SUPERMOON & WINTER WEATHER RETURNING

Atmospheric cloud over The Cairngorms

Very little remaining show on The Cairngorms

Red Squirrel feeding up for winter

Last nights Supermoon

Sunny skies on Meall a' Bhuachaille

Unfortunately all our wonderful snow and cold conditions were wiped out at the beginning of the week. A dramatic rise in temperatures over in the NE wiped out much of the snow that had built up in The Cairngorms. All is not lost as another spell of quite cold weather is forecast to return tomorrow and through the weekend. It was a tad chilly and strong winds up on Meall a' Bhuachaille this morning. The skies were quite wonderful with cloud being swept over the Cairngorm plateau. One minute it was shrouded in thick cloud, next there was sun shining over it's remaining patches of snow. Clear skies over Aviemore last night and a good view of the Supermoon. It certainly was bright but I couldn't notice it was any bigger than usual! The Red Squirrels down at Glenmore were nibbling away at their nuts, fattening up for the winter. Shame to hear our squirrels have yet another threat to their existence, a strain of Medieval Leprosy.

A RAPID SNOW MELT

South Cluanie Ridge and Loch Cluanie

The final top

Sail Chaorainns Northern corrie still holding snow

Late afternoon ridge walking

The team on the summit of Carn Ghluasaid

Sail Chaorainn

Looking down Glen Shiel

The Munro summit of Carn Ghluasaid

Autumn colours

Showers passing around all day

Carn Ghluasaid

The temperatures soared through the night, coupled with heavy which rain left the Glen Shiel hills robbed of snow this morning. The snowline yesterday was around 600m, today it had virtually depleted all the summits. Just the Northern and Eastern corries holding some snow and the odd patch on high plateau. Looking on the bright side, the winds had eased right back and the tops were clear by late morning. We had just the odd light shower through the day and even glimpsed the odd bit of sun. The temperature did drop slowly by the afternoon and any showers high up were falling as snow. We had a lovely day up on a couple of Munros on the north side of Glen Shiel. Carn Gluasaid and Sail Chaorainn are easy Munro summits to attain with a good stalkers path running up to the first mountain. Easy, undulating slopes then march across the high ridge line with only small ups and downs along the way. We were only looking across to these hills less than 24 hours earlier and they were completely plastered in snow, now just bare. A great couple of days in this wonderful area with so many Munros to choose from and some of the finest ridge walking in the Highlands. Wet and warm next  day or so before it cools down once again and more snow forecast by the end of the week.

KINTAIL

The temperatures had gone up a notch today. Over in the west there was a dump of snow on Wednesday. We headed over to Kintail and the Glen Shiel area. This is a fantastic spot if you love Munros, narrow ridges and wonderful views. With 21 Munros to chosen from accessed from Glen Shiel you're spoilt for choice. The forecast for today was increasing wind speedy as the day progressed. So we settled for a short outings up to the Munro summit of Druim Shionnach which lies on the South Cluanie Ridge. I guess this very long ridge line is fanous as you can 'bag' 7 Munros in one day if so included. Maybe on a nice summers day but in November and 50mph winds with a heavy, wet snowpack then maybe just one or two tops is enough.  We had good views most of the day, the cloudbase above most summits. At the top we contemplated another Munro but decided a struggle in the winds and with only 3 hours of daylight left then it was time to turned tail. A wise choice as on the way down the gusts got more several and had us stumbling about in the slippy, we snow. A good freeze would be marvelous to form up the snowpack but the freezing levels will be above the tops again tomorrow. A good day out on the hill and a bar at the Cluanie Inn, what's not to like?

A GLORIOUS MORNING AND DEEP SNOW

Fiacaill Buttress

Beautiful sunrise

Pinnacles

Lots of rime ice

Coire an t-Sneachda

Rime ice and deep snow

Easier over the Pinnacles!

