A lovely day in Strathspey and the Cairngorms. Peace, beautiful views and not a soul seen this afternoon/evening. We set off late and enjoyed the evening light.
Meanwhile the annual motorbike event in Strathspey - Thunder in the Glen was in full swing.
What do you prefer, mountains, nature, peace and quiet or a Harley throbbing and ZZ Top music?
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| Sunshine, cloud and showers on day 2 |
Day 2 for Nina's bespoke navigation course. Today we did lots of micro navigation, timing and pacing, contouring, discovering why paths that are on the ground aren't on the map and vice versa. Loads of pathless terrain again. Another first class performance from Nina who has very quickly gained the skills that are up to ML standard.
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| Compass bearings |
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| Pathless terrain, then the cloud lifted |
We got some good spells of thick cloud and showers thrown in, all good for real scenarios.
She goes away with high levels of navigation that go way beyond 'an easy day on the hills'.
Learning map and compass skills opens up a whole new world to hillwalkers. Downloading a route off the Internet is not navigation.
My 1 and 2 day navigation courses are run on demand throughout the year and geared towards individuals aspirations.
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| Pathless terrain, Cairngorm plateau |
Nina is in Scotland for 6 weeks from the USA. Keen to become an independent hillwalker she wanted the Cairngorms to be the place to learn. A very good choice. These mountains can be the most challenging mountains you will find in the UK.
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| Coire an t-sneachda |
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| Breezy up high |
Unfortunately it was a very nice day with sunshine and a cloudbase above the summits. So we were very quickly off all paths and onto featureless terrain up on the Cairngorm plateau.
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| Ben Macdui from Hells Lum |
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| Lunch spot and well navigated to |
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| More featureless, pathless navigation |
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| Navigation expert |
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| Afternoon sun on granite |
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| Quiet hills today |
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| Fields of Bog Asphodel |
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| Descent off Carn an Righ |
I've been guiding over in the Glenshee area this weekend. Forecasts a few days ago dint look enticing, by Friday evening it looked a much more inviting weather picture
Saturday 20th August.
A lovely day in the Southern Cairngorms. What's your idea of 'wild'? Is it lack of civilisation? No roads to be seen? Or time taken to reach your objectives? For some people it could be no mobile phone signal?
The Munro of Carn an Righ sits in wonderful isolation from any carpark. It may not be the most attractive hill but certainly takes a few hours to get up it. We did Carn an Righ & Glas Tulaichean today. In that order, we saw no one until near the summit of Righ, 4 hrs from setting off. Most folk probably do Tulaichean first, as most guidebooks state this. A good enough reason to do this pair in reverse. It must be over 15 years since I was last up these hills.
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| Approaching Carn an Righ |
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| Summit of Carn an Righ |
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| Glas Tulaichean from Carn an Righ |
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| Beautiful afternoon |
On Sunday 21st August.
The Munros of Carn Aosda, The Cairnwell & Carn a' Gheoidh must be the easiest and 'quickest' group of 3 Munros you could ever wish for. They're regarded as something to 'knock off' quickly and move on to better and more attractive hills. If you look deeper and get off the well beaten trail you may be fortunate to see some lovely wildlife. We spotted at least 4 mountain hares and this wasn't even one of my 'wildlife photography ' trips. There were also plenty of Red Grouse, just minutes from the carpark. Carn a' Gheoidh is by far the more attractive hill, being some distance from the ugly ski area.
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| The Cairnwell |
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Another lovely day with good spells of sunshine in the afternoon. There was a stiff breeze and a few warm layers were off and on throughout the day.
Nice wee weekend of guiding on the other side of the Cairngorms.
Tomorrow it's back to 'non Munro' walking stuff 😀.
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| Grand Combin from the Sentier de Chamois |
A chance to look through my proper camera images from two recent trips to The Alps.
I rarely get the time and opportunities to photograph the breathtaking scenery and wildlife whilst guiding groups on treks. It's usually just quick mobile phone snaps.
Here are some images from two back to back guiding trips on the Walkers Haute Route. Taken mid July to early August.
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| Zinal Rothorn, Besso, Point de Zinal & Dent Blsnche |
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| Weisshorn above Zinal |
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| A lone female Ibex, Sentier de Chamois |
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| A curious Male Ibex |
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| The King of the Alps |
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| Male & Female Ibex |
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| The cloud breaks |
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| Zmutt and the towering Matterhorn |
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| The Monte Rosa group |
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| Ibex and the Petit Combin |
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| Mist burning off at the Col Termin |
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| Dawn on the Matterhorn |
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| The Weisshorn & Mattertal |
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| Grand Combin & Lac Louvie |
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| Heading up to the Col de Torrent |
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| Cloudscapes near Col Louvie |
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| Dawn skies from Cabane du Mont-Fort |
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| A wonderful summer for butterflies |
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| Ober Gabelhorn, Zinal Rothorn & Weisshorn |
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| Dusk on the Matterhorn |
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| Wonderful to see so many Ibex |
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| Walking above Zinal |
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| Sunset on Pigne de Arolla |
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| Sentier de Chamois |
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| 30 Ibex, at least |
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| It's a cliche, but wonderful |
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| Clouds burning off in the morning sun on Grand Combin |
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| Alpine Chough, alway around your pic-nic |
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| Beautiful Ibex in early morning sun above Lac Dixence |
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| Matterhorn reflections above Zermatt |
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| Female Ibex |
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| Castor & Pollux |
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| Val de Arppette |
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| Sunrise on Mont Blanc range from Cabane du Mont-Fort |
