Braeriach

Claire and I decided to take advantage of the excellent forecast for the Saturday and delay our departure south by 1 day - another big advantage of having the van. Sure enough, the day dawned hot and sunny and we were ready for an early(ish!) start - with quite a goal in mind.

Claire descending to the Lairig Ghru

Braeriach is arguably the daddy of all the Gorms - not the biggest or the most remote, but a big top a long way from anywhere with a reputation for appalling weather and tricky navigation. It also boasts, in An Garbh Choire, arguably one of the finest of all corries in Scotland. Our plan was to park at the Sugarbowl on the ski road and traverse the hill-side to the Charlmain Gap, before descending to the Lairig Ghru - one of the two great passess that split the range. From there, we would climb the loooooong ridge of Sron na Lairig (which we'd have to ascend as it's a munro top!) and thence onto Braeriach itself. We'd be facing about a 200m re-ascent to the Gap on the way back - giving a 20km day with around 1500m of ascent.

The path to the gap has been re-made since I was there (almost 20 years ago on a trip to Corrour bothy after finishing my finals) and made for quick going to the Gap itself. The gap is actually a rocky boulder hop that Claire did not find to her liking - surprising for one so usually sure-footed. However, given the magnificence of the day this was not a massive problem and we were soon descending towards the Lairig Ghru.

Crossing the stream was easy - and gave the promise a water re-fill at the re-cross (which given the heat we'd need) - and we were soon starting the VERY long climb up the Sron. The weather was astonishing - I was seriously hot in short-sleeved wicking top and shorts! This has not been the usual weather for the summer in Cumbria at least. The ascent starts quite steeply but then eases into a bit of a drag, but there is a good path to follow which helps a lot. About 2/3 of the way up there was a brief and very violent 3 min rain/hail squall - apart from this the jackets stayed in the the rucksack.

Looking to Ben MacDui.

The path actually skirts the summit of Sron na Lairig and, fortified by a banana and a country slice, we started the final climb to the summit of Braeriach. The views were amazing - across the vast expanse of An Garbh Choire to the Angels Ridge, a superb grade II scramble/grade I winter climb which needs to be looked at, to Cairn Toul and across to Ben MacDui. The view even extended to the far east and Ben Avon. The photo's are all on the photobox gallery - link later.

Having had lunch at the top - and gazed out at the plateau and the hills of Thursday we began to descend. We went over Sron na Lairig - not too bad an ascent before dropping down the long descent to the Lairig. I then re-filled my bottle giving vital energy for the last climb - which is a bit of a drag back up to the Gap. Claire was much more sure-footed through the gap second time around and we were soon beginning the walk-out to the car.

7 1/2 hours for the round-trip was pretty good going for us and to have such an amazing day was utterly priceless.

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/3436739  is the link to the new photo storage site - they can be downloaded and brought/made into calendars etc...