Help! (Again) Looking for a three day Cairngorms excursion – walk in, snowhole,

[guy_osborn]

Hurt my back a bit in December and will only be able to travel on the least steep of hills, but would love to bag a table-top Munro in Cairngorms with no avalanche or slipping danger in February – drive up over Friday night, start Saturday morning as I arrive, walk up a way, build hole, sleep, then do a Munro the next day and back to snowhole, walk out the next and drive back down to Kent at night. As I recently popped a disc and cracked a vertebra, will not be very fit; I would rather a long shallow slope than a short steep one. Any ideas? All advice gratefully received (apart from “Don’t do it till you’re fit!”) Obviously got the axe, crampons, bivvy bag, down jacket etc, but nothing very technical.

[mike knipe]

Consider Ryvoan Bothy (may be haunted, though) with a trip up Bynack Mor - considering your batterred state!
If the weather's a bit iffy, there's a nice, lower ridge to the South of the bothy.
If its really really iffy, you can escape North or South on good tracks

[guy_osborn]

Thank you for suggestion, Mike - just looked it up and it looks just the sort of thing I 'm looking for. Will have two or three younger and non-injured lads traveling with me - and they want to build a snow hole...Is this a good place for that, and if so, any suggestions as to where? Grid refs if you can?

[mike knipe]

I'm not sure about snowholes, Ryvpan itself might be a bit low down - but if you were to go higher on to Bynack Mor, its more likely there'd be deep snow. There was very deep snow there last Feb/March. Difficult to give precise locations, but as you head along the ROW towards Fords of Avon, the path climbs a broad shoulder and that's probably the most likely place for deep snow.
You can get to Ryvoan from Glen More and there's a walkers car park near the reindeer centre which is also where the path starts
The bothy is a few miles along the track, but take a left fork where the track to Linn of Dee turns off. Its an easy walk under normal circumstances.
There's also a shelter at Fords of Avon.

[Ian s]

A popular place for practising your snow holing skills it at the top of Coire Domhain under Cairn Lochan (GR 993024) accessed from the Coire Cas car park by a variety of routes. There's usually a fair bank of snow in the N facing fold of the upper coire there.

Carrying on to Ben Macdui (may also be haunted! see http://www.biggreyman.co.uk/legend.html) is a good non technical option but as with anywhere on the Cairngorm plateau make sure your nav skills are up to it!

Another gentler walk to a Munro summit would be onto the Glen Feshie hills - Sgor Gaoith via Carn Ban Mor from the car park near Auchlean (GR851984). At 901978 or thereabouts there is a hollow in the in the scarp above Loch Eanaich which holds snow quite well and has a ruined building (roofless) which could be modified into a bivi site/ snow hole. Possibly a quieter site than Coire Domhain but not as reliable for the build up of snow needed for a full blown hole!

As far as I know the environs of Sgor Gaoith are free of phantasmalogical entitys.

Ian
www.mountainfreedom.co.uk