BLUEBIRD WINTER DAY ON CAIRN GORM

A distant Ben Avon 

Fabulous winter skies

Climbers above Strath Nethy

The long, easy angled northern ridge of Cairn Gorm above Strath Nethy

Rime iced boulders

Afternoon light on Loch Morlich

Beinn Mheadhoin

Great snow cover

Meall a' Bhuachaille

Gullies not filled in yet

Bynack Mor beyond Strath Nethy

Ice forming on Loch Morlich

A glorious blue skies day and light winds in The Cairngorms. Minus 7 centigrade in Aviemore this morning. Around minus 5 centigrade on Cairn Gorm in the afternoon. Probably the finest walking route up to Cairn Gorm summit is via the long, easy angled Northern slopes from the Ciste car park. A fine route up with no clutter and skiing paraphernalia in close proximity. It's very much quieter too if you are trying to avoid weekend crowds. Snow at all levels, higher up above 1000m there is some fabulous refrozen old snow which is a joy to walk on. Visibility superb in the cold air. The mountains to the NW very clear. Staying cold for some days to come.

WINTER RETURNS, IN THE EAST

Fiacaill Coire Sneachda 

Fresh snow on top of refrozen

 No one on the ridge today

Top of Jacob's Ladder

Plenty of time ice

Visibility on the plateau 

This looks hard!

Getting winter like again

Refrozen old snow on the ledges

Temperature at 900m

Frosted trees at low levels

Temperatures took a big drop yesterday and some light snowfalls. The Cairngorms and East Highlands getting the snow with the west in blue skies and hardly any white stuff. What to choose. Blue skies, nice summer like photography or mist shrouded Cairngorms and winter conditions? Mmm let me think.
After a few days of warm, dull, muggy and drizzly weather in Aviemore,  it was nice to see winter return. Much of the old snow had of course melted away but what was left after the warm period was well frozen and excellent cramponing. There was a few cm's of fresh snow on top of the old snow pack. Up on the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda ridge it was excellent and surprisingly well snow covered still. There is a sizable drift on the west of the Crest if you are avoiding the middle crux section. Quite well banked out and no one had been along it. Glad I brought my sharp crampons as it was pretty solid. Fabulous. Poor visibility at all levels with the cloud down to round 750m most of the day. Hardly any breeze on the tops so very pleasant.
Winter continues. Staying below freezing on the tops next few days and looking like a nice sunny day tomorrow. Enjoy!

FIRST WINTER COURSE THIS SEASON

First taste of winter

Plenty if snow

Navigation time

A good freeze would be fantastic 

Happy folk

Tarmachan Mountaineering's winter guiding season kicked off today. Emma and Adam out with me on their first taste of winter hillwalking. The temperatures have gone up the last couple of days and the snow pack is moist at all levels. Still loads of deep snow making progress slow and laborious. The temperatures on the plateau were just hovering around freezing point this afternoon. A dry and good visability morning deteriorated into a wet, sweaty and low cloud afternoon. All good proper Scottish winter conditions.  Good kit choice and navigation skills a must in these conditions. We found plenty of snow to learn some basic axe movement. In the afternoon we squeezed in some essential navigation skills. A great start to th winter season.

FIACAILL IN FINE FETTLE

Fiacaill Coire Sneachda

Brilliant firm snow on the ridge

Lovely rimed rocks

Coire an t-Sneachda

Profile

Ghostly sun all day

Quiet

Fiacaill Buttress shaping up nicely

Great snow steps now

The fine conditions and weather continues today. No blue skies this morning but some subdued light in The Cairngorms. After a very cold night in the glen it was actually slightly warmer up high. Only a minus 2 or 3 C today. There was a stiff breeze which was creating some light drifting up high and more of a windchill. A ghostly sun shone above the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda. It was very quiet with just two other folk on it when I arrived. The rocky ridge is well snowed up and some fabulous firm snow on the steps and ledges making for some very enjoyable axe and cramponing along this fine ridge. Lots of ski tourers out on the plateau again.
Some slightly milder conditions into the weekend but still freezing on the tops. The warmer conditions will be excellent o consolidate the snow pack, we may get some nice firm snow by the weekend. Just in time for my first winter course of the season on Saturday.

BEN MACDUI, SNOWSHOE HEAVEN

Cairn Toul - Braeriach plateau from Ben Macdui

Another glorious day in The Cairngorms, well The Highlands in general. A ridge of high pressure bringing clear skies and low temperatures through much of Scotland. Summit temperatures minus a lot centigrade but with only a slight breeze. Nothing much has changed in the snow pack, nothing consolidated. A day for the snowshoes or skis if going off any well trodden routes. Otherwise it's hard work.

