WINTER IN THE CAIRNGORMS

 

First frozen snow thos season

There was a couple of days with snow cover on the high Cairngorms last week. Unfortunately it went warm and wet on Saturday which wiped most of it out. On Monday I went up to see what was left of it. Any patches still lingering were above 1200m and quite small, mostly on Northern aspects. With low overnight temperatures these had frozen solid. The first solid snow this season.

Afternoon sunshine on Cairn Gorm 

Light winds and clear skies was great for wildlife photography. I spotted 4 Ptarmigan who were all glad of the snowpack now they are well into their winter plumage. 

Tuesday 29th November. 

A frustrating day, the high Cairngorms were clear of cloud with blue skies and wall to wall sun. I was on the Monadhliath in cloud virtually all day. As I climbed higher the sun looked like it may win the battle and poke above the cloud layer, but no. On the bright side, pardon the pun. I enjoyed a few fog bows and a Brocken Spectre. 

Conditions like this are rubbish for photographing the mountain hares. With visibility so poor in cloud. 

Unusual Conditions as it's quite often the opposite, Cairngorms in poor weather with the hills on the west of the A9 in better conditions.

Another sub zero temperatures on the high tops and a slight frost in Aviemore this morning. 

Next week looks like proper winter conditions. Very low temperatures and snowfall to lower elevations. Yes please.

FIRST SNOW IN THE CAIRNGORMS

 

First proper snow this season 

There is snow on the Cairngorms,  the first real snow this season. With sustained low temperatures and a few days of precipitation of the wite stuff it is starting to look good. We have had temperatures of minus 4 C down in Aviemore on Sunday and Monday morning. The high tops about the same. Let's hope it stays cold.

Here's a few images.

Sgor Gaoithe 

Northern Corries & Lairig Ghru

The snow on Tuesday was down to about 800m. On the lower hills below this altitude it is still bare. No sow yet for my lovely mountain hares. It will come.

WINTER ARRIVES IN THE CAIRNGORMS

 

Winter sun over the Cairngorms 

It has been another warm week with changeable conditions in the Cairngorms. Until last night/today. Lower temperatures and precipitation falling as snow above about 800m in the Cairngorms. With low temperatures throughout next week and further snow falling, it looks like winter has finally arrived. Some snowy scenes to follow over the next week. For now here's some photos and action from this week.

Windy on Tuesday 

Tuesday saw strong winds with some bright weather. Another warm day.

Windy clouds

A much nicer day on Wednesday. I was up with the mountain hares.

3 wonderful characters. An almost completely white guy, one that is in transformation for winter and the cutest wee one who looks like he's a leveret from this spring/summer.

On the run

The cutest wee guy

No snow on the ground yet. The mountain hares are smart cookies. They take shelter from predators among the lichen coloured boulders and rocks which is also where many of their forms are in this area I frequent.

A white one

Hiding nicely

Snow forecast on the high mountains over the next week or more. Looking forward to the finest season with the hares.

End of a fine day

On Saturday 19th November.

Campbell navigating in strong winds, poor visibility and cold rain

Campbell was out with me today to brush up and hone on some navigation skills in the Cairngorms. Campbell has completed his Summer Mountain Leader Training so we concentrated on micro navigation on pathless terrain in preparation for his assessment next Spring.

Winds and colder weather

It was a top day for map and compass skills. Poor visibility, breezy, cold and raining for much of the time. We saw no one all day. Despite a forecast of snow and -1 C on Cairn Gorm, we saw very little of the white stuff.

Stay tuned, it will be a bit different next week.

MOUNTAIN HARE PHOTOGRAPHY

 

Athene & Nic

Saturday 12th November 

Nic & Athene out with me today on a Mountain Hare and workshop. A Birthday surprise from Nic to Athene. We had a full day till dusk with the hares. The weather wasn't playing ball most of the day with low cloud, poor visibility and some light drizzle. But we perservered and a lovely end to the afternoon with 2 lovely hares, one almost in his white pelage,  the other still in Autumn coat.

A great day in challenging light/weather. 

Better weather late afternoon 

I'll post up the mountain hare photography later.

Sunday 13th November. 

Another unbelievably warm day in the Highlands. 

There's more to mountains than Munros and Corbetts and Graham's. Today we had wonderful solitude on some 500m wee hills right on the Northern edge of the Cairngorms National Park boundary.

Clear and sunshine all day

Sundown

We spotted one beautiful wee Mountain Hare, absolutely wonderful. Geese, Red Grouse and not a single human being in sight. Finished off with a nice sunset.

WARM & WINDY

 

Cloud boiling over Ben Macdui 

It's been a very warm and mostly windy week in the Cairngorms. Temperatures reaching a 'high' yesterday  (Thursday), probably around 16 C! The warmest November day on record in some spots of Scotland. But don't give up, it is still Autumn. Winter will come after this long spell of constant SW's. Today it wasn't just tropical, it was blowing a hoodie of 80mph+ on the tops. 

It's not been all bad. Here's a few pics from this week's wee outings.

Getting whiter by the day 

Camouflage smartness

Last weekend I attended my 2 day outdoor first aid course. All part of being a professional outdoor leader/instructor. 

I've been using BASP (British Association of Ski Patrollers) every 3 years for my 1st Aid certificate ever since I started guiding. That's a fair few first aid courses over the decades.

All their trainers work in the outdoors with a wealth of high level outdoor and professional medical knowledge. 

Highly recommended. 

The Abernethy Outdoor Centre's cake at mid morning is also top notch 😀

https://www.basp.org.uk/first-aid-training-courses/

Some sunny spells, now and again on the lower Monadhliath with the mountain hares. 

The last of the Autumn leaves, with all this wind they have been blowing off quite readily.

THE PTARMIGAN RETURN

 

Ptarmigan!

Absolute top wildlife day in the Cairngorms on Thursday. 

Ptarmigan numbers have been on a decline the last few years. Today I was so elated to have lots of excellentsightseeing.s.

A flock of at least 16

A flock of 6

A single juvenile male

Another flock of 6

All in a relatively small area.

To put this into context. I've not seen numbers of ptarmigan like this for over 5 years.

Topped off by a beautiful Mountain Hare towards the end of the day.

Most are now well into their white plumage and looking superb. Once the winds eased by late morning their croaking all over the hillside was a joy.

A sharp contrast to the constant noise of the helicopter up and down the hill earlier in the day. The train is still knackered. It was supposed to be fixed by last winter. Then they said this Autumn. Now they're stating early 2023. Anyway enough of that nonsense.

A light dusting of snow above 1100m and below freezing on the Plateau. There were a few snow showers in the morning, replaced by bright sunshine. Hopefully staying in a cold spell snd lots of snow will do nicely.

On Friday I was back in the Monadhliath, photographing the Mountain Hares. 

 These beautiful creatures are now well into transformation to their winter pelage. One wee guy was so at ease. When they are cleaning and grooming themselves in front of you it's a sure sign you are no threat to their daily life up in the hills.

Nice to have two lovely weather days back to back. Not many of those recently. For the first time this season we had a frost down in Aviemore. 

First frost this season in Aviemore