Malcolm, Ray, Toni, Shelagh, Graham, Lauren, Ben, Jan, David, Joe, Peter and Maurice.
No less than 12 members in 5 cars rolled up to the car park at Melgarve by 1000 ready to climb Gairbeinn and then along the “ridge” to Corrieyairack Hill.
The road into the glen was fairly clear but with snow and ice in places. The weather forecast was for a sunny but windy day. It was indeed fine, but the biting wind at the car park was a harbinger of things to come.
Tough going with strong winds and deep snow drifts
The party set off at a leisurely pace in one group. However, as they climbed the snow covered slope of Gairbeinn, the group split and Malcolm and Toni as back markers decided to tackle just the Corbett. After a short lunch stop out of the wind, they retraced their steps and arrived back at the cars around 1500.
Regrouping for the descent
The others pushed on and made good time to the summit of Gairbeinn. After a short stop, they descended north towards Corrieyairack Hill but found progress along the ridge difficult because of the very strong wind. All except Duggie decided to abandon the attempt on the second hill and they descended down to the old military road to the pass, arriving back between 1530 and 1600. Duggie, being the speedy walker he is, climbed Corrieyairack and still beat most of them back to the cars.
Sunset, with a Golden Eagle top right of photo (honestly!)
An excellent day’s walking was capped by a spectacular sunset and, instead of the usual pub stop, most of the party called at the Ralia Café by the A9 at Newtonmore for soup and hot chocolates.