New Years Eve 2009
With most of the clan off skiing in France we decided to head north and return to Scotland for hogmanay.
The weather has been bitterly cold and most places have had a good dumping of snow.
Weem near Aberfeldy was no exception and just before we arrived over 300mm fell in one night.
We stayed at the Aberfeldy Weem Hotel and had a really enjoyable three nights.
I was up for a bit of mountain walking in the snow so as Scheihallion (1083m) was only a couple of miles down the road I opted to walk to the summit on new years eve and work up a thirst.
Schiehallion is an interesting mountain, its contour lines show that it is very conical in shape which is why it was used for an experiment in 1774 using gravity to estimate the mass of the earth. There is a full 360 degree panorama from the top, if the weather is clear. In fact it is possible to see all the way across Rannoch Moor to Glencoe and the Mamores.
It is also sometimes referred to as the 'Centre of Scotland' because the lines of latitude between the most northerly and southerly points of the mainland together with lines of longitude between the most easterly and westerly points cross very close to the summit of the mountain.
The most popular route is up the east ridge which is a fairly straight forward walk in the summer but as with all scottish mountains in winter demands respect in these conditions.
I parked at the entrance to The Brae of Foss car park which was inaccessible even to 4 x 4s.
I was walking on my own but luckily a large group left just before me while another one followed me up so I felt quite secure as long as I stayed between them.
There was a lot of low cloud on the climb but this started to clear once I reached the top and the sun started to poke through.
Thankfully there was not as lot of wind on the top. The mountain forecast was for a wind chill of -35 degrees, I don't think it was far wrong.
On the way down the weather cleared completely leaving some stunning views.
It was a great way to end the year, three hours up and two to come down. Not too bad considering the snow was waist deep sometimes.
The weather has been bitterly cold and most places have had a good dumping of snow.
Weem near Aberfeldy was no exception and just before we arrived over 300mm fell in one night.
We stayed at the Aberfeldy Weem Hotel and had a really enjoyable three nights.
I was up for a bit of mountain walking in the snow so as Scheihallion (1083m) was only a couple of miles down the road I opted to walk to the summit on new years eve and work up a thirst.
Schiehallion is an interesting mountain, its contour lines show that it is very conical in shape which is why it was used for an experiment in 1774 using gravity to estimate the mass of the earth. There is a full 360 degree panorama from the top, if the weather is clear. In fact it is possible to see all the way across Rannoch Moor to Glencoe and the Mamores.
It is also sometimes referred to as the 'Centre of Scotland' because the lines of latitude between the most northerly and southerly points of the mainland together with lines of longitude between the most easterly and westerly points cross very close to the summit of the mountain.
The most popular route is up the east ridge which is a fairly straight forward walk in the summer but as with all scottish mountains in winter demands respect in these conditions.
I parked at the entrance to The Brae of Foss car park which was inaccessible even to 4 x 4s.
I was walking on my own but luckily a large group left just before me while another one followed me up so I felt quite secure as long as I stayed between them.
There was a lot of low cloud on the climb but this started to clear once I reached the top and the sun started to poke through.
Thankfully there was not as lot of wind on the top. The mountain forecast was for a wind chill of -35 degrees, I don't think it was far wrong.
On the way down the weather cleared completely leaving some stunning views.
It was a great way to end the year, three hours up and two to come down. Not too bad considering the snow was waist deep sometimes.
Comments
A cracking way to end the year, I dont know about it being too cold for kayaking it looked pretty cold up there,
All the best for 2010,
Richard