Some hills or glens I visit once and other places, like the vast Being a´Bhuird, seem to attract me back again and again. This is often not to do with the beauty of a place, although I do also love this hill for its size and magnificence, but more to do with the variety of activities and great days out that I have enjoyed on its vast slopes and plateau.
Beinn a´Bhuird is in the Mar Lodge Estate which has been classified as a national nature reserve since May 2017. The large Earldom of Mar estate was in the hands of the Erskine family for many centuries. Parts of the estate were sold in the 1700´s and in the 1730´s the western part of the estate was sold off and it became Mar Estate. In the 19th century Mar Lodge Estate became used mainly for sporting purposes, and in addition to the main house six hunting lodges were built. Derry Lodge, Geldie Lodge and Bynack Lodge were built at this time and are well known to hill walkers. There have been various owners of the estate in the 20th century. Swiss owners in the 1960´s built the track that runs almost to the top of Beinn a´Bhuird for a proposed skiing development. In 1995 the Estate was purchased by the National Trust for Scotland which has a stated aim of conserving the "wild land" quality of the Estate. In 1997 the Trust started the removal of the 1960´s high hill track on Beinn a´Bhuird. Currently the NTS are concentrating on peat restoration and restoration of the Estate´s Caledonian pinewood.
An avalanche in one of the southern carries on the hill in 1964 was one of the contributing factors in the establishment of the Braemar Mountain Rescue Team. Three people lost their lives but one man was found in the snow alive after being buried for over 22 hours. The lack of suitable gear and equipment for rescue led some to believe that a rescue organisation was necessary.
Beinn a Bhuird has sometimes been referred to as Scottland´s table mountain, and that is also the meaning of its name. At 1197m the hill is one of Scotland s highest. The hill is not that accessible, being a long walk in from Keiloch, a few miles east of Braemar, or from Linn of Quoich beyond the Linn of Dee car park.
The first time I went in to Beinn a´Bhuird was a long day, and climbing to the top of the hill was not the aim. It was the early `90s when myself, and two climbing friends, left Aberdeen at before 6am to drive to the Linn of Quoich. From there we walked up the east side of the beautiful Glen Quoich to the remote Garb Choire on the north east side of Beinn a´Bhuird. The aim was to climb Squareface, the dramatic V Diff rock climb described by Kevin Howett as, "The superlative of superlatives, continuously exposed and in remarkable condition." This climb is a Tom Patey classic and it was certainly a beautiful climb on large cubes of granite with amazing views into a dramatic and remote corrie. After the climb we walked out over the tops of Beinn a Bhuird and then descended into Glen Quoich, returning to our car via the path on the west side of Glen Quoich.
A year later I walked to the top of Beinn a´Bhuird using the more conventional route from Keiloch well before the car park was built. This spring walk was with family and friends. Despite the misty top we managed to bump into another pal on the top who had walked a long way with cross country skis before eventually finding decent conditions for a ski on the vast plateau.
In the 90´s myself and some hill-walking friends got into ski mountaineering and Beinn a´Bhuird became a destination for this activity despite its remoteness. The massive high plateau and its slopes and corries were good for holding snow. A favourite was the slope beside the usual ascent route on the east side of An Diollaid. As there was often no, or little, snow on the approach road we got adept at strapping our skis to our rucksack and cycling in by the Quoich. Using ski mountaineering boots to cycle can be interesting. We would leave our bikes at the wood where the track to the summit starts to climb west of the Alltan na Beinne burn. Sadly we seldom got to put our skis on here and had to walk some kilometres before being able to skin up the slopes and find good descent routes.
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