Ben Gulabin & Mount Blair

Ben Gulabin

After quite the adventure on GM/ES-040, and reports from Fraser as he drove down of Glenshee being quite the white, we were wondering what might be in store. Again, a look at the snow gate cameras showed us it had all gone! The Glenshee camera shows you the side of Ben Gulabin. Gerald was heading up Corwharn, GM/ES-048, and I on Ben Gulabin. Somewhere between Mount Blair and Gulabin the quickest route from west Aberdeen flips from via the A90 to the A93, and so I drove the scenic route. The route up Gulabin is another straight forward one. Park off the road by the start and follow the path up.

There’s a bit of a stream to cross, and then quite a boggy area once you turn left off the track up to the summit. Probably made worse by the just recent snow melt.

What started as another lovely morning, had started to turn a little. The wind was cold and the clouds were creeping in. It was still nice enough on Ben Gulabin but this would be the best of the day.

I came to setup on 2m, and found I’d left my guys at home. This was even more annoying as they were in my bag from yesterday, and I’d gone through everything this morning before leaving and obviously left them on the garage floor. So I held the mast and carried on. It didn’t take too long to get four, and then speak with Gerald on his summit. His phone hadn’t been charging properly and so was dead, which meant he couldn’t spot. However, he shared his info and I could spot for him on 2m SSB, which worked out well. After that I packed up and headed back to the car and drive round to the start of Mount Blair.

Mount Blair

In my wisdom to save walking 200m down the road to the start of the track, I decided to just head straight up the hill. Well this turned into a very wet affair, and I gradually made my way across to the path, like I should’ve from the start.

After the drive over the Mount Blair and looking at the summit with clear blue skies backdrop, the cloud started to move in and blue became grey.

Some SSE folks were up doing things on the mast. They’d come up in their 8 wheeled buggy, some kind of Argocat. They were finishing up as I was looking at the trig and other features. They gave me a cheerful wave as they tootled past to go down the hill.

Lots of fences and rocks and all sorts to setup on the top. I decided to the south of the main mast by the fence would be good. As I had no guys, I needed something decent to strap the mast to, and setup on 40m. I had a quick QSO with Gerald again, who was on his way down, and I wanted to make this quick as it had started raining and the cold wind wasn’t enjoyable. Not as busy on the band as Monday but enough.

Packed up and headed back down to the car. I’d hoped Gerald and I could’ve found a nice cafe or bar to say hello, but there aren’t many options in the area. In fact, none as far as I could tell. There is the Glenisla Hotel, although that seems to shut its bar/cafe out of season on non-Friday/weekend days. So I waited by the car for Gerald to come by. We had a little chat and nice to put a face to a voice! Then off back home.

It’s a nice area with lots of good hills in close proximity. It would make for a good group SOTA outing - perhaps doing two hills each and rotating around, then back to the hotel bar for a celebration afterwards.

Now I’ve got to try and get back down there to Crock, GM/ES-056, Hare Cairn, GM/ES-063, Corwharn, GM/ES-048, and maybe even Cat Law, GM/ES-044, before the winter bonus period ends!