My usual 'End of Winter' review in words and images normally comes out about mid April. This 2020/2021 season we've enjoyed an extended, bumper Winter, one of the best for a decade. Even up to last weekend I was guiding in full Winter conditions, very unusual for the 23rd May!
The snow is still lying deep high up in the Cairngorms but from Wedenesday onwards the summit temperatures are set to rise well above freezing, the first time for quite a while! June is almost upon us. I think, sadly, I should say goodbye to this Winter!
Here are my favourite moments in time, caught on camera on what was a memorable season.
We can and do get a day or two of wintry conditions in the month of October. Usually these are short lived and the temperatures soon rise and the white stuff melts away almost as soon as it has arrived. This can catch some folk out who are not equipped for the onset of colder weather, shorter daylight hours and having the skillset to deal with some early snow. We did indeed have a few light dustings of snow in October but it is November that 'proper' Winter truly arrives.
The Mountain Hares are changing to their Winter pelage. Perfect timing.
Looking good in the Cairngorms. Many days with sub zero temperatures, rime ice and a dusting of snow to 800m. Winter arrives. A couple of small blips.
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| Atmospheric conditions on the Cairngorm plateau |
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| November sunset on Loch Morlich |
Winter has always been my favourite season. It's not only the snow that I love, it is also the clear, cold air. A photographers dream. Clarity of light is everything.
DECEMBER
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| Early December, snow to Glenmore |
Looking promising.
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| Lairig Ghru |
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| Light fantastic |
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| Deep snow, no skiing |
The shortest daylight month. The light can be really magical though. Very low angled light can give fantastic images. We got the first snow down to Aviemore level by mid December. I had a fair few days of deep snow to trail break through. Generally one of the quieter months in the season. A brilliant time to get out and enjoy. A great time to refresh your Winter skills for the long season ahead.
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| Cairn Gorm weather station |
I'm not normally a fan of man made objects to photograph. The summit weather station and ski area on this late afternoon day in December was just too much to resist with the sun sinking quickly.
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| Snowy Pines, Monathliath |
Trees and snow are just wonderful to photograph. Little did we know there would be a lot more of this kind of scenery for some months to come.
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| Frosted and rimed Birch, Monadhliath |
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| The longest time to summit Cairn Gorm |
A day of breaking trail from Glenmore to Cairn Gorm summit. It took me the best part of 5 hours! The snow gates were closed all season. A day of thick cloud and deep snow. It ended up a beautiful late afternoon and I saw just 2 folk all day emerging out of the cloud.
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| Christmas Day, The Fara |
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| Snow sculptures and low temperatures |
December ended brilliantly. Deep snow cover across much of Strathspey and the mountains. My usual location to photograph the Mountain Hare was in a deep covering with drifts. Will it last? The usual New Year 'thaw' is normal. For now, we just enjoyed these scenes.
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| Sun sinking on the shortest day of the year, Monadhliath |
JANUARY
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| Beinn Alligin & Liathach from Sgor Ruadh |
Warm New Year? Not a chance. Consistently below freezing at all levels. A lot of snow, snowfalls day after day and top ups on the already deep snow pack. January is usually the stormiest month. There were many days of almost windless conditions up high. Very unusual.
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| These beauties need all the food they can get |
With yet more Covid restrictions about to kick in I decided on getting away while we could still travel freely. There was a spell of clear weather in the NW so I headed for an overnight camp on Sgor Ruadh to capture a Winter sunrise. I wasn't disappointed.
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| Sunset, Beinn Liath Mor, Glen Carron |
Thankfully the trail breaking into Sgor Ruadh wasn't too bad atslower elevations. Above 500m it was a different matter It was deep, untrodden snow. I settled for a lower camp than I wanted. Carrying Winter camping gear on top of photography equipment is a good old weight. I was up at 4am and walking through darkness the following morning to capture sunrise from Sgor Ruadh.
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| The Belt of Venus above Liathach, Torridon |
Fabulous sunrise with the Belt of Venus above Liathach, exactly the conditions I wanted to capture.
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| Pink snows on Beinn Alligin |
Back at home and the cold, snowy weather continued right through January.
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Loch Morlich freezes over
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With constant low temperatures many of the lochs and lochans in the Strathspey area were frozen over. Loch Morlich became a great place to walk, ski or even mountain bike across for weeks!
