WINTER NAVIGATION DAY

Northern Corries from Cairn Gorm

The finest view in the Cairngorms 

Reasonable snow cover on the plateau 

Hell's Lum 

Macdui snow cover

Deep accumulations in places 

Macdui summit 

Late afternoon light

Lunch time 

Beautiful and cold on Cairn Gorm 

Another glorious cold, crisp and blue skies morning in the Cairngorms. Glen temperatures down to minus 7 C early morning. Up on the tops the mid day temperatures at minus 4 C. Absolutely no wind so brilliant conditions. Day 3 of Zuzana's winter course this week.  Today it was all navigation (and glorious views of course). As most of the day it was completely clear the compass never came out. Navigation is, of course,  80% map reading. We had a fab walk across the plateau taking in Cairn Gorm summit , Loch Avon viewpoints and Ben Macdui summit. Reasonable snow cover over towards Macdui. Quite hard going at times. Great mix of conditions. Macdui is a far nicer walk underfoot in winter . Most of the bouldery path is now well snow covered and the cairns almost buried. Good navigation skills required from now on. Top day again to be out in the hills.