Big Day Out Curtailed but Opportunity Grabbed!
On Monday evening I estimated that Tuesday was likely to be the only break in the forecasted week of wet weather.
So, I changed my day off work to Tuesday!
I’d always fancied climbing Ben Bhrotain, using a bike to climb it from the west bank of the River Dee, then heading across to Cairn Toul GM/ES-003, Devils Point and Angels peak via Monadh Mor. A return would be made via Corrour Bothy and necessitate a wade across the Dee in order to retrieve my bike. If my plan was to succeed it would depend on a couple of things:
- Timing the weather. The Monadh Mor is no place for wandering around in the mist.
- Snowpack. Too soft would really hinder progress.
- The level of water in the Dee.
With that in mind, I assembled at the Linn of Dee car park at 0830BST, aware that the strong wind was due to drop and the cloud was to shift by noon. Hence the leisurely late start. As these mountains are not visible from any road in Deeside, I had already decided that full winter kit was in order and the previous evening had seen me strip the radio kit back to a bare minimum in order to accommodate this.
Here’s the film of my trip:
5km of the 7km cycle up the Upper Dee valley is a straightforward affair on smooth vehicle track, with hardly a noticeable gradient. White Bridge was soon reached, crossed, and then the west bank of the Dee followed on rougher single-track track for another couple of kilometres. (Watch out for drainage ditches.)
There was a noticeable drizzle, a strong west wind and the ground was pretty wet due to heavy overnight rain and snowmelt. Oh, and the Dee was churning. I pretty much decided at that point that the Grand Tour was likely to be off.
A small cairn marks the point where the hill path heads off north west up the lower slopes of Benm Bhrotain - it still invisible due to cloud and hidden behind other tops anyway.
The path is indistinct in places and a bit of heather/bog bashing was required. Aiming to head for the west side of Carn Fiaclach (marked on the 1:50000 OS map) did the trick and I picked up a better path from there. This path undulated over minor bumps, with the terrain turning increasingly stony, gravelly and tundra like.
I hauled over the top of Carn Cloich-mhuilinn on large granite blocks and down to a flat bealach, facing the final climb over banks of soft snow, to the summit dome of Ben Bhrotain.
The summit features two shelters, one around the trig point and a further one about 10m north of this. The cloud had started to clear but the wind had not subsided one bit, so I decided to erect the mast by the trig point and utilise one of its handy steel loops as a guying point.
My mast supported a linked inverted V for 40m & 20m. This was fed straight into the back of my ft-857d. I set the power to 25 watts, found 7.083 MHz to be vacant, spotted myself thanks to sporadic 4G and tucked down behind the shelter to call, “CQ SOTA”,
I fairly rapidly worked 13 stations, with some usual and reliable Chasers such as G0RQL & EA2DT. One of my first contacts however, was summit to summit with GM4JXP, literally just down the road on Craiglich GM/ES-068, which I’d recently activated myself on 2m SSB. Craiglich is an amazing little hil!. My recent report:
I’ve had great luck in having summit to summits with Norway off the side of the inverted V, and today was no exception. I worked LA5WNA, who was on LA/OL-310
Maybe the LA Ops. recognise my surname and Norwegian ancestry?
I don’t usually feel the cold, but the wind was unrelenting today and I had rising damp from the soft wet snow. I was starting to shiver, so elected to break down the station and get off the summit after just 15 minutes of operating.
As I descended, the clouds started to part and there was the odd glimpse of sunshine, but the strong wind did not relent.
I elected to re-climb the top of Carn Cloich-mhuilinn as it seemed to be the simplest way to return. Looking back gave a decent view of the summit of Ben Bhrotain.
The weather was improving by the minute, with the exception of the wind.
The lower part of the hill had dried up a little and good progress was made. I was soon back at the bike. The photo below shows the view looking north through Glen Dee to the bottom of the Lairig Ghru, with the steep face of The Devils Point prominent. Cairn Toul towers behind.
It was less than half an hours ride down the gentle gradient to the car park. Care has to be taken on the single track as there are many stone drains to cross. Most of these I rode, but with a heavy pack and high centre of gravity, caution would be required.
I stopped off to view the Chest of Dee, just a short detour from the track. I think looks more impressive from the west bank, or maybe it was just the spate?
By the time I was back at the car park, the skies were blue and it was getting considerably milder. The trip had taken around six-and-a-half hours, including summit time. I’d cycled about 14km and walked for 14km.
A bit about the bike. Its a full-carbon Giant XTC. It doesn’t weigh much at all and the 29" wheels really help it roll over obstacles. Its the first mountain bike that I’ve owned that I can ride for 40 or 50 miles without experiencing fatigue. For SOTA, I use a saddle bag and a bar bag, which are designed for bike-packing and are waterproof. I tend to put the radio and my lunch in the bags to keep some weight off of my back when I’m riding and then transfer everything into my rucksack at the start of the hike. I also carry a very efficient Crank Brothers mini-pump, a tube, patch kit etc. in the saddle bag.
So, there you have it. Ben Bhrotain, an easy 10 points if you have a bike. Decent flattish tracks and a reasonably simple (and not too steep) ascent of the hill. The views are extensive, given its position on the edge of the Central Cairngorm massif and there’s potential to explore further in decent conditions, linking over Monadh Mor to Cairn Toul GM/ES-003 and indeed Braeriach GM/ES-002 as part of an end-to-end trip. For the adventurous backpacker, consider an overnight in the Lairig Ghru and come back over Ben Macdui GM/ES-001 and Carn a Mhaim GM/ES-013, heading back to the Linn of Dee via Glen Derry. Best wait 'til the snow shifts before attempting that one!
73, Fraser
