Wanting to try out our kit before Greenland, the weather was looking promising in the Cairngorms. We booked 'The Coach House' in Newtonmore with just two and a half weeks before we would stay there. The weather looked really good for the first weekend of the trip so we booked the Friday night at Newtonmore Hostel and drove up a day early. It was completely worth it. Saturday was a perfect day in the mountains, they don't get any better. There was not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of wind, not even at 900 metres; the valley temperature was minus 5 degrees; lovely.
Looking for a 'flat hill', about 500 metres high, with a short walk in, we found Leacainn, close to Dalwhinnie, skirting around its flanks looked ideal. Unfortunately the snow was not deep enough at this altitude, the heather was sticking through too much, so we headed higher. We parked in a lay-by on the A9 just south of Dalwhinnie and headed up a track, leading to quarries on the plateau. The track was easy to follow and carrying our skis we climbed steadily upwards. Close to the top we put our skis on; our boots had been great for walking up in the snow.
We zig-zagged our way to the crest of the ridge and set off to the left. Yep, there was nothing more to our navigation. Over 3.5 km we climbed and descended only about 80 metres. The going was fairly straightforward but due to the lack of snow depth and temperatures that had been well below freezing for days, we were struggling to get any grip with the fish scales on the base. Luckily for us there had been a few snowmobiles on the top; these had chewed up the snow and made it easier for our skis to grip on the uphills. On the downhills we made wide, sweeping turns as we are still not confident to go down the fall line, even on a really gentle slope. We stayed upright most of the time. Bonus! We also accidently climbed a Munro, Carn na Caim.
We retraced our tracks and descended the quarry track on foot. It had only taken 5 hours and so was a great area for a quick ski on our first outing.
Sunday was also forecast to be a perfect day in the mountains so we decided to aim for the same area but approach from further north. We parked near Cuaich on the A9 and had a longer walk in up a good track to a HEP station and beyond. The trail onto the plateau, via Creagh Liath was gentle and easy going; the snow a mixture between soft, hard-packed and icy, but no more than 10 inches deep. Not a problem. Not being a popular walking area we had the hills to ourselves. An advantage of this was the number of Mountain Hares and Grouse that we saw. The landscape was criss-crossed with footprints; barely any snow was left untouched. It was lovely to realise how much wildlife abounded in this area. Although we saw nowhere near the number of creatures that had made the tracks; I was so glad to know it was there.
Arriving on the plateau but were disappointed to find that there was not enough snow to cover the many rocks and so we had to walk further than anticipated before we could get our skis on. Once they were on it was great. We headed north until we could go no further due to lack of snow depth and protruding rocks. Turning back and passing our route of ascent we carried on south and west, exploring and detouring as we fancied. At times the snow was too icy and we could not grip to go uphill, could not traverse and could barely maintain traction to cross it onto softer snow where we could relax and regain control of our skis. There were also sections of deep snow, (where I ended up head first in a hole) and again snowmobile tracks which helped with the uphills. When the going was icy the strain on my shoulders was immense as I used my poles to prevent me from slipping back down the slope. I was becoming convinced that climbing skins were definitely needed. The final climb, (back up Carn na Caim), was gentle enough that we could ski straight up it without any problems. The descent was good, back down the same route and around Coire Cam, a winding route of snowplough turns; feeling like a beginner again as I desperately forced my shoulders into the turn, hoping that my legs would follow suit.
Occasionally the slope would be shallow enough to enjoy a relaxed, parallel ski, looking like a professional for a moment. We carried on along the spur east of Coire Cam until it dropped away on all sides. We packed the skis onto our packs and proceeded to walk down the stalkers track. It wasn't long until the slope steepened and the ground was covered in thick ice. Having not found out beforehand, we sincerely hoped that our micro-spikes would fit onto our ski boots. If they didn't, I would be okay, I would use Andy's. An alternative was to climb back onto the plateau, retrace our steps and descend by the track that we had ascended. We were extremely relieved that our micro-spikes did fit our boots and we could make our way down this steep slope without fear of ending up in the stream below. Once the track flattened out we managed another ski and enjoyed a lovely, slow descent through soft powder. We wound our way, (a long way round), back to the dam and followed the easy track back to the road and our car. We arrived in the dark following a 10 hour day, having covered over 30km. A great day in the mountains and a great day on skis.
We decided to head somewhere different for our next outing on skis. We parked near Auchlean in Glen Feshie. We carried our skis into the forest and climbed steadily up the side of All Fhearnagan. We soon left the woodland and ascended a gently sloping track, traversing the steep hillside up towards Carn ban Mor. Towards the top we left the track and climbed directly, trying to find icy or shallow snow for easier conditions underfoot. Just before the summit the snow was deep enough and we were able to don our skis and enjoy fantastic conditions once again on the tops. We decided that bagging the highest Munro in the area would be a silly idea on skis. It sits atop of cliffs and on a narrow ridge. Instead we headed south and east to explore the gentle slopes amongst the plateau there.
Our skills and confidence had improved over the week and we were attempting parallel turns and skiing down the fall line on ever steepening slopes. We had had a late start due to our epic, (A Cairngorm Blizzard), the day before and so didn't cover as much ground as we would have liked. However, we skirted around Coire Garbhlach picking up the track for the descent next to Allt Coire Chaoil. It had kept snow well and would have been a great route of ascent, easily climbable with our new skins.
Once back in Glen Feshie we followed the track along the bottom of the Glen. However much of this track had been washed away in the floods and we picked our way through the woods and along the old footpath. Crossing the Allt Garbhlach was particularly interesting. Thankfully water levels were much lower now and we had no problems. However witnessing the destruction caused and the huge forces that must have been involved were humbling. Eventually we arrived back at Auchlean and then soon back at the car having explored another fantastic area.
Newtonmore is a great base for ski touring and we would love to return in better snow conditions to explore the glens, passes and Nordic ski tracks. I found skiing maps from www.trailmaps.biz, there were 2 sets that I bought. The first was low level trails that are actually 'cut' when the conditions are right. This set of maps is the Strathspey Cross-country / Nordic skiing trails. Unfortunately there was not enough snow at lower levels for us to be able to ski these. The other set, Northern Cairngorms, Ski Touring Series; the were more geared towards ski mountaineers.
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