FULL WINTER CONDITIONS ON BEN MACDUI

The ladies on Macdui with lots of rime ice

Who needs Benidorm with beaches like this?

Loch Avon & Shelter Stone Crag after fresh snow

Beinn Mheadoin & Loch Avon

Rosa, Clare and Angharad were out with me today, looking for a nice hill walk in The Cairngorms. The weather forecast looked promising with sunny spells and virtually dry. The reality was it was almost constant snow showers from the word go. But the bonus was it became the first 'proper' winter day this season, very apt since yesterday was the last day of summer! We headed up to Ben Macdui and shortly after getting up to the plateau area we saw no one else for the rest of the day. The cloud was below 700m this morning, giving poor visibility but fantastic to be out in great winter conditions. A mix of fresh snow on old snow, rime ice, refrozen snow and neve. Pretty chilly and a high windchill on the summit with a stiff breeze. We then headed down to the beautiful Loch Etchacan were we managed a view. After lunch it was down again to Loch Avon, this route is one of the finest walks in the Cairngorms and much, much nicer than just across the plateau and back to 'bag' Macdui. Just as we thought the views had completely deserted us, the cloud lifted, the snow stopped snowing and we had blue skies! An hour of fab views from Loch Avon all the way high  up  Coire Raibert. Finished at dusk with a glimmer of a sunset and then a rising full moon. Welcome back to winter!