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| Winter courses, winter conditions |
A busy period of guiding work on the run up to Christmas for me. My two day winter skills courses are by far the most popular, weekends in particular are booked up already. This season busier than ever after all the travel restrictions imposed upon most folk in the previous winter. Snow shoeing days seem popular this season for some reason. Within the last couple of weeks I've 6 snowshoeing days booked and in the diary. These are fun ways of going into the hills when we get good, widespread snow conditions like we've been experiencing lately.
Here's a catch up from the last few days in the hills and guiding.
THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER
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| Lairig Ghru |
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| Sunset |
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| Winter trees |
A colder day with freezing levels dropping once again. Windy up high and what looked like a beautiful day to be out. The tops of the Cairngorms clearing during the middle part of the day. I only had opportunity for a short low level stroll with the camera.
FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER
Wildlife photography can be very challenging in winter. Cold, strong winds and poor visibility make the task particularly harder. It looked a promising day up high for photographing the Ptarmigan.
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| Snow is beautiful |
Yesterday's windy conditions which scoured the snowpack made walking above 800m much easier. There had been some consolidation too. I walked on the wind scoured slopes to make progress far more enjoyable and faster.
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| Hard snow |
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| Excellent snow cover from 700m up |
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| Coire Cas and Northern Corries |
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| Windslab |
There was still some breakable crust up to 800m or so. Above this it was fabulous walking on hard, refrozen and scoured areas. In fact the best walking so far this season. What a joy after the weeks of deep snow ploughing. There was still some weaknesses within the snow so route choice and avalanche assessment still required, as most days in winter.
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| Lots of rime above 1000m |
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| The white elephant |
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| Winds and spindrift high up |
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| Rimed up ski tows |
A fair amount of ski tourers out and about near Cairn Gorm so I moved into areas away from the crowds to photograph our wonderful Ptarmigan.
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| Sun and fabulous snow |
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| Strath Nethy |
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| Peaceful and glorious views |
There were some lovely sunny periods around the middle of the day but a strong, cold wind made for difficult conditions with the camera. Cloud kept coming and going across the higher summits and this created some spindrift so I headed down to lower altitudes where it was much calmer. Some late afternoon sun and beautiful light was enjoyed.
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| Glenmore from the high Cairngorms |
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| Rime |
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Loch Morlich & Meall a Bhuachaille
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| Ptarmigans home |
SATURDAY 11 DECEMBER
Sara & Neil were out with me on a 2 day winter course. Completely new to winter hillwalking but they have done lots of summer walking and running (Sara runs ultra marathons and will be running Lands End to John O'Groats in 2022!). After having a chat through of what they wanted out of the weekend (all my courses are geared around peoples aspirations and goals) we set off into Coire an t-sneachda.
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| Out of the winds |
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| Good snow cover |
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| Boot and axe skills |
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| Cramponing |
There was a strong 40-50mph Southerly wind blowing right down the lower reaches of the coire. It was hard going with the headwind, even though there was a well trodden trench into Sneachda. As soon as we were through the boulders it was virtually calm. We went through the basics of boot, axe and crampon technique plus some basic self arresting and self belay skills.
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| Ice holding on |
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| Afternoon views |
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| Ice |
Quiet in the coire. During the day the temperatures had slowly been rising to above freezing at summit levels. In the late afternoon we headed back, the winds had dropped and were behind us!
SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER
A much calmer and drier day forecasted with an overnight drop in temperature. It was nice to set out in zero winds and wonderful views. The snow was crunchy from Coire Cas carpark making walking from the word go much easier. We had a great mountain day putting all the skills learned yesterday into action.
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| Walking into Coire an Lochain |
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| Coire an Lochain |
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| Axes out |
From Coire an Lochain we headed over to the side of the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda on excellent snow.
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| The cliffs of Coire an Lochain |
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| Good here |
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| The Great Slab snow covered |
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| Above the coire |
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| Easier walking |
Some easier walking on the firmer snow higher up the hill. We put the crampons on for the final stretch to the plateau.
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| Wonderful walking |
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| Joining the ridge |
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| On the tops |
There was a good covering of icy snow on the plateau and hardly any winds. Good spot for food. After lunch we wandered across the plateau and up to Cairn Gorm.
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| Coire an t-sneachda |
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| Icy plateau |
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| Fiacaill Coire Sneachda |
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| Climbers below Fingers Ridge |
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| Calm and cold |
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| Finish on a cloudy and icy Cairn Gorm |
20 minutes after leaving the summit of Cairn Gorm the winds suddenly increased. We took a direct descent from the cafe, through the ski runs and back to Coire Cas carpark, not seeing another soul. The winds increased even more so and the light slowly faded. A top couple of days with two lovely folk.
MONDAY 13 DECEMBER
Mark was given one of my Gift Vouchers as a Birthday present from his partner. A keen environmentalist, wildlife lover and photographer he was super excited to get out photographing our beautiful Mountain Hares. Originally he opted for Tuesday to come out with me. After having a look at the weather forecasts it seemed the Monday was a far nicer day with light winds and sunny spells forecasted after a stormy evening. Mark was more than happy to go with the best weather day. I try to offer this to all my clients if I am free and a mutual arrangement can be made. Something that makes booking with smaller and more personal companies like mine a better deal.
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| Lairig Ghru |
We set off at dawn and it was a beautiful morning. A much milder weather day than of late. Looking back to the high Cairngorms it wasn't a surprise to see some snow loss but higher areas very much in full winter garb.
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| Snow loss at lower elevations |
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| Still good cover above 700m in some areas |
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| Mark with the hares in sight |
The hares were a bit fidgety and we never got up close and personal unfortunately. It was just as nice to photograph them at a distance, of course.
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| Fleeting glimpses of the Mountain Hare |
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| Poor light at the end of the day |
In the afternoon we had a couple of snow showers. There was a nice sunset on our descent. We saw no one all day. More Mountain Hares than mountain people today.
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| Snow showers |
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| Cold business this photography in winter |
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| Sgor Gaoithe |
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| Dusk over Glen Feshie |
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