Northfield Parish Church Aberdeen

Lochnagar Sunrise July 2009
Friday 5th June 2009 12:40am - 08:00am.
Start/Finish : Spittal of Glen Muick
Distance: 16km
Munros: 1 Lochnagar
Lochnagar OS Ref: NO24378612
OS Map 44 Ballater, Glen Clova & surrounding area

The Summer Solstice on Lochnagar
Every year the crowds descend or should that be ascend on to the summit of Lochnagar to watch the spectacle that is the sunrise on the summer solstice. The summit of Lochnagar on the summer solstice is the Scottish equivalent to Stonehenge. Just a lot harder to get to! Crowds of walkers gather on the Lochnagar summit to witness the sunrise over the Scottish mountains.
The Summer solstice in 2009 was on the 21 July, However I planned on doing the walk a week earlier, to avoid the crowds that gather on the Lochnagar summit.
The starting point for this walk is at the car park at the Spital of Glen Muick. The road leading to the car park is narrow, only wide enough for one car, their is pacing places so take care driving.

The Long Walk In
Arriving at the car park at just after midnight with a temperature of 4degrees, I hastily started walking following the sign post labelled 'Lochnagar' directing me to the land rover track. The track is wide and passes past the mountain rescue information hut. This information point provides details on the Stalking season and the current weather outlook as well as warning over the safety of walkers on the Lochnagar hills.
The road swings right, and crosses a wide, marshy flood plain, after about ten minutes, the road comes to a X junction. The road leading straight on past the left of the trees can also be taken to reach Lochnagar, but tonight's route takes me sharp left, along the banks of Loch Muick. Again the road is signposted for Lochnagar.
Now that my eyes had adjusted from the full beam of my cars headlights to the darkness that shrouded everything, I was able to make good time without the use of a torch. The night sky was slightly overcast with a small but full moon drifting in and out of the breaking clouds. The still peaceful waters of Loch Muick acted as a giant mirror reflecting the moonlight giving good ambient light. Much to my surprise I was able to easily walk along the track avoiding the pot holes and rocks.
A torch was once required when I entered the small wooded area at the Glas–Alt-Shiel, the overhead branches of the Scots Pine blocking out the moonlight.
Carefully following the small path, and crossing the swelled burn at the bridge, I stopped for the first break of the walk.
Sitting in the silence of the night watching my breath as it hung in the cool air night air. The easy silence was suddenly broken by a sharp high pitched barking sound, a Stag was calling somewhere. My mind wandered to the story's of the Big Gray Man of Ben Macdhui, was their anything on Lochnager that would go bump in the night?
Time to move on, heaving on my rucksack and checking the map, I found that I had made good time up untill this point, leaving the car park only 60 minutes prior. The sunrise was not due untill 4:20am, still over three hours to go. Now came the hard part.

The night climb of Lochnagar.
From the woods at the Glas-Alt-Shiel, the path heads straight upto the summit of Lochnagar, the track for the most is easily followed and well drained. Initially, just after the woods, the track steeply inclines as it follows the burn, the waters rapidly tumble down the rocks.
Again the torch was not required as the sky was now clear, promising a good sunrise.
Climbing up past the waterfall and across the wooden bridge now following the right side of the burn. The path becomes flatter for the next 1km while it leads into the long dip between the White Mounth to the left, and the smaller peaks of Little Pap and Cuidhe Crom to the right. Directly in front lies the bulk of Lochnagar.
After about 1km the path starts to rise again for a steep section before once again leveling off. This is a temporally relief as again the path rise suddenly in a zig zag manner for a short distance. In the distance the dark outline of the Lochnagar plateau was beggining to show.

Here the path can be easily lost in the mist (trust me on this), so take care you really do not want to be walking of the Lochnagar cliffs.
There is a number of small way marking cairns scattered around the summit, in no coherent way.
In good clear weather this is not a problem but in limited visibility its best to get the compass out and take a bearing to the Lochnagar summit cairn.

Having reached the summit top at 3:10am, taking a few pictures, I settled down in my bivy to await the sunrise.
I knew I would proberly snooze as I still had over an hours wait to the the sunrise, so I set the alarm on my phone for 4:15.

The Lochnagar Sunrise, June 2009
Waking to the sounds of my alarm, I wearily open my eyes, and emerge from the cocoon that was my sleeping bag, expecting to bask in the first rays of sunshine from the summer solstice on the summit of Lochnagar, eagerly awaiting the great glory of the Lochnagar Sunrise June 2009 to meet me.

But no! In the 50 minutes that I had slept for the weather had went from clear sky’s and good visibility to pea soup!, I was greeted with a wall of grey mist. A sharp contrast to the clear night sky almost an hour before.
Not to be downhearted I opened a tin of beans and sausages and eagerly cooked them on the primus stove. I must say that it was a good sense of well being, sitting next to the summit cairn of Lochnagar gray damp mist slowly runing and tumbling around me and the small of baked beans at 4:30 in the morning.
Hoping that the mist would soon lift, I sat in eerie silence eating my breakfast, he grey mist enshrouded everything, blocking out any chance of watching the morning sunrise. The time of the sunrise has now past but in a last attempt to see something of the show, I decided to loose some height in the hope that I might be able to get under the mist. I headed down aiming to reach the lower top of Cudhie Crom.
The going was harder and progress slower, no longer following any path and just relying on compass work, as I neared the lower peak, the mist was not lifting, it was becoming rapidly apparent that all I was going to see would be gray.
Taking stock of the situation I decided the best thing to do would be to get back to the main track, abandoning my plan to reach little pap. Taking a bearing to the main track and aiming off, I rapidly lost more height; gradually the grey gloom gave way to ever increasing rain. I reached the path and retraced my footsteps back to the car park.

All in all it was a good nights walk, the best part was the bivying down for the night on the summit of Lochnagar. I was disappointed not to have seen the sunrise but, that is typical skittish weather. Total time walking was around 5:30 hours, with over 90 minutes spent on the top.