The Cairnwell from Glen Shee, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
[5.7 km] Wed 06 Mar 2013

NO 1395 7802

Set off at 06:30am in the car to head for Scotland. The weather wasn't good with low cloud all the way. The good point was the road is motorway status all the way to Stirling and still a fast dual carriageway to Perth. Through Blairgowrie I headed north along the A93 and up to the summit ski slopes at Glenshee.

I arrived at mid day and had previously decided to go for a short walk up The Cairnwell. It's still a Munroe and over 3000ft so still has to be taken seriously. As I set off I couldn't see much as the cloud base was only just above the road. The first thing I wanted to see was the statue of Alfred Wainwright and his wife Betty. I knew roughly where they were supposed to be but couldn't see them. There was a lot snow by the road which had been piled up after being cleared off the road. I didn't have to look far when I saw Wainwright's head poking out of the snow and the broken statue of Betty lying by him in the snow. It appears the snow plough didn't take any care and severely damaged Betty.

I set off straight up into the cloud trying to keep off the snow and stay on what heather was showing. I had my ice studs on but the snow was quite steep and I didn't want to take any chances. The ski centre is quite extensive and some of the ski tows were running. None were running near me but I got occasional glimpses of the towers and cables through the mist.

The most annoying thing was one of the restaurants having loud tanoy speakers blasting out high volume music. I was now in whiteout conditions and only had the occasional view of fencing and cables to get my bearings. I reached the top of a ski tow and noticed a nice face sculpture in the snow. I was near the summit and continued heading upwards, following the line of a cable on the ground.

I reached a group of ice covered buildings and communication masts. It was still thick cloud so there were no views. I returned to the top of the ski tow then descended to the NW to follow a low ridge.

I continued to the north to follow round towards Carn Aosta and on the way passed the top of a few ski tows where skiers were arriving then heading down. I started steeply down and eventually got below the cloud and was able to see the ski buildings below. Considering the miserable weather there were quite a few people about.