The Latest Walk

I set off from the Linn of Dee at 8.30am with an air temperature of minus19 degrees and pure blue skies! Soon I reached the timber bridge over the Lui Water with a view along the frozen river to Carn a Mhaim and Derry Cairngorm. Between these I could pick out Carn Crom on the blue horizon 2000ft above my present altitude! The extra stone in weight of my Fuji 617 and tripod together with ice axe was suddenly a factor to be taken into account!
An hour's walk along the Glen Lui track to Derry Lodge passing Bob Scott's bothy next the stream under the trees and then over the timber bridge leading to the hills and then two deer fence stiles later and I was on my way up into the white wastes following thankfully previously established footsteps in the deep snow. After negotiating a trcky section in soft steep snow requiring the assistance of the ice axe I reached the plateau leading to Carn Mor.
Almost four hours after leaving the Linn of Dee I stood next the Cairn looking out to the most magnificent panorama which took in Carn a Mhaim,Cairntoul, Braeriach,Sputean Dearg,Ben Macdui and Derry Cairngorm. I stayed at the summit for an hour and left at 1.0pm for the descent glissading in the three inches of frost on top of the hard packed snow and two hours later I was back in the car park, a very tired and contented man. On the way back to Aberdeen I stopped off to take in the view of Ben a Bhuird and then at Invercauld, Lochnagar from the banks of the frozen Dee.