Meall Alvie & Creag nan Gabhar

Meall Alvie

First of two summits of the day. The main summit being GM/ES-022, but I decided to do this one first, as Fraser wanted a S2S with me on 022 for a complete for him. He was working until lunchtime, so it made sense for me to do this one first. It's a short route, that starts from the Keiloch car park on the Invercauld estate.

You follow the track, then turn off onto a path, however, this path just goes around the summit, and to get to the top you have to just walk up the hill through the trees and heather. Sometimes it's nice to not just follow a path and to make your own.

B

eing in the trees, this summit would be ideal on a windy day. However, being in the trees means that there isn't much of a view from the top. Luckily you get some nice views on the way up and down.

Once you leave the track, the route up is pretty steep all the way to the top. The heather doesn't help and there was still some snow lying on it which also didn't help. For a 2-pointer, it's quite the slog.

Upon reaching the top, there isn't anything of note, other than the ground levels off. I set to work setting up the mast and wire for 40m. Plenty of trees and branches to secure the mast to, although being careful to not get the wire tangled in the trees. I then just draped the other end over a branch to form a nearly straight inverted L. Doing two summits, and aiming to be home in time for school pick up, means I don't have much time to hang around! I started on 40m and it was quite slow, most contacts reporting heavy QSB. I did manage to make 4 on 40m and considered packing up, but kept going for a fifth and then moved to 20m. 20m was much better, although a loud station popped up just next to me and was drowning me out for many people. As this summit is likely a POTA site or two, I wanted to get at least 10 QSOs for that - not that I spotted on POTA.app. With that done, it was time to pack up and head down and then across to my next summit.

With springy heather underfoot, I could bound down the side and be back at the car in about 15 minutes, saving some time on my schedule. A short 15 minute drive through Braemar and down the A93 brought me to my next summit.

Creag Nan Gabhar

Last week on the GM/ES activation day, Fraser was on this summit, and so I thought I'd go up and get a complete for me, and Fraser would go up a summit and get a complete for him! (Completing from a summit isn't necessary but it is much more fun that way!)

Following on from my first summit this morning, I decided to wear some gaiters and take some hiking poles as I was sure there'd be more snow on this summit. Plus it was going to be another trackless ascent over heather and I didn't want to get soaking boots on this cold day.

There are a couple of routes up, and, as always, given I was on a tight schedule I picked the shortest route. This starts from the side of the road and follows a stream up, and then you turn and face the summit and go straight up to the top. Seems to be a theme today...

I expected the route to take me around 50 minutes, and the first 20 minutes were easy going along the stream. Once I crossed over that it was then time to head straight up. The hill side was quite sheltered, and even though the air was colder here (certainly felt a lot colder when I got out the car) than Meall Alvie, the lack of wind meant I was pretty warm on my walk.

The route up is whatever you can make it. Sometimes following streams, sometimes over heather and sometimes in grassy patches. There was a surprising lack of any snow here. The ridge you can see in the photo is circa 750m and there's no a single flake. Compared to Meall Alvie where there was snow around 500m, but I guess it's in the trees and this gets full sun as a south facing slope. I did have a sit down at one point as it's a bit of a slog, I suppose I had time extra too. Turning around, I was greeted with lovely views to the south of the higher hills all covered in snow.

I pushed on and made it to the top around the 50 minute mark. The top is quite a broad plateau with several cairns, and I relied on my watch to tell me which was the actual summit. Not that it really matters for SOTA given I have 25 vertical meters to play with. It was patchy blue sky but still great views all around. The only trouble was the icy wind that was strong now I was on the top.

I picked the largest cairn and put on all the jackets and hats I'd brought! Unfortunately, I only had my thin gloves and so my hands suffered the most. I had about 20 minutes before Fraser was due to arrive, so I wanted to do HF first and then be ready on 2m when he arrived. I setup again on 40m, and called CQ. The band was a little better for me this time. I did stop and then run around for a while to warm up, before going back to the radio for a few more QSOs.

With 11 on 40m, I packed up and setup the slim G for 2m. I'd just spotted on 2m, when Fraser did the same. So I jumped to his frequency and we had a wee chat. With that done, I was also done! I packed up and headed off back the way I came. Fraser was stuck on 3 QSOs, and was equally cold on his summit, so I dug out the HT with the RH-770 and gave him a call on the club callsign. He did manage two more afterwards. Once I was over the ridge and heading back down, I was out of the wind and my hands started to warm up...and burn up!

I was glad I took the poles, as they were useful for the steep descent, without them I suspect I'd have been rolling down the mountain. Back to the car, shovel down my super noodles, and then headed home. I made it back by 3pm, with enough time to get changed, make a cup of tea (cooled down with cold water!) and then head over to the school in time for pick up. 🚸

I think next time I come here, I'll take the longer, but shallower gradient route...at least I hope it's shallower! There's only a month left of winter bonus, where the objective is to activate as many summits as possible - as long as they're 2 or more pointers. So that means four more Fridays, and possibly a bonus day that I'll take off. The tricky part is choosing which summits to do. I want to complete all the GM/ES summits, but should I also repeat some I've already done during winter bonus period as I can do multiple in one day. Some of it does depend on the weather, so I'll see what's next. 🏔️