Creag a'Mhadaidh

Hill: Creag a’Mhadaidh
Date: Friday 30th November 2012
Company: Just myself
Distance: 23km, Ascent: 675m
Time: 5Hrs 50Mins

En-route to attending a Christmas meet and meal in Pitlochry, I decided to ascend Creag a’Mhadaidh.

I had three potential routes in mind for this hill, 1) an ascent starting from Craiganour Lodge at Loch Rannoch, 2) an ascent via Loch Errochty from Trinafour and 3) an ascent via Loch Garry from Dalnaspidal.

Given the icy road conditions this morning, I opted for 3) an ascent via Loch Garry from Dalnaspidal, as I didn’t particularly fancy driving the “interesting” Dalnacardoch to Trinafour road and Dalnaspidal was en-route.

I parked in the small car park beside the Private Level Crossing.

Click here to see a map of the route undertaken

After a quick photograph at the start of the walk, I set off towards Loch Garry.

Myself at Dalnaspidal:

It was nice to see a new sign at the start of the walk, a big improvement over the old sign which was not Scottish Outdoor Access Code compliant.

New improved sign at Dalnaspidal:

After crossing over the level crossing, I made my way along the fairly icy track.

Dalnaspidal Lodge (zoom):

Meall na Leitreach:

I previously walked the track alongside Loch Garry on a nice Summer day, en-route to Beinn Mholach. Great to re-walk the track today on a nice Winter day.

Loch Garry:

Looking back towards Dalnaspidal and beyond to East Drumochter Munros:

Looking towards Gualann Sheileach at the end of Loch Garry:

Looking back along Loch Garry towards Dalnaspidal:

Approaching the far end of Loch Garry:

On reaching the end of the main track, I followed the faint track leading towards the bridge over the Allt Shallainn.

The last time I walked this it was a bit of a bogfest. Today the ground was frozen solid, so no wet feet

.

Bridge over the Allt Shallainn:

Looking towards Creag a’Mhadaidh and Gualann Sheileach:

I took a very short detour off the main track to visit Duinish bothy. This was the first time I had visited this bothy. The building is in two parts – a fairly nice habitable part with a good roof and a ‘Danger Keep Out’ part with a large hole in the roof.

Duinish bothy:

Inside Duinish bothy:

After signing the bothy book, I continued on towards Creag a’Mhadaidh.

Looking back towards Duinish bothy and the Loch Garry hills:

I followed the track as far as its high-point at the bealach between Creag a’Mhadaidh and Gualann Sheileach.

Ascending track towards bealach between Creag a’Mhadaidh and Gualann Sheileach:

From the track high-point, I made directly for Creag a’Mhadaidh.

Creag a’Mhadaidh:

The ascent was straight-forward. I guess the ascent would be fairly boggy when the ground isn’t frozen.

Approaching the summit of Creag a’Mhadaidh:

I was really impressed with the views from the summit of Creag a’Mhadaidh. My photographs don’t do the hill justice. It is a seriously good viewpoint.

Loch Errochty from the summit of Creag a’Mhadaidh:

View from the summit of Creag a’Mhadaidh:

Beinn Mholach from the summit of Creag a’Mhadaidh:

View from the summit of Creag a’Mhadaidh:

View from the summit of Creag a’Mhadaidh (zoom):

Schiehallion (zoom):

From the summit, I returned to Dalnaspidal via the same route. It felt a long walk out