A good chunk of my Winter has been spent with the Mountain Hare A blanket of deep snow was just sublime backgrounds and clarity of light for photographing them. February turned out to be perfect wildlife photography conditions.
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| Mountain Hare in clear, cold, bright light and deep snow |
Trying to juggle or attempt Wildlife photography with landscape photography is difficult. On one particular day I achieved both of these! Quite rare as usually one or the other ends up dominating the day, or worse still you just don't get the desired results from either because you've not put the time in. On the 10th February I went home happy with Mountain Hare images and sunset images.
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| Sunset over Braeriach & Sgurr Gaothie |
I spent 5 wonderful hours with several fabulous hares in the morning/early afternoon. Then late afternoon/early evening it was a glorious sunset over the snow plastered high Cairngorms.
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| The Belt of Venus above the Monadhliath snowfields |
Loving this weather. Mid February and set to continue. Some welcome Melt/Freeze cycles on the high tops so this made for easier walking with firm, icy conditions. Time to head up high and further in the longer daylight hours.
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| Glen Einich enroute to Braeriach |
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| Deep snow still |
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| Deserted mountains and full snow cover on Cairn Gorm |
The Winter wonderland just kept on going in February and some beautiful sunshine. Don't get much better than this!
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| Powder snow at 500m |
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| Powder |
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| Alpine |
Come mid February and the first signs of 'less cold' and the first serious winds all season! It had to come I guess.
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| Sastrugi, A windy day at last! |
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| The ice at Loch Morlich starting to break up |
A chilly feel with the winds and some 'proper' Winter conditions. With cloud, wind and blizzards at times.
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| Winds and frozen snow |
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| The Reindeer are used to cold winds |
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| Rime Ice building nicely on Cairn Gorm |
Despite the milder temperatures the snow remains! Of course. There's just so much of it! For easier walking conditions we need a melt/freeze period.
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| Loch A'an |
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| Another Winter sunrise with temperature inversion |
MARCH
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| Loch Avon basin |
With the warmer temperatures at the end of February there had been a couple of big, natural avalanches in the Northern Corries. The one in Coire an Lochain was very big! The power of the snow slide and sheer volume of snow had actually pushed the ice out of the locan and left huge blocks of ice in the corrie floor.
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| Coire an Lochain |
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| From above |
March is a brilliant month. Longer daylight hours, usually the most amount of snow and (often) much kinder weather. Longer days gives more of a liesurley feel to big days out. Braeriach is one of those long approaches. Superb condtions as everything was frozen solid. Crampons all day on anything white. Oh yes and clear skies from dawn to dusk.
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| Loch Coire an Lochain, Braeriach |
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| Summit area, Braeriach |
Brilliant few days of hard snow and clear skies continuing in early March.
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| Clear and cold |
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| A frozen Cairngorm- Macdui plateau |
One species of our wonderful wildlife here in the Highlands is the Ptarmigan. Now in it's full Winter plumgae. Looking slplendid in the bright sunshine and snow,
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| Ptarmigan above Strathspey |
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| Male Ptarmigan in Winter plumage |
One image I did want to capture before Winter's end was down in the Loch A'an basin. Probably the finest spot in the entire Cairngorms. I have been here many times but I wanted the snow on top of the waterfall to have melted and the water running freely, I wanted Loch Avon to still be frozen over and, of course, decent weather. Don't want much do I? I managed it.
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| Loch A'an and 'the' waterfall |
A blip in the cold during mid March. A lot of snowmelt off the lower slopes. Up high though a different matter. So much snow to shift this lot!
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| No snow for the Mountain Hare lower down |
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| His cousin, the Brown hare enjoying the warmer weather low down |
Back to cold come the later end of March. There are folk who think march means Spring. Not in the mountains!
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| Full winter conditions on the plateau |
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| Not a rock in sight! |
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| Even at 1000m on Sgor Gaoithe |
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| Spring in the Strath, Winter up high |
APRIL
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| Coire an Lochain, 1st April |
April, Winter over? No. Not even in a 'normal' winter would I ever say it is now over. The high Cairngorms especially so. The plateau and corries still with huge amounts of snow. We even have lovely sunshine too!
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| Easter day |
Everyone knows there's more chance of snow falling on Easter Day than Christmas day - don't you? Fact. We even had sub zero temperatures down to low levels. Winter is in full swing!
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| Sunshine and Snow |
Bright sun, tonnes of snow. Warmer temperatures. Alpine like conditions. We love this.
