Today Martyn MM1MAJ and I also activated ES-019. It looked like the best day of the week to tackle one of the larger (for us) hills, but we were slightly put off by the forecast of freezing temperatures at the summit with windchill expected to make it feel like -7. We only made the decision about 15 minutes before leaving the holiday cottage, posting a very late alert.
It was dull as we parked at the Glen Muick car park, paid our £6, applied multiple layers of clothing, with extra in the rucksacks and set off. Having seen Lochnagar clear of clouds on the drive, we were disappointed to see both it and Conachcraig now cloud topped. As we crossed the river valley there a scattering of small snowflakes descended - this wasn’t what was expected. There were a few pairs of walkers spread out ahead of us, going much faster than us! Some descending mountain bikers asked about the poles, so we explained, and they told us that it was very cold and windy on Conachcraig. Having left the Lochnagar path, a descending walker also reported that it was cold and windy, but nice when the sun came out.
By the time we got to the summit the clouds had lifted off of the hills and there were views. We looked at the various rock formations on the summit, and selected one which gave some shelter from the wind and set up.
I initially picked up a couple of calls from the Aberdeen lunchtime net, and a few more 2m calls were picked up via the calling channel, leading to 7 2m and 1 70cms contact. Meanwhile Martyn had qualified with 1 2m call from the net and 3 on 60m, so he went to 40m, with a reasonable run of 16. When the sun came out it was nice, but there was still a chill wind, though it seemed to drop a bit as time went on. With late lunch eaten we descended, seeing nobody else on the path.
Back at the car park there were lots of red deer grazing and mostly ignoring us. There was also a lot of bird song and fluttering in what had turned into a lovely afternoon.
Lochnager from Conachcraig
VHF station
Wrapped up warm
HF station
Looking back
Red deer
River Muick and red deer