onto the Shelterstone. We made slow progress through the powder covered boulder field and up to the col before Loch Etchachan. The time was getting on and it had been a long day as we slowly plodded on before a brief incident with a tarn not marked on our 1:50000 maps. Turns out there are four small tarns on the 1:25000 map. We plodded slowly down the burn towards the bothy, arriving to find the place like a sauna with nine people already there, it was to be a cramped night. 

Piers climbing up the slopes of Beinn a' Chaorainn

Lunchtime at the Fords of Avon Refuge

     We all awoke after a cosy night in the bothy to a cracking day as the sun was still rising over the mountains, its' glowing warmth lacking in the glens. Piers and I were the most organised in the bothy chaos and first to leave as we climbed the slopes onto Beinn a' Chaorainn and its subsidiary summit Beinn a' Chaorainn Bheag. The order of the day was pacing; different slopes, different snow, boulders, heather, up and down. 

Walking towards The Saddle from the Fords of Avon

Alpenglow across the Eastern Cairngorms

     Powder was tough going through the day on every angle of slope, the boulders and heather covered ground made progress slow as we stopped for a quick lunch stop at the Fords of Avon refuge. A climb up to the saddle and into Ciste Mhearad and a steady plod down the ski slopes with our weary legs ready to plan the following days outing, after being well fed and watered.