Sean, myself and Jensen the dog decided to go to Glenshee today, or more accurately Glen Clunie for a walk up An Socach for my second round of munros. The forecast was windy, with snow showers in the North East....at least we'll have the wind on our backs on the route we thought. Well, that's if we get there. It was absolutely fine up the A93, sunny and blue skies all the way to the Spittal. Then there was increasing amount of spin drift on the road, but ourselves and the assortment of vans and lorries we were in convoy with were fine - No-one noticed that we hadn't seen a car on the other side for 20 odd miles!
As we climbed, the snow started in earnest, and just as Sean said ' I hope that guy in the van doesn't slow too much else we're going to start sliding', he did. And we did. It was immediately obvious that even if we got past the ski centre and down the hill, a snow-free parking area was unlikely, and getting back out may be impossible later that day. Also, the wind was ferocious, and it would have been a real toil even if we had made it to the start.
We managed to turn just before a 40-foot artic had chance to jack-knife, gingerly dabbed the ABS all the way back to the Spittal, and then high-tailed it to Moulin where we had a lovely (relatively) sheltered walk up Ben Vrackie to make the best of the day. The path was well trodden, but consequently icy, so the crampons were out for the first time this year. TBH, a pair of yaktraks or kahtoolas would have been better in the conditions, but I always avoid them as I don't think they're up to Scottish winter jobs as a rule. Today they'd have been great!
One of those days. I knew 'West was Best' today on the forecast, but as Sean lived in Perth, and I needed to be back early, we took a chance. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. If those pictures are losing, I'm not too sore :)
As we climbed, the snow started in earnest, and just as Sean said ' I hope that guy in the van doesn't slow too much else we're going to start sliding', he did. And we did. It was immediately obvious that even if we got past the ski centre and down the hill, a snow-free parking area was unlikely, and getting back out may be impossible later that day. Also, the wind was ferocious, and it would have been a real toil even if we had made it to the start.
We managed to turn just before a 40-foot artic had chance to jack-knife, gingerly dabbed the ABS all the way back to the Spittal, and then high-tailed it to Moulin where we had a lovely (relatively) sheltered walk up Ben Vrackie to make the best of the day. The path was well trodden, but consequently icy, so the crampons were out for the first time this year. TBH, a pair of yaktraks or kahtoolas would have been better in the conditions, but I always avoid them as I don't think they're up to Scottish winter jobs as a rule. Today they'd have been great!
One of those days. I knew 'West was Best' today on the forecast, but as Sean lived in Perth, and I needed to be back early, we took a chance. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. If those pictures are losing, I'm not too sore :)
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