Cold Fusion Blog

Looking over the end of Loch Muick toward Broad Cairn.

Sunday 17th February. Since my psyche has been low for climbing and training at the moment it was a refreshing change to get back into the mountains with Lindsey to do some walking. Unsure about cloud cover expected out west we opted instead for east Deeside to climb Broad Cairn and Cairn Bannoch in the Lochnagar area. Our usual late start brought us to the car park at 10.30am under completely clear skies thanks to the February high pressure. The guide book description hinted at long day with a lot of distance to cover so we tried to keep up a pace flanking around the banks of Loch Muick and up towards Creag an Dubh Loch. In the spring sunshine the going was plesant, it felt more like late April than February.

The Creag an Dubh loch cliffs looking scary.	Lindsey tussling with the summit rocks of Cairn Bannoch.

We got a great view of the Creag an Dubh Loch cliffs which although mainly slabby still managed to look terrifying. Moving up to our first top I was glad to have brought the crampons as the remaining 200m to the top was steep hard snow. Now 3.30pm we raced towards the second peak of Broad Cairn stopping briefly for some snaps. After carrying heavy climbing boots through a million odd foot falls my knee started to feel really sore stepping down. Looking towards the end of Loch Muick some 10km away and 500m below us it literally ‘felt’ a long way away. With 90 minutes of light left and no head torches we made a mad dash Loch Muick. Hobbling along my knee wasn’t so bad on the flat but ached like hell on gradients under 5 degrees.

Broad Cairn victory.

As we started the steepest part of the descent we got a nasty surprise as the path disappeared under a steep section of icy snow. The 30m ice slide into the rocks below looked unthinkable. Luckily some frozen up footsteps and pole holes allowed the slope to be traversed airily. Lindsey did really well up to half way when her head decided to dish out the fear hormones and I was out of chocolate lure. The next 10 minutes was an interesting exercise in mental control for both of us, but we emerged victorious at the other side! The knee mashing decent continued in earnest as I flagged behind breathing heavily to suppress the pain.

Looking back over Loch Muick, home a long way off.

We managed to descend and find the track again before dark, but the 7 km walk out still remained. Luckily, the moon was out to light our retreat. My knee held up half the way back before getting sore again. Luckily Lindsey was an angel and carried my bag the rest of the way. The frustration of achy legs and feet hasn’t quite faded yet but we got back to the car for 7.30 feeling very thankful it was all over. After a hot pub meal all that was left was the 3hr drive home which sadly felt extremely hard, even with Mr Kiplings, 7up hiccups and a tube of Pringles. Never been so glad to fall into bed after a hot bath yet.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Mountains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.