Munros Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mor
1 May 2007
A reasonable early start was required for this expedition into the
Cairngorms as it was to be a long day as the lady booking this trip
wanted to walk in rather than make use of mountains bikes. However
the weather was in our favour. After a cold and in some places
frosty morning the sun was out and the sky devoid of cloud.
The five of us set out along the vehicle track from the Linn of Dee to
the White Bridge where we crossed the River Dee then followed the
track up the south-west side of the river, beyond the Chest of Dee and
towards a small forest plantation. Just beyond this forest
plantation we crossed a small stream and took a walker's path towards
the summit of Carn Cloich-mhuilinn with the ever increasing views in
particular of the south face of Ben Macdui and across Glen Geldie to
Carn an Fhidhleir and An Sgarsoch, which I had climbed with two of
these ladies in 2006.
It was now fairly warm and once over Carn Cloich-mhuilinn we lost a
bit of height before the steady climb towards the summit of Beinn
Bhrotain, stopping off to top-up with water from a stream. On
reaching the summit trig point of Beinn Bhrotain we had lunch in the
sun taking in the views of the high Cairngorm mountains. Thereafter
we descended over some boulder strewn ground before reaching the
narrow bealach with Monadh Mor where we passed two lady walkers
heading in the opposite direction, the only other walkers we saw all
day.
We climbed to Monadh Mor's south top before heading to the true summit
a short distance further north. It was at this point my clients had
to make a decision whether to return by the ascent route or the longer
route via Glen Geusachan. The decision from all four was to take the
longer route so we descended into Glen Geusachan, across a snow field
and picked up an intermittent path into the Glen. Lower down the
path became more obvious and we followed it into Glen Dee where we
were sheltered from the constant glare of the sun.
It was a long walk down Glen Dee and eventually we joined the track
used earlier that day and followed it back to the White Bridge. From
here it was still a bit of a walk back to the start as the sun set and
a few stars appeared in the still cloudless sky.
Eventually we reached the car park at the Linn of Dee after a long day
out in the Cairngorm mountains on a very sunny and cloud free day.
Time taken - 12 hours.
Distance - 33 kilometres.
Height climbed 1010 metres.
Photos taken on walk can be viewed at:
http://www.caledoniahilltreks.com/galleries/monadh_mor_may07/index.htm