UKC

I was reading "Mountain Days & Bothy Nights" the other day, and spotted a mention of a small howff up in the corrie on Lochnagar. I haven't managed to find any other mention of it.

Does it still exist, or is it of historical interest only?

In reply to davidbeynon: Howff as in a small shieling or bothy? There isn't one in the corrie.

In reply to Lamb:
The Howff they talk about in the book is of the hole under rock variety rather than a bothy or old sheiling.

I've never bothered to go look for it tbh, always been more tempted by the luxurious comfort of gelder or queens bothies......

In reply to Lamb:


You seem very certain of this?! I came across a small howff which could sleep 2 at a squeeze in amongst the boulders above the loch, was a manky day and visibility was very poor so I might struggle to find it again but I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few more about.

Iain

In reply to davidbeynon:
The new book by Greg Strange "The Cairngorms 100 Years of Mountaineering" mentions a howff below the west ridge. It was the first i've heard of it. Have never looked for it, but might do sometime just for interest.

In reply to StuDoig:


Luxury? Pah!

The reason i'm interested I was vaguely considering trying to get an early start on Eagle Ridge but I really don't want to carry a tent unless I have to...

Gelder or Queens bothy would certainly be more comfortable, but I like the idea of staying fairly high.

In reply to davidbeynon:

There are more than a few piles of stone type things but nothing I would place in the howff category.


You wouldn't be the first to spend the night in the MRT box though.

S

In reply to davidbeynon:

B@B rates have gone up this year for the Hilton Corrie Lochnagar 1st aid box, so cheaper staying in a howff, the best one I know of is under a boulder, it is best viewed and approached from the West ridge (about a 1/4 of the way up.) There was even a gallon water container in it for use recently.

In reply to donald lochnagar:

Can you sure that container was for the sole purpose of carrying water Donald. Fowk get very reluctant to stray far from their bivy bag in winter!!

In reply to davidbeynon:

Do you need a howff? I'd have thought that in summer (assuming weather fair enough to climb ER), an open bivvy would be fine.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:
Aye, plenty of flat space around the 1st aid box, or down by the lochs. On a fine night I imagine it would feel pretty spectacular.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:

Staying out would be best, but it is always good to have a plan B in case the weather turns.

In reply to Slugain Howff:

Mmmm ! I thought the bru I made from it was a wee bit salty right enough.

In reply to davidbeynon:

To be honest, I've always felt that if I'm taking full overnight kit (cooking and sleeping stuff), the extra weight of my 2kg tent isnt that significant.

In reply to davidbeynon: If it's the case that there is one then I would be very interested in it's location myself? I am assuming it will be buried throughout winter however?

In reply to Lamb:

I did a bit more digging & found the following in the SMC Cairngorms district guide: "A bivouac at 252 864 under a boulder in the north-east corrie holds three people".

I'm not sure if it is the same one, but it should do the job.

In reply to davidbeynon:

I've stayed it it a few times over the years. It's (or at least was) comfier than the howff under Dividing Buttress on Beinn a' Bhuird. Approximately you go to the outflow of the corrie loch, then head uphill on the west side for maybe 100m. Might be slightly down from the outflow. Charlie and I stayed in it before doing the 5 Ridges, so we could start Eagle Ridge at near first light.

In reply to Andy Nisbet:
Interesting, as a relative local to Lochnagar, I've never sought this out, even though I knew of it. The Smith-Winram bivy/howff is pretty weather-proof, suggesting that the Lochnagar howff may be quite good.

How many cairngom howffs frequented in yester-year are being forgotten with the march of time?

The Dey-Smith howff is also weather tight (though I wouldn't go looking for it in winter), while the Dubh Loch one never appealed to me, I've spent a solo-winters night under rock beneath the Stuic (which was entertaining as a ptarmigan flew into the side of my head while walking in by head torch (......what the feck was that!), and Shelter Stone with it's surrounding second-best(s) are well known.

In Affleck Gray's 'The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui' there is mention of over 200 howffs. Andy, would you care to list a few?

They might provide interesting pre-winter 'stomps' in the autumn.

In reply to davidbeynon:

The thing with all these places is they get spoiled by tossers who piss and shit in them in bad weather, even when they can see someone has built walls on them to protect better from the weather.

If you find one, keep it to yourself. Even in the 60s there were shooting cabins we could use but they got wrecked so what are there now are usually locked apart from when shooting is happening. Like the damage to Bob Scotts bothy.

In reply to Andy Nisbet: Can you remember how much higher above the lochan it is?

In reply to Lamb: Also, do able in winter?

In reply to Lamb:

My memory is a bit vague. About 100m in length above a point some 50m downstream from the outlet of the corrie loch is the best I can do.

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

I don't know any more than the ones you've described. But I've stayed in all the described ones.