Meall a' Bhuachaille looking good

Weather front from the west

Sneachda sunrise

Fiacaill engulfed in wind and cloud by afternoon

First light on Meall a' Bhuachaille

More rime

Weathers coming in

After 3 days of low cloud and stormy weather the Cairngorms revealed themselves this morning. The west coast mountains have seen nowhere as much snow as over here. With an approaching weather front forecasted by the afternoon it was an early morning start. A glorious sunrise, red sky in morning........... Hard work in the untrodden snow but the views just wonderful. A pretty cold morning, well below freezing so no consolidation of the snow pack for a while yet. Lots of rime ice on the Fiacaill Ridge which was looking just brilliant. The traverse on the western side of the pinnacles was hard work, probably the deepest, softest snow I have experienced along here for some time. A great work out and worth all the effort. It was fascinating watching the approaching weather front moving over the Cairngorms from the west as the day progressed. By afternoon the winds had also picked up with drifting snow. It has been northerly winds over the weekend and yesterday but the winds today were from the SW, it didn't feel any warmer though. Some big accumulations on the plateau with a lot of bouldery terrain now buried.  A great morning to be out. It felt and looked like the end of January today. What a brilliant start to the winter season.

FIRST WINTER SKILLS COURSE THIS SEASON

Deep snow, hard work

Our camp spot at Coire an Lochain

A taste of a Cairngorm blizzard

We can even manage some crevasse scenarios!

Trudy enjoying her first winter camping in The Cairngorms

A few more cm's overnight

Stewart enjoying the poor visibility

Traversing steep ground

Still smiling

Deep snow at low levels

Rope work for glacial travel

Glad to be out of the storm

Trudy and Stewart were out with me this weekend for two days of winter skills in preparation for our Patagonian Icecap Expedition coming up shortly. The weekend winter coditions in The Cairngorms were timed to perfection, my first winter course this season. It has been cold and snowy to low levels since Friday. Over the two days we have enjoyed constant snow showers day and night.  Patagonia is notorious for strong winds and poor weather, we had this in abundance. Perfect conditions to simulate our expedition on the icecap were we aim to climb the third highest summit in Patagonia, spending two weeks on the Southern Patagonian Icecap. Once again the Scottish Mountains comes up with the goods. We headed into Coire an Lochain on Saturday morning, setting up camp at the lochans. In the afternoon we had a couple of hours running through some basic snow skills. The visibility was very poor and the winds were strong and  from a cold northerly aspect. It snowed on and off through the night with a few more cm's of the white stuff by morning. We gained the plateau again and got a good pummelling, the first exfoliation this season. Our outing today was to simulate glacial travel, we roped up and imagined we were below Fitzroy as we made our way across the plateau in a near white out. Snow was mid shin deep even at lower levels and I still needed map and compass to get back to the traverse path under the Northern Corries. Thanks to Trudy and Stewart for a top winter weekend of winter fun and see you in sunny Patagonia!

WINTER HAS ARRIVED, SNOWING IN THE CAIRNGORMS

Ice and snow on the Fiacaill Ridge

Snowing steadily around late morning

Plenty of rime ice

First of many Fiacaill Ridge traverses this season!

First rimed up Gary this season

The ptarmigan don't want to waste energy in these conditions

Fingers Ridge

Frozen turf and rime

For me the winter season really starts in November. We have seen a couple of  short snowy days in October but it is usually too mild for it to hang around. Now we are into November and the last few days it has been much cooler and the weekend looks very cold with winds swinging around to a northerly direction which of course means COLD! Today I had a great we blast along the Fiacaill Coire an t-sneachda (Fiacaill Ridge). The snow line was at around 1000m this morning. The clear skies early on were soon replaced with a layer of low cloud and by late morning the snow started falling at a steady rate. The ridge had some nice rime ice, frozen turf and a few cm's of snow. Not much in the way of views but just great to be out in it. The first of many Fiacaill ridge traverses for me this winter season, always a great day out and good skills training for my groups. It was poor visibility on the plateau and deserted, I saw no one all day. By the time I got back to the Cairngorm Mountain car park it was snowing steadily at that level and lower. This is only a taster, forecast is for constant snow right through the coming weekend. Great news as I am running a preparation weekend for our up coming Patagonian Icecap Expedition which I am guiding on with Richard from Spanish Highs. Not long till we set off on that. In the meanwhile I think the Highlands is going to be wintry for a few days still. A great start to the winter season. My Winter Courses weekends are filling fast folks! It's going to be a good winter (I hope).