BUY ME A COFFEE

Hill: Bynack More
Date: Saturday 20th March 2010
Company: Myself, Colin, Malcolm, Bob
Time: Circa 6 hours
Dog friendly: Yes

Just back from spending the weekend at Aviemore Youth Hostel, where we had a Club meet. On Saturday, four members opted to ascend Bynack More. We parked near Glenmore Lodge. After a quick photo we set off along the "tourist route" to the hill.

Colin, Malcolm, Bob and myself at Glenmore:


Path from Glenmore to Ryvoan:


Was nice to see the Green Lochan again. Last saw it in 2003 on traversing the Lairig an Laoigh.

An Lochan Uaine:


Ryvoan bothy:


We reached the bridge over the Nethy one hour after setting off.

Malcolm, Bob and Colin on footbridge over River Nethy:


Strath Nethy:


Looking back to Meall a'Buichaille:


Good to see some improvement to the lower section of path since my previous visit in 1997. The upper section of path is now an even wider eroded mess.

Ascending lower slopes of Bynack More (summit to right of photo):


We made good progress across the flat expanse of snow leading to the base of the ridge to the summit.

Looking towards ridge leading to summit:


A distant Ben Rinnes:


Gorms:


Prior to tackling the ridge to the summit, we stopped at the granite tor for a bite to eat - Malcolm likes his food stops. Before heading up the ridge I got my axe out but didn't bother with crampons - the snow was soft enough to kick steps (with the exception of one small section where I opted to cut a few steps).

Ridge to summit:


The ridge was quite straight-forward but the weather was not as expected. The MWIS forecast was well out - windspeed was much stronger than had been forecast.

On the ridge:


View from ridge:


Looking back down ridge:


Bob and Malcolm approaching summit:


We stopped long enough at the summit to take some photos and to have a chat with the other group.

At the summit:


I did a mixture of bum-slides and ice axe arrests during the descent. This was good fun but I ended up with a wet bum.

Myself glissading and practising ice-axe arresting:


On returning to the tor we had another stop to allow Malcolm to eat more food before heading back to the starting point via the same route.

Clearing conditions during descent:


We made good progress in getting back which was great as it allowed us to get back to the hostel, showered and out to the Cairngorm Hotel to watch the Scotland-Ireland game.