Cairngorm Bothy Hike

In late October 2002 we attempted an ambitious 3 day hike across the Cairngorms, staying in bothies. This was a trip that could have gone very wrong and taught us some good lessons about mountain weather in Scotland.

Friday Evening - Aberdeen to Glen Feshie

Outside the palacial Ruigh-Aiteachain bothy

Enjoying a brew on Mullach Clach a Bhlair

Crossing the Cairngorm plateau

Tp infinity...

Mildly worried in a blizzard

Preparing to face the worst

After collecting Simon from the station after work we drove across to Aviemore digesting our fish suppers on the road. We parked at the end of the tarmac road at Auchlean and proceded on foot south down Glen Feshie under the cover of darkness.

After a couple of hours of stumbling into trees and streams we came across the Ruigh-Aiteachain bothy. This was our first bothy experience and we were impressed by the spacious lodgings and good sleeping platforms. By now it was quite late so after a brew we snuggled into our sleeping bags. Entertainment was provided by a contact lense-less Simon trying to blow out a candle he couldn't see. The condensation on his breath showed us how ridiculously far his efforts were away, much to our amusement.

Saturday - Glen Feshie to Lairig Ghru

We awoke to 2 bits of bad news; the bothy mouse had had a good nibble on our rations and, more importantly, there seemed to be a rather a lot of snow on the hills. Drving across from the coast the night before it had been too dark to see this and it was something of a surprise. However it was a beautiful clear day so we decided to climb up onto the plateau and see how we got on.

The steady plod up the land rover track alongside the Alt Coire Chaoil was uneventful until we hit the snow line. The snow was betwen 18 inches and 2 feet deep and very heavy to walk in, especially with loaded packs. We took it in turn to cut steps and were soon at the summit of Mullach Clach a Bhlair, our first Munro of the day.

We took a while admiring the fantastic views and deciding whether to carry on to our intended destination; the Corrour bothy in the Lairig Ghru. There was still not a cloud in the sky and it looked like a perfect winter's day. We knew it would be tough walking through the snow all day, but we had good kit with us and pride ourselves on being long legged, fairly fit types. It was a unanimous decision to press on.

As we started to trudge East two things became apprent, the snow was tougher to walk in than we thought, and with no visible paths navigation was going to be tough. We didn't stray far off of intended route to end up at the bottom of a gulley near the mouth of the River Eidart. Plenty of valuable time and energy were used trying to climb out of the steep sides banked with snow.

As we started the climb Monadh Mor the weather suddenly changes. The blue skies were replaced with dark clouds and the wind picked up. We were soon in complete white out conditions with visibility down to less than 5 metres. With the white snow on the ground and falling from the sky it was even hard to be certain which way ws uphill.

Some very careful navigation lead us to the summit, at which point we decided to get low as soon as possible to try and get out of the worst of the storm. We did this by dropping into Glen Geusachan just north of the crags.

A very long, slow walk followed up the glen to the Lairig Ghru. Eventually we arrived at the Corrour bothy shortly after dark exhausted, cold and very hungry.

After some hot food we felt more human, although it was a chilly night on the stone floor of this very small, simple bothy as the storm continued to rage outside.

Sunday - Lairig Ghru to Aberdeen

In the morning the weather still hadn't broken. If anything it was worse. We gamely tried to climb steep track behind the bothy to the Devil's Point. However we soon realised that the going was going to be much tougher than the previous day and our energy resources were badly depleted. A very sensible decision was made to walk out to Braemar.

We hiked down the valley in the pouring rain thankful that we weren't up at 3000 feet battling the elements. From the Linn of Dee we hitched a lift to Braemar, and from there the bus to Aberdeen. After hot showers and slap up pub meals we took my car across to Aviemore to collect John's Cavalier.

Whilst our planning could've been better I was impressed with the way Simon, John and myself reacted in the difficult conditions. Most importantly we weren't too proud to change our plans and admit defeat.

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