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| The Glacier of Coire an Lochain |
A fine spell of weather everywhere in the Highlands. I met up with Richard and we had a brilliant day on Braeriach.
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| Alpine conditions on Braeriach |
The heat did have an impact over towards the NW. Richard and I had a great day on a wee hill in the Torridon area. No Winter ironmongeronrey required on this day.
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| Beinn Eighe, Torridon |
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| Liathach still holding ice |
A brilliant sunny spell of weather mid April. The lower hills now bare and 'Summer like'. The big hills in Torridon were looking has if their Winter was over. Fab camping weather up on the tops!
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| Warm on top, Sgurr Ruadh |
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| Sunset over Loch Torridon |
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| Sunrise |
I was down to a T shirt and slapping on the sunscreen in Torridon. Never mind Spring, it felt like Summer. Scotland gets a heatwave, well a mini one at least.
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| Sunshine, Summer? |
Was that it? Winter over? Well not quite. The Cairngorms had gone through a warmish spell, everyone thought 'Summer is here'
There were probably more winds in April than the whole of the Winter put together at this point. Oh yes, and more snow.
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| Liathach, minus snow |
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| Winter, Spring? |
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| Fresh snow, no |
The Cairngorms are so very different in so many ways from other areas of the Highlands. Weather and temperatures, or rather the climate are very different. There is a reason these hills are the snowiest, windiest and coldest in Winter than anywhere else. You certainly realised that today if travelling from the NW coast to back home in Aviemore.
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| After the wind |
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| Ptarmigan & rime ice in the sunshine |
A period of strong, cold winds. Cloud and further snowfalls. Brilliant. Proper Scottish weather and conditions to see April out.
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| Strong winds, snow and cold |
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| A proper Scottish Winter's day |
MAY
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| Rime ice, winds and deep snow, 6th May |
Now even I will admit that May is not Winter. Over the last decade Winter conditions have prevailed occasionally into the Merry Month of May. My 'record' for a Winter skills or guiding course in May was on the 12th. This year my record was smashed!
A cold snap with more snow falling at the beginning of May. This on top of the already extensive , deep snow areas in The Cairngorms.
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| Aonach Beag, 1st May |
With Covid restrictions throughout the entire Winter season I had no work because of travel restrictions implemented on the entire country ( meanwhile footballers and multi millionaires were swanning about the planet). So, ironically I got my first work and bookings. One of these was a 2 day Winter course for Matt. It was full on winter conditions with everything you could want. White out, deep snow, cold, high winds, ice for cramponing. Brilliant.
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| Coire Cas carpark, 4th May |
There was so much snow that the SAIS guys were back into action - with Avalanche reports out that following weekend.
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| 4th May, Coire an t-Sneachda |
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| Plenty of snow |
On 5th May I took a group out for a photography shoot. They werent expecting Winter conditions, but they got even better images than expected!
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| Lurchers Crag, 5th May |
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| Lurchers Crag, 5th May |
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| Lurchers Crag, 5th May |
No let up in the snow showers and more poor visibility. Matt put again for more essential skills.
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| Frozen snow |
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| Crampons essential! |
Back in the NW and slight rise in temperatures. Guiding again in Torridon was a very different picture. The snow there had melted rapidly in a matter of days. Virtually all snow vanished in the milder temperatures. Winter must surely be over for the NW Highlands?
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| The North side of Liathach, 11th May |
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| Baoshbhain from beinn Alligin, 10th May |
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| An Teallach, 13 May |
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| Slioch, 12th May |
Meanwhile..... back in The Cairngorms and a warmer period too. Still snow if you want it....
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| Snow fields above 950m in the Cairngorms |
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| oh, whatever |
End of May - Winter? You must be kidding? The calendar months don't mean anything in the mountains. Certainly not in the Cairngorms. I had a overnight backpacking trip with a group of 7 folk. They wouldn't have dreamt it was to be winter on the 22nd/23rd May. It was.
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| Braeriach, 22nd May |
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| Sgor an Lochain Uaine, 22nd May |
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| Cairngorm - Ben Macdui plateau, 23rd May |
So that was my Winter. A long one, nearly 6 months! The finest season over. Or is it? Looking across yesterday to the Cairngorm and Braeriach plateaux I could still see a lot of snow. Warmer temperatures all this week and into next week. Lets see what will remain.
Winter 2020/21 was a cracker, for sure. Only 5 months and we start all over again. See you there.
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