Ben Newe
Ben Newe, Aberdeenshire. Section 21A.
Height – 565 metres. Map – OS Landranger 37.
Climbed - 6 February 2011. Time taken – 2 hours.
Distance – 5.5 kilometres. Ascent – 365 metres.
Trip Report Details:
I parked in the car park at Buchaam, just off the A944, south of Mains of Glenbuchat, and followed the ‘yellow route’ through the trees. There were several marker posts to assist in route finding and the track eventually emerged from the trees on the north side of the forest. A couple of roe deer were spotted crossing the track.
The summit of Ben Newe was now in view above the end of the track which had a light covering of frozen snow. The ‘yellow route’ soon re-entered the forest and as the path through the fir trees was snow free I followed it, which turned out to be a mistake. Beyond the fir trees there was no obvious route to Ben Newe so I left the ‘yellow trail’ and followed a track through an area of cut timber.
This route was still taking me away from the summit so I left the track and climbed through the well spaced trees where there was some fallen timber. I eventually came to a ‘blue route’ which took me between some fir trees, onto the heather hillside. The path continued to the summit cairn and trig point where I found some shelter for a coffee break looking down on Glenbuchat and across the Ladder Hills to the top of the snow covered cliffs of Beinn a’Bhuird.
On my descent I planned to follow the fence east to join the track on the north side of the forest. This involved walking through the heather but I soon came to an area of hard packed snow. I attempted to avoid it by heading north but eventually fitted my microspikes, although not a fan of them on gradients, crossed the snow and cut back to the track. I rejoined the route used earlier in the day and followed it back to the start.
Photos taken on walk.