At One with the Mountains - An interview with Nick Gardner
Issue 6: Nick Gardner and his wife Janet were living an idyllic life on a croft…
Glenshee, Lochnagar and Glen Clova
Carn Bhac
A Munro of 945 metres, number 224 of the 282.
Photograph by Nick Bramhall (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The hill
Carn Bhac stands at the head of Glen Ey in Aberdeenshire, in the hills between the Linn of Dee and Glenshee.
Its nearest Munro neighbours are Beinn Iutharn Mhor, about four kilometres to the south, and An Socach, a little further off to the south-east.
The glen below has a past. Altanour Lodge stood at its head and Auchelie lower down, both of them homes before they were bothies, and Auchelie lost its roof in the early 1960s. The village of Inverey takes its name from the same river: the mouth of the Ey.
The summit is a small cairn, thirty metres south of a large shelter cairn.
- Before you go
- Read the route before you choose where to start.
- The ground
- The Cairngorms National Park Authority gives October for stags, and January and early February for hinds, as the two key stalking periods: check before you go and follow any signs.
- Summit
- Grid reference NO 051 832, at a small cairn 30 metres south of a large shelter cairn
On the hill today
0° to 5°Drizzle on the summit, 945 m. Feels like −4° in the wind.
West wind to 13 mph, gusting 26
Dry, or nearly
Light from 7.48am to 6.10pm, ten hours
Sat 17Drizzle−2° to 4° on top · 9 mph, gusts 22
Sun 18Clear−4° to 5° on top · 8 mph, gusts 15
Mon 19Drizzle−6° to 6° on top · 9 mph, gusts 18
A weather model's forecast for the height of the summit, not a report from the hill. Read the mountain forecast the evening before: Cairngorms National Park and Monadhliath forecast, Southeastern Highlands forecast, Carn Bhac, Southern Cairngorms avalanche forecast, Northern Cairngorms avalanche forecast.
October2026
MTWTFSS
Going another day?
Choose the day you mean to climb.Near or far: the light you will have, and what the summit is likely to be doing.
Photographs by Nick Bramhall (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Before you go
Carry
- A paper map and a compass, and the skill to use them
- Waterproofs, warm layers, hat and gloves
- Food and drink
- A head torch, a whistle and a first aid kit
- A survival bag
- Boots with a good grip
Under snow and ice this is a different day, with short light and the risk of avalanche. It needs an ice axe, crampons, winter boots and the skill to use them.
If something goes wrong
- Dial 999, ask for the police, then mountain rescue
- Give a six-figure grid reference: the summit is NO 051 832
- Say how many are hurt, how many are with you, and your number
- Register to text 999 before the day: text the word register to 999
The summit is optional. Turning back is the right decision whenever the cloud, the wind or the light say so.
How to call for help in the hills · Safety and skills for the hills · ThinkWINTER
From our readers
Nobody has written from Carn Bhac yet. If you were up, yours would be the first.
Tell the next person
Were you up? Three words is enough.A free account, a word for the weather and a line if you like.
Read more elsewhere
For the route itself, take the map and read these.
- Carn Bhac on WalkhighlandsA full route description with a mapwalkhighlands.co.ukThe route↗
- Deer stalking in the national parkThe Cairngorms National Park Authority on the stalking months and what it asks of walkerscairngorms.co.ukStalking↗
- River crossingsMountaineering Scotland on burns and rivers in spate, and on bridges that are on the map but not on the groundmountaineering.scotRivers↗
- ThinkWINTERMountaineering Scotland on what low cloud and falling snow ask of a walker's navigationmountaineering.scotWinter↗
- Cairngorms National Park and Monadhliath forecastThe Mountain Weather Information Service's forecast for the Cairngorms National Park, written by forecasters three days ahead. Read it with the Southeastern Highlands one, which names the summits near the Glenshee ski centremwis.org.ukMountain weather↗
- Southeastern Highlands forecastThe same service's neighbouring area. Read it with the Cairngorms onemwis.org.ukMountain weather↗
- Carn BhacThe Met Office's forecast for the summit itself: a model for one point, not a report from the hillweather.metoffice.gov.ukSummit forecast↗
- Southern Cairngorms avalanche forecastThe Scottish Avalanche Information Service's Southern Cairngorms forecast, one of the two areas near this hill: read it with the Northern Cairngorms. Full winter forecasts begin on 17 December 2026sais.gov.ukAvalanche↗
- Northern Cairngorms avalanche forecastThe Northern Cairngorms forecast, the other area near the hill. Before 17 December there is no forecast, but snow still brings the risksais.gov.ukAvalanche↗
- Alerts in the Cairngorms National ParkThe National Park Authority's alerts and closures for the whole parkcairngorms.co.ukNotices↗
Next along: Beinn Iutharn Mhor, An Socach, Carn an Righ, Glas Tulaichean. Checked on 10 October 2026. The stalking months are the Cairngorms National Park Authority's, and the advice on rivers and winter Mountaineering Scotland's; the forecasts are the Mountain Weather Information Service's, the Met Office's and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service's. Height and position from The Database of British and Irish Hills, v18.3, adapted, CC BY 4.0. This page is not a route description and does not replace a map.