Area: Ben Alder, Scotland
This area has loomed large in my imagination for decades and it didn't disappoint: varied, absorbing mountaineering throughout. As I cycled in from Dalwhinnie, however, one thing did surprise me and took the edge of some of the remote isolation this area is famed for - this was the high-end Ben Alder Lodge 10k down Loch Ericht. This turreted monstrosity, along with almost everything else here, is owned by a Swiss billionaire and rented out to the well-heeled. Amazingly, there is even a luxury bothy near the site of the recently demolished Culra. Whatever, it was still wonderful and the weather improved beautifully throughout the day, and after 40 minutes or so of riding (it is a private track to the Lodge) I left the bike above Loch Pattack and enjoyed the feeling of being somewhere I have wanted to visit for years. It really does have a feeling of genuine remoteness, deep silence and tremendous views over the peaks to come. A very good, level path leads up the valley of the Allt a'Chaoile-reidhe, with Ben Alder to the left. But the most obvious and eye-catching objective is the Lancet Edge, to which I was now heading. This was really fantastic - alone in a giant landscape. Culra is supposedly being rebuilt so I headed up to what I assumed was the site of this, finding at the last minute that it was this bizarre luxury bothy in the middle of nowhere. I continued up with the Lancet edge getting gradually closer, eventually (after a stream crossing) heading up trackless hillside, very steeply, to gain it. A few little outcrops and steep grass lead to the first section of scrambling, and then the ridge really coalesces into a narrow rocky arete. This was fabulous, a wonderful line in a tremendously isolated location with stunning views down to Loch Sgoir. The actual scrambling doesn't last long, and it emerges near the cairn. Ahead, Gael Charn seemed almost entirely snow-covered and this is where I headed. It is a giant plateau, today a huge snowfield under vast skies. The cairn is right at the far end, and I trotted across the snow towards it, mostly comfortable but occasionally soft. Big views over wild terrain down to Glencoe and the Southern Highlands, and across to Beinn a'Chlachair, Creag Meagaidh and many other closer hills I'd done more recently. I then had to get off the plateau towards Carn Dearg, which isn't all that easy as there is only one route off. I ploughed across the snow to gain the descent down a little neck, but it was snow-covered and convex. Given the remoteness, my lack of axe and the fact I couldn't see the bottom, I exercised some mountain judgement and looked for an alternative! This meant contouring back to the col below Sgor Iutharn and then putting kahtoolas on to descent milder snow slopes to gain a very atmospheric traverse below the eastern /northern edge of the escarpment. I kept kahtoolas on throughout until I crossed two streams and gained the normal route over to Carn Dearg. This was simple, a beeline over a forepeak to steepish slopes to Carn Dearg. I was tiring a bit though, and massively dehydrated (having not taken a drink at the meltwater, as I wanted to find the descent first). It was obvious Carn Dearg would be a dry mountain, and it was. I followed the broad ridge direct to Loch Pattack and only found water towards the bottom, where I then had a nice lunch in the sunshine, in a very isolated location. Then it was down to the Loch Pattack track past bubbling breeding curlew (my favourite sound of all, even more special in the total silence of this location). A diver called too, as did several sandpiper. I got back to the bike and saw the only other person I'd seen all day, a cross-Scotland mountain biker. Then it was the simple matter of cycling 12k back along Loch Ericht back to Dalwhinnie (22k on foot, 25k on bike). After a break, I drove all the way down to Moffat.
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