Great conditions for snowshoes

I headed over to Ben Macdui early doors. Saw no one all the way up. There was some nagging cloud just sitting on the higher slopes but this dispersed just has I reached the finest viewpoint (it's not the summit cairn). You get one of the most amazing viewpoints of the Braeriach - Cairn Toul plateau across the Lairig Ghru from a short distance away from the second highest point in the UK. Looking across the clouds were drifting and swirling, very atmospheric. What a sight. After an hour of photography I ventured over to the next best view point in The Cairngorms, the Loch A'an basin.

Rime encrusted summit

Braeriach

Snowshoeing over to the Feithe Buidhe area was probably the finest section of the day for the snowshoes, just superb. There are virtually no rocks poking through the snow pack around the rim of the Loch A'an basin. Pretty amazing for mid November! I have to keep reminding myself that it's only the start of winter. It was a tad 'warmer' at this altitude. Beautiful views down Loch A'an.

Cairn Gorm and Loch A'an

Not much water in the Feithe Buidhe waterfall now

The crossing of the burn is easy, hardly any water and a deep snow pack. The loch itself is still ice free at the moment. Time to sit and enjoy the views until heading back over the plateau via Cairn Lochan.

Top of Hell's Lum

Looking south across the plateau

Last views from the tops before heading back. Another brilliant day in the snow and so pleased to have decided to bring the snowshoes. There's not that many days where the conditions are favourable. Today was one of those days. Brilliant.

Coire an Lochain

Cairn Lochan and Cairn Gorm

Delicate feathering

Surface hoar and a distant Cairn Gorm

BUMPER SNOW FEST

Mountain Hare in their white pelage

Just catching up on the last few days. It's been a great weekend with the hills in superb winter conditions. The Cairngorms hs huge amounts of snow compared to the leaner coatings out in the Western hills. Quite hard going in The Cairngorms if you're venturing to the less visited areas. Snowshoes and skis are the most efficient forms of travel just now.

FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER

I took a wander up into Coire an Lochain. Setting off late morning for the visibility to improve. There was a well trodden track up to around 800m  into the coire, after this altitude there was just a few deep footprints, presumably climbers heading directly to the crag. I had to get the compass out for the final 15 minutes to my usual spot for photographing the Mountain Hare.

Late afternoon sun on the crags in Lochain

3 folk and a pulk heading down

I spent around an hour for the cloud to lift and to take some images of the hare. You have to find him first! The footprints are distinctive, especially in untouched, deep snow. He was so relaxed and a real poser!

In his snow hole

Now for some posing

Check out those feet

Profile shot

This time of year the hares (just like all the wildlife in winter on the hills) are trying to conserve their energy so are quite reluctant to move anywhere. So good time to photograph these most beautiful of creatures. This guy I have been observing and photographing for over 12 months now. Such a pleasure.

poised

Beautiful markings

Alone in a world of white

Time to leave my friend and head back. The skies had cleared by late afternoon, what a contrast to the walk in. A beautiful end to the day, cloud lifting off the tops and the Northern Corries looking stunning.

Fiacaill Coire Sneachda in last light

The Vent area in Coire an Lochain

Not many rocks poking through the snow

Beautiful late afternoon light

Hard work in deep snow unless someone has been there!

SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER

On Saturday Karen and I headed west and another Munro I haven't been up for quite a number of years, Creag Pitridh. This isn't the highest of Munros, just scrapping in at 924m. It's a long walk in from the west end of Loch Laggan but the good tracks make this easy, a bike even faster. The day started off with low cloud so we had another leisurely 11am start. Timed to perfection, the cloud thinned as we started up the easy angled terrain from the bottom of Loch an Earba.

High on Creag Pitridh

Above the cloud on Creag Pitridh

Monadh Liath high above the clouds

Another Munro

Fabulous cloud layers

Layers and layers

Some amazing layers of cloud. We had the mountain to ourselves. Saw no one all day on the hill. It was relatively warm compared to other days recently. Still below freezing on the top. It was definitely a day for cloud spotting with some amazing views in every direction. The snowline here in the west is around 600m and it's relatively a thin snow cover compared to The Cairngorms. It's still winter though!

SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER

And for a complete contrast, today it was The White Room on Cairn Gorm. Very low cloud from about 700m upwards. Definitely no chance of breaking into clear air today! It was white out conditions on the Cairngorm plateau, no rocks about. The summit weather station and poles leading down to the ptarmigan café the only navigational landmarks. There was more light snowfall in the afternoon. Deep snow of course but plenty of skiers and walkers had been up and down Windy Ridge.

A very white Cairn Gorm

The route up

The poles up from the Ptarmigan café, half buried

World of rime

A sole ptarmigan at low level 

The Cairn Gorm rime monster is growing