The Occasional Munroist - Glen Shee

Distance:	11km
Height ascended:	660m
Time taken:	3 hours
Munros:	Carn Aosda (917m), Carn a'Gheoidh (975m) and The Cairnwell (933m)

I have driven through Glen Shee many times now and never stopped to even take in the view never mind doing any hillwalking. This weekend I thought it was about time I rectified the situation and actually ventured out. These hills are a good choice for a hillwalking trip in January, the start is high (660m) and the distances are not great so a walk can easily be fitted into a short day. There is also the possibility of a good snow covering, they didn't put a ski centre in Glen Shee without good reason... In fact, the winter is the one time of the year when this area has any chance of looking reasonably nice since there is a vast amount of clutter strewn everywhere across the hills nearest the road which is all associated with the ski runs. The view from the car park is very off-putting, there are ski tows, chair lifts, large amounts of wooden fencing, cabling, etc and general debris. This clearly contributes to this range of hills having a poor reputation but I'm glad to say that once I (fairly quickly) got beyond the ski area the hills had a much greater feeling of wilderness.

The plan was to combine two routes, one either side of the road. Each being fairly short at 11km and roughly 600m ascent. The morning would be on the west side and take in Carn Aosda, Carn a'Gheoidh and The Cairnwell. Then, after a spot of lunch in the car, the walk in the afternoon would go over Glas Maol and Creag Leacach. This gave the option to drop-out at lunchtime if the weather turned nasty.

The walk from the ski centre car park to the top of the first Munro (Carn Aosda) is probably the shortest possible walk to the top of any Munro (about 1km). Even though I had to pick my way over many short patches of hard-packed icy snow I still got there in just 20 minutes. It's not the most interesting of summits so I didn't hang around very long, whilst I was surrounded by ski clutter the call of the more remote Carn a'Gheoidh was strong. The route along to the next summit was fairly easy but still pleasant and enjoyable. I encountered one section of icy snow near the summit which required some step kicking but nothing more taxing. The views from this hill are well worth the walk, I have often heard these hills being described as dull or boring but I didn't get any of that feeling whilst I was up there. It's a big, wild landscape and I'd like to explore this area a lot more. For sure, there are no scary ridges but it's still got plenty to lift the soul. The final section was to head to The Cairnwell. The walk along the ridge is good with excellent views into the deep glens. However, the summit is impossible to ignore if there is no low cloud as it has two large communication towers on the top along with various associated buildings. The top of this mountain has been utterly ruined, I would never have visited it if it wasn't for the hallowed Munro status. It's a shame to see some of our mountains so badly abused, I can just about accept some of the ski infrastructure but this mountain has big, ugly concrete buildings and steel towers on top. It's clear that everything was built as cheaply as possible with no consideration for the environment into which it was sited. I think that with a little care it could have been done in a much better way. In just 3 hours I had covered the route and made it back to the car park. There is a cafe here so there is the option of a warming cuppa or a cake but I just had a quick snack in the car before heading straight back out onto the other side of the glen,

The weather forecast was for increasing wind speed and some possibility of rain but it didn't suggest that the day was going to be terrible. The weather in the morning was good, there was a high cloud base, there was no hint of rain and all the summits were visible. By lunch time the wind had increased a fair bit and the cloud had come down but as this was Scotland in January this didn't seem like it was going to be too much of a problem. Over the next hour I ascended Glas Maol and as I did so the wind speed increased quite considerably. By the time I had got above the last of the ski tows on Meall Odhar the rain had started. I eventually reached a height of about 1000m and was within 0.5km of the summit but it was clear I was going no further. I had reached a huge section of icy snow which would need the ice axe if I was to cross safely. This wouldn't have been a problem normally but the wind had reached the point where it was blowing my feet off the slippery surface. Time for retreat... Getting down was not much fun, hidden amongst the rocks were many small nodules of very smooth ice. Without the wind this would have been annoying but manageable, with a gale pushing me one way and slipping any which way on the ice it was a bruising experience. I don't have any regrets at giving it a go, at this time of the year the option to turn around and get off the hills is never far away. This was some of the strongest winds (force 8 gale) I've ever found myself in whilst out on the hills and it was a lesson in how quickly conditions can utterly change.