Sunday 22 January 2012

Ski Touring in the Drumochter Hills

 

Just got back from another Scottish Winter Trip.  This time the Drumochter Hills, either side of the high point of the A9 between Perth and Aviemore were the centre of attention.

These are some great munros to go and explore.  Not as craggy and Alpine as Glencoe, but equally not as crazily remote and unreachable as Derry Cairngorm or that area,  the Drumochter hills offer a surprising feeling of isolation once you leave the road behind and if the conditions are right, they are perfect for ski touring.

Balsporran Cottages

Friday night blessed us with about 10-15cm of fresh light snow, so we were able to ski from the car park at Balsporran Cottages (no one home to check with, but worth asking if there is) all the way to the top of Geal Charn 917m.

Half way up Geal Charn

We saw absolutely tonnes of wild life on the hills.  Grouse, Ptarmigan, Deer and about 12 Arctic Hare, which really didn’t seem too bothered about us!

Arctic Hare

The original plan was to head around across to the next Munro, A’ Mharconaich, 975m and then ski back down that, but the snow had been so good on the way up, we followed our tracks back to the valley floor through lovely safe windslab and foot deep powder.

Powder Tracks!

Not content with one Munro for the day, we then headed up A’ Mharconaich by it’s E ridge and were rewarded with steeper, powder slopes at its top.

Walking across the wind scoured top of Geal Charn

An absolutely amazing day, in a stunning place! 

And what about the next day?  114mph winds, rain and a huge melt of the snow below 600m!  SO glad we made the most of the first day.  That’s Scotland for you.

Mark and Ali

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