BRAEMAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL

The team in the sun

Coire Kander 

Plenty of snow today 

Heading up to Carn an Tuirc 

Pros & Cons of GPS

Nice light in the afternoon 

Cloud and cold on top

Reflecting 

Lots of our Mountain Hare friends 

I'm proud to be involved in this years Braemar Mountain Festival. It's only the third time this long weekend event has taken place. In 2017 there wasn't great snow conditions. 2018 there was the 'Beast from the East' and TOO MUCH snow that the roads into Braemar were closed part of the weekend and some folk couldn't get here. This year there is a distinct lack of snow! Despite the conditions and weather this brilliant mountain event OS always a great success.  Plenty going on throughout the three days. Lots of varied mountain events, talks, culture,  workshops, music and walking workshops of which I am leading for three days. Today I had a group of 5 lovely folk, all local from Ballater and Aberdeen. It was billed as a introductory winter guided walk. Because the hills have hardly any snow it turned into a summer hillwalking day. Everyone was keen to learn some navigation so it ended up being a full on mountain navigation course with two Munros in the bag. The mountains of Carn an Tuirc and Carn na Claise have some featureless terrain and ideal for map and compass skills.
A great day out, light winds and the temperatures on the tops were much lower than of late, nearing freezing point.