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| Snowshoes on and up we go |
I've had a few snowshoeing enquiries this season, a sign of their ever growing popularity. A few of my enquiries I was unable to guide on as my availability this winter has been so limited. The winter of 2021/2022 has probably been my busiest season ever! For snowshoeing in the Scottish mountains you ideally need the right conditions. You've to weigh up the possibility of snow that is the right consistency and is the snow cover on most of the mountain you intend to go up. If not then you may be carrying them on your pack for several hours. So booking just one day and so far in advance ( like Duncan and his pals did) you are chancing it somewhat to have a good snowshoe day out. Having said that, March usually offers the most reliable snow in the Cairngorms.
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| Snow shoes donned within 30 minutes |
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| Soon onto excellent snow |
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| Heading up to Creag an Leth Choin |
The weather forecast was suggesting far less winds than we've been experiencing lately. Another mild day but the temperatures had dropped with a freezing point of about 1000m. Dave and his 3 friends have been up in Aviemore for the whole of the week. Unfortunately this week the weather hasn't played ball. They had hoped to do some of the easier Munros in the area but wind and cloud had put them off. We set out in drizzly rain on Saturday morning. Within 30 minutes of leaving the Coire Cas carpark we were on snow and donned the snowshoes.
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| Cloud lifting in the early afternoon |
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| The lads on Cairn Lochan |
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| Great snow conditions |
We walked into Lurchers Gully and then took an excellent line up the Eastern slopes of Creag an Leth Choin. Excellent snow conditions for the snowshoes. The moist, deep snowpack has slowly been consolidating but if walking in just boots it is still soft enough that you're up to your ankles. Not with the snowshoes. We floated along nicely. It was raining in the morning but from 1000m this turned to snow. There was a fairly stiff wind and cloud at 900m. Not quite Alpine snowshoeing conditions.
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| Poor visibility in the morning |
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| Perfect conditions |
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| The sun making an appearance |
From the summit of Creag an Leth Choin we headed across to Cairn Lochan. I had my compass out a few times in the poor visibility. The snow underfoot was perfect though. We carried along to the Northern Corries route and by the time we reached Windy Col the sun was trying to break through but it was still breezy.
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