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| Fabulous neve on Eastern aspects |
Fourth and final day for Jenny and Iain on their winter course this week. It was a wild one. Very high winds forecast on the big Cairngorm tops so we chose something a bit lower in the hope of calmer conditions. Bynack More.
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| Pleasant lower down |
Bynack More is a wonderful Munro, isolated from the bigger Central Cairngorm Plateau. It's a long walk-in from Glenmore but a very beautiful one. The easy, well made track winds through Caledonian Pines and eventually onto open moors.
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| Fresh Snow on the long, easy plateau at 700m |
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| Looking west to Cairn Gorm ridges |
It was a fine sunny spells morning and not much of a wind at lower altitudes. Once up on the long plateau section above 700m the SW gales blew in and we got a few snow showers. By the time we reached the steepening that leads onto the summit ridge we were getting buffeted with 60mph+ winds.
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| Looking South to the summit ridge |
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| Snow showers moving in |
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| Cairn Gorm in clouds |
There were 3 folk in front of us having a go at a direct line up the ridge where the path lies in summer. They soon retreated. We scurried around to the Eastern side of the ridge to see what winds were like here. It was virtually calm! We donned crampons and axes and had some of the best snow conditions all week. Perfect neve on 30-35 degree slopes all the way to the summit area.
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| Perfect neve |
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| Beinn a Bhuird beyond |
The final 10 minutes to the summit cairn were a bit breezy, around 70mph but just a short distance to battle the headwind and bag Jenny and Iain's 2nd Munro this week.
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Well earned summit
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We retraced our steps, as enjoyable as our ascent route. By the time we got back onto the path along the plateau section of the hill the winds had eased quite a bit and the sun popped out. Shame we had no views on the top but can't have everything.
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| Sun and neve |
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| Clearing skies over Cairngorms |
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| The tranquility of Lochan Uaine |
A great 4 days. Jenny and Iain getting bags of experience in a variety of snow conditions and weather amongst the spectacular winter Cairngorms.
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