Atholl - Zoning out

This was my first trip of the season in wintry weather though the walk didn't start wintry. Instead it passed through several zones of different weather before topping out in winter itself.

I started in the woods of Glen Tilt which were winter bare but dappled by early morning sunshine. There was hair ice to see, always an exciting find, as I climbed higher through the woods. A clearing soon gave a view north over the giant cut of Glen Tilt as it meandered deeper into the hills below a snow-dusted Carn a Chlamain. 

I left the woods behind and picked up a lonely track that struck out across the moor. It passed into a new zone of weather as the world around me became frosty and frozen. Icicles clung to the overhang of the riverbank and the water on the track had frozen solid. Soon the track would be dusted with snow as it climbed the hillside. Looking behind me, its route over the moor was picked out in white like tram lines.

A stiff pull eventually brought me up onto the hill and into full winter. I'd chosen this top, Beinn a Chait, because it's not on any list or in any guidebook. It's just a top that I hadn't visited before and where I was sure I would find solitude. But what a stunning place it was that day. Without a breath of wind, I could sit for ages enjoying the wintry, mountain panoramas around me. 

Immediately to the east, the successive ridges of Beinn Mheadhonach, Carn a Chlamain and Beinn a'Ghlo were an impressive sight. To the distant north, were the Cairngorms blanketed with snow and closer to was the bulk of Beinn Dearg where I could pick out a few, tiny  figures on the top. But to the west of Beinn a Chait the land fell away to high moorland and the view was unimpeded so that I could see a long line of snow-capped peaks stretching across the far horizon. These were the Western Highlands but somehow they reminded me that day of a much grander range like the Andes or the Rockies. It was beautiful to sit there in the glistening snow taking all this in. Not a sound. Not another person. 

In the short days of mid winter, the sun was already dipping as I made my way back down. I retraced my route part way along the track in golden evening light that bathed the flanks of Ben Vrackie to the south. A bend in the river was the night's camp spot and it was a cold night that followed. A full moon rose. My water bottle froze and my tent iced up but the river ran free and tinkled quietly all night.

Next morning, I descended back down through the zones of frosty moorland and damp, green woods. 

Fact File
Start/finish: Blair Atholl
Public transport: Edinburgh/Glasgow to Inverness train
My route: Picked up the path up Glen Tilt immediately before the bridge over the Tilt on the main road through the village. Stayed on the track on the west side of the river and eventually joined the track that leaves Glen Tilt to the northwest ascending beside the Allt Slanaidh. It climbed a good way up Beinn a Chait before I left it to get to the top. Repeated this route back out next day.