Don’t do anything stupid
– my wife before I leave the house
I don’t disagree but the problem with this statement is that it’s relative. What is perfectly sensible to me is utterly foolish to the next person.
I’ve been eyeing Hunt Hill, GM/ES-042, for a while, but wanted a relatively calm day, as judging from previous reports and the internet, there isn’t much shelter on the summit. It’s also on my list of summits I can do when I have to do both school drop off and pick up. I decided to take the normal (not stupid? - again, relative! 
) route from Glen Esk.
I had my bike and would cycle to the footbridge over the Lee, then head straight up and across to the summit. For my return, I wanted to see the waterfalls and so walk down to the Falls of Damff and then follow the water and path back to the bike - easy!
It was glorious sunshine and blue skies in Aberdeen and all the way there…until about 3 miles from the car park, when the cloud or fog came in. I was optimistic that the summit would still be in the sun and this was just some valley mist.
The cycle is along a nice track and relatively flat the whole way. Whilst the scenary was stunning, you can still enjoy it on a bike and save a lot of time! I dumped the bike in the heather just before the footbridge. The ground before and after the bridge was sheet ice, so some careful maneuvering to get on and off the bridge was required!
From here it was straight up the hill as best as possible. There are occasional paths but these seem to run all over the place and not necessarily where I wanted to go.
It’s a balance of taking a longer route and going further away from the summit, but gentler gradient and trying to take a shortcut but end up facing more and more vertical sections. No surprises what route I tried.
Once on the top it’s an easier incline up to the summit, getting a little steeper as you near.
As I climbed higher the amount of snow increased, and in places it covered large sections of the hillside. It did mean the peat hags were filled in with snow and I could skip across them. Interestingly most of the snow was on the southern side of the hill.
As required under the obligations of climbing GM/ES, Fraser @MM0EFI, was looking for a complete, and so we were hopeful on 2m. He was working but that doesn’t usually stop him from nipping out for a quick QSO. I’d alerted for 11:30am and needed to be on time, so that Fraser could serve the real workers of Westhill their christmas dinner. I was ready by 11:30 but Fraser was busy, so I admired the view whilst eating my chicken roll.
Fraser let me know he was on his way, and I just put out a call and we managed to work whilst he was still in the car park! I did call further on 2m but all quiet. So I switch to HF. There was a slight breeze on the summit, and the air was cold, so I wasted some time wandering about seeing if there was a better spot that offered a bit of shelter. I decided there wasn’t and just got on with it. I setup for 40m, spotted and called CQ. It took a few goes calling CQ before anyone replied. Recently there are already several stations waiting after I do my first call. However, the chasers soon started and I had a nice steady stream, offering the chance for a quick chat beyond the usual RST and thanks. I think the surrounding beauty reflected in my voice as several commented on how cheerful I was. Or something like that.
10 minutes on the air and after the faffing about at the start, I was running short on time, and decided not to try chasing summits and pack up, and continue my route. This didn’t start well as I proceeded to march off in the completely wrong direction as I’d “seen the stream” and knew where to go. I had seen a stream but it was the Burn of Damff to the west, rather than the falls to the south. I wasn’t too far off and reoriented back the right way.
A classic cause of issues at work is “time pressure”, people making bad choices because they are or think they are short on time. That was me and the thought of school pick up in a few hours time.
I’m not stupid. I’ll take a shortcut.
I could see and hear the waterfalls below and without looking at any map decided I could join the path from here. Perhaps I should’ve taken advice from others before me…
It was tricky to take photos of the route to demonstrate just how silly it was, partially as I was using my hands to hold trees, clumps of grass or rock faces as I scrambled down the side.
There was one moment where I came to a dead end, and the only way to go was edge past a huge boulder on about 20 cm of grass above a 5-6m drop. Of course it wasn’t the only way, I could go back the way I came but you know…tick tock tick tock 
. In this moment the wise words of my wife came into my head, and I, too, thought “this is stupid”. 
I pressed on and made it 
, and soon reached the path by the water. The small streams running off the hill top made some impressive icicles on the rock faces, and the waterfalls were impressive and loud!
Back to the bike through a very chilly gully. I met another hiker admiring the views at the footbridge and he shared some of his adventures over the years in the area.
The cycle back was speedy, it’s slightly downhill the whole way, and home with enough time for a cup of tea before the school bell rings!
