A visit to a favourite place: Coire an Lochain in the Cairngorms

Coire an Lochain, the easternmost of the Northern Corries, is one of my favourite places in the Cairngorms. Although not far from Coire Cas and the Cairngorm Mountain ski resort it feels remote. The paths into the corrie are rough and stony - it's not that easy a place to reach. The flat floor of the corrie, much of it filled with Loch Coire an Lochain, comes on you suddenly. The great cliffs that tower far above the lochan are distinctive and can be seen from afar - they're visible from Aviemore. But only when the loch starts to appear does the full magnificence of the scene burst into view.

In winter this is a wild place, often swirling with snow that hides the cliffs. The frozen lochan is invisible. Avalanches crash down the gullies and rock slabs. It can feel ferocious and terrifying. Come spring and the snow begins to melt, colour comes back to the land, the loch thaws and there's a feel of softness amongst the harsh rocks. That's when I think the corrie is at its finest.

I went up there late this April to see how the spring was progressing. Snow lingers here and distant views showed the steep headwall below the cliffs still mostly white. What would the loch be like? As the snow melts ice floes float around on the water, sometimes into May and June. Cold weather in recent days with a touch of new snow on the summits would have slowed the recent rapid snowmelt though as I approached I saw that the stream pouring out of the corrie was full and white and fierce. Then I came over the outer lip of the corrie to see a pool of water clear of snow and ice. This small lochan is shallow and dries up completely in hot summers. Today it led the eye to the snow and the cliffs reflected in the shimmering water.

Soon the bigger loch appeared. A few small ice floes remained, a few snow banks still ran into the water from the slopes above. And there was a skim of soft ice over part of the surface. The loch was freezing again. At one end broken sheets of snow and ice were up on the grass, driven there by the wind.

Mountain hare tracks laced the snow on the soft marshy ground at the edge of the loch. I wasn't going to rely on it holding my weight and stopped my circuit of the water here. On the far shore snow slopes running down from the cliffs were cracking and breaking into the water. They'd have stopped me anyway.

I sat on a rock and stared into the clear water, the boulders under the surface sharp and colourful, and across to the snowfields and the dark cliffs. I felt relaxed, at peace, calm. After a while, reluctantly, I turned to go, and wandered slowly out of this mountain haven, looking back frequently until all I could see were the cliffs rising into the sky. I'll be back.

Mist & buttercups & a ptarmigan's nest in Coire an Lochain

Coire an Lochain with buttercups

Having turned back from a walk to Coire an Lochain last week due to a possibility of thunderstorms (see post for June 9) I set off again and this time made into the corrie but almost didn't see anything due to the mist. The forecast had suggested it might lift later in the day so I'd set off mid-afternoon watching the clouds rolling off the Cairngorm Plateau. The cliffs of the corrie came and went, almost appearing out of the mist but then soon fading away again.

Coire an Lochain

As I wandered into the corrie I noticed a broken eggshell on the ground. I spotted another and then a depression lined with dry grass plus a scattering of white downy feathers. A ptarmigan's nest. I couldn't tell whether the eggs had been taken by a predator or had hatched. I didn't see any chicks but they were likely to be hiding amongst the stones. I did hear ptarmigan and saw one perched on a rock.

The corrie itself was both sombre and bright. The grey crags faded upwards into grey mist. The waters of the two lochans were steel-grey and cold. But the fresh grass was green as was the moss on the boulders and brilliant yellow buttercups shone in damper spots. And the big snow patches glistened in the damp air. The corrie was noisy with the sound of rushing water, the sound of thin waterfalls crashing down the rocks from melting snowfields. Though not as extensive as in some years theree's still a fair bit of snow left despite the hot weather of the last few weeks.

The wind was cold and the air damp. Soon the mist started to drift downwards. I turned to leave. This was far enough for today. I had no desire to wander in the mist. Below the crags and on the shores of the lochans I noticed much debris - dead vegetation and bare soil thrown on top of rocks and grass. The aftermath of floods, snowmelt or avalanche? I couldn't tell. Maybe all three.

I turned back for one last look at the corrie only to find it had vanished into the mist. Crags, snow, lochans, buttercups, ptarmigan, all were gone.

Viewing the Snow in Coire an Lochain

Coire an Lochain

May has continued wet and windy and cold with hints of snow in the rain at low levels and scatterings of the real stuff on the tops. Much snow is left from the winter too. From Aviemore great snowfields can be seen on the walls of the Northern Corries of Cairn Gorm and the scalloped north face of Braeriach. For a close-up view of the snow I wandered into Coire an Lochain on a day of racing clouds, patches of blue sky and a damp chill in the air. 

Below the dark cliffs high on the corrie’s back wall a wide band of snow swept across the slopes to merge with a much more extensive snowfield on the steep eastern flank, a snowfield that ran right down into the cold grey waters of the lochan that lies in the heart of the corrie. The snow isn’t as deep as it was in early June last year (see this post) but it actually covers a larger area. A speckling of fresh snow lay on the western sun-exposed side of the corrie. Although only a few miles from the car park it felt, as always, remote and wild here, the snow giving it a touch of the arctic.

Floating ice

Wandering round the lochan I stared across its dark surface to plates of dirty snow floating in the water. Spattered with mud and earth these looked like the debris from avalanches. Many little slides were visible on the slopes above the lochan and there were bare patches where the snow had slid off.

Unstable slopes

 

Turning away from the snow and the lochan I pondered on whether to climb to the summit of Cairn Lochan. The weather decided for me. I had barely reached the corrie rim when I felt the first spots of rain on my head. I looked back. The clouds were descending over the crags. The rain became heavier. I headed for the car.

The clouds come down