Winter backpacking on the White Mounth - the dark jewel

Dave and I descended off the slopes of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor and headed towards the Dubh Loch (black, or dark loch), now clearly visible ahead.  The loch is really obviously of glacial origin, formed as a corrie glacier ground off the high hills of the Mounth and gouged out the bowl of the loch.  The additional weight of ice would have gouged deeper to form the dip which later filled to be a loch, and the corrie lip where the ice poured over to join the larger glacier forming Glen Muick is visible at the outflow end of the loch.

Descending towards the loch the best line is to keep fairly high on the north side of the approach (the left hand side in this image) to avoid boggy ground above the head of the loch.  There are some beautifully planed-off granite slabs on this descent together with a burn which forms a long waterslide at one point on its fall to the loch.

On the south side of the loch is the steep cliffs of Creag an Dubh Loch........

......and on the south side are the crags of Eagle's Rock.

Eagle's Rock is a 150m south facing granite mass which has some fine summer rock climbing routes.  Being south facing, it thaws early in winter but nevertheless has some classic ice routes up a waterfall.  We noted what looked to be a fine low-grade gully towards the right of the crag as an obvious line.

Creag an Dubh Loch is both higher and colder.  Facing ENE, the crag reaches 270m in height and has 1.5km of continuous cliff rising 200m or more.  It's the highest continous cliff in the Cairngorms  and one of the highest in Britain.

Seen across the Dubh Loch in early winter conditions, Creag an Dubh Loch is an imposing sight.  Split by a left slanting scree gully (Central Gully), the crag is composed of overlapping and compact dark granite giving some very hard climbs.  Names such as Sword of Damocles (E1), Mousetrap (VS), Sabre Edge (HS), King Rat (E1), Predator (HVS) and The Naked Ape (E5) give a hint of the grade and nature of climbing on this crag.  Unsurprisingly, there are also excellent winter routes, but these require long days and good conditions.

Seen from the outflow, the Dubh Loch looks much the same as it must have done shortly after the ice retreated.  For me, this dark jewel is one of the special places in the Cairngorms area and well worth a visit whether in winter or summer.

Winter Backpacking on the White Mounth

Dave and I continued to climb steadily until we reached the cloudbase at about 800 metres.  Visibility in the clouds was about 200 metres with a chilling NW'ly wind at about 30mph - in other words perfectly acceptable and normal Scottish winter conditions!

Our route took us uphill on a line of old iron fence posts marking an estate boundary.  Placed on one strainer post was a piece of aircraft engine.  It is very likely that this is part of the wreckage of an RAF Canberra WJ615, a bomber/reconnaisance aircraft which crashed into the mountain in level flight on the evening of 22 November 1956, killing its crew of two, Flying Officer Redman (pilot) and Flying Officer Mansell (navigator).  The subsequent enquiry was unable to determine the cause of the crash.  The wreckage is scattered across a wide area of the mountain; I've seen odd pieces including a wing section around this location. 

Our climb soon levelled out and we navigated across to the summit cairn; or one of them, there are two which seem to be of equal height and about 200 metres apart.  Carn an t-Sagairt Mor (rocky hill of the big priest) is 1047m/3435ft, and up here the scene is Arctic even this early in the season.  We'd seen Hares and Ptarmigan on our ascent, both in full winter garb of white streaked with grey and perfectly camouflaged and adapted for life here.  Unlike us.  Although our Buffalo Mountain Shirts are great for these conditions, the exertion of carrying fairly heavy rucsacs meant that we'd begin to chill down if we lingered.  A brief five minute stop for a snack and a drink, then we took a compass bearing for our next destination and set out across the broad summit area of the hill.

We visited the second cairn on our way across the broad dome of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, where the rime icing was quite impressive for November.  The "feathers" of ice are depoisted on the upwind side of rocks (and in this case old fenceposts) in a cold, moist airstream and can grow out to a foot or more.  They are one of the real features of Scottish hills in winter and I've always thought them beautiful, even if it takes hostile weather to form them.

As we descended below the cloudbase, our next destination showed itself in a window through the clouds - we were right on track.