A High Camp: Cairngorms In Winter

Moine Mhor Camp

 

Clouds were racing over the summits and a cold east wind swept over us as we left the shelter of the forest in Glen Feshie and continued up the path in Coire Fhearnagan towards the mist-capped snowy slopes of Carn Ban Mor. Our intention was a high camp on the Moine Mhor, a vast rolling mountain plateau, which Terry Abraham wanted to film for the Cairngorms in Winter video. The forecast was for the wind to lessen during the day and for clear skies the next morning. We could only hope it was correct.

We reached the snowline just as the slopes steepened for the final climb. In the first big snowbank just off the path a party were digging snowholes. The bank provided a briefer shelter for us as we took the opportunity for a break and to don more clothes out of the wind. Then it was onto the hard, rutted, old snow, refrozen since the last thaw. If there hadn’t been many deep boot prints, kicked when the snow was softer, crampons would have been useful. As it was we simply used the platforms made by others. The wind was fierce now, blasting down the slopes into our faces. At times it was hard to struggle into the gusts.

Terry filming on the Moine Mhor

As the slopes eased on the shoulder of Carn Ban Mor the cloud swept over us and the light became flat, making it hard to distinguish features ahead or even, at times, whether the snow immediately in front went up or down. Not bothering with the summit – a slight raise on a rounded bump – we were soon starting the gentle descent towards the head of Gleann Einich. A faint edge in the snow had me slowing down and peering hard. There was a drop of some sort in front of us. I edged round it carefully. Soon we could see it was the shallow gully of the Allt Sgairnich, parts of the sides of which were banked up into cornices. There wasn’t far to fall but walking over one of those would have been an unpleasant surprise.

Terry looking towards a cloud-capped Sgor Gaoith

Out on the arctic-like expanse of the Moine Mhor we dropped just below the clouds, which we could see tearing across the sky over Braeriach – a sight that soon inspired Terry into some time-lapse filming – and shrouding Sgor Gaoith. Close to the lip of the steep craggy slopes running down to Loch Einich we found a splendid situation for a camp on some patches of flat snow. The crusted sugary snow wasn’t easy to pitch the tents on though as pegs quickly pulled out even when buried horizontally. Even wide snow pegs had to be stamped firmly down. I utilised my ice axe and trekking poles as secure pegs, finding when I thrust them in that the snow was at least two feet deep. 

Camp on the Moine Mhor

 

Tents pitched we watched the faint pink glow of a mostly hidden sunset then retreated to the warmth of our shelters. The temperature was -5º but the wind made it feel much colder when we were outside. Snow melted and dinner eaten I quickly fell asleep only to be woken a few hours later by a stronger wind rattling the tent. I knew I could quieten it at least a little by going out and tightening some of the guylines but that meant getting dressed and venturing out into the bitter wind. I was warm and comfortable in my sleeping bag and had no fear of the shelter failing so stayed put, half-dozing and then, when the wind grew noisier, reading for an hour or so. (Having recently downloaded the complete works of Charles Dickens to my Kindle I browsed through this, settling on his description of days of storms during his voyage to America from his travel book American Notes – the thought of a severe storm at sea certainly put a bit of wind in the Cairngorms into context).

Loch Einich & Braeriach

Eventually I drifted back to sleep to be woken many hours later by the guttural calls of ptarmigan close to the tent. The sky was lightening with the dawn but when I looked out the clouds were still down on the summits and only to the north was there any sign of a clear sky. The wind had lessened but still felt sharp and stinging on the skin. The temperature was back to -5ºC. Overnight it had fallen to -8. I melted some snow and made coffee and muesli porridge. Terry braved the cold and came out to film me lying in my sleeping bag, eating breakfast and talking about the geological information on the back of the excellent Harvey British Mountain Map of the Cairngorms and Lochnagar, which showed that we were camped on glacial moraines on a big wedge of metamorphic rock that lay between the rockier granites of Sgor Gaoith and Braeriach.

Dawn view from the tent

Whilst Terry was filming a golden eagle floated high overhead and disappeared into the crags above Loch Einich. Not long afterwards we saw it again, heading south., mighty and magnificent, a true symbol of the wild.

The filming over I had no excuse to stay in bed any longer so donning all the clothing I’d been warming in the sleeping bag I ventured outside. The difference was immediate as the cold wind bit into me. With the tops still hidden we decided to pack up and return the way we’d come. A high winter camp had been the aim of the trip and we’d achieved that.