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| Neil enjoying the Alpine conditions |
Mid April and that time of year when, sadly, I concede and admit that the winter season is over for anther year. I ran my final winter skills course last Friday and the day before I was running my last scheduled winter mountain hare photography workshop.
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| Martina and Lars in some less than pleasant weather on Thursday |
Thursday 13th April.
A return to some wintry conditions today.
Lars & Martina were out with me to photograph the beautiful Mountain Hares today. Lars came out with me around this time last year. It was a tad more Spring like 12 months ago. We had some poor visibility and a few showers of snow above 700m in the morning. The weather improved vastly by early afternoon and some late, bright spells.
This was my last scheduled winter mountain hare photography workshop this season. Of course the hares are wonderful every day, 365 days per year.
I'll be posting my annual end of winter mountain hare review and photos soon.
A great day out and lovely to see fun, return clients again.
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| Fiacaill Coire Sneachda |
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| Neil enjoying some great last of the winter conditions |
Friday 14th April.
Neil was out with me on a 1 day bespoke winter course in the Cairngorms. Neil is climbing Mont Blanc this summer so he was looking for some essential winter skills in preparation for his Alpine adventure. Our Scottish hills are a good deal lower in altitude than The Alps. We don't have glaciers either but all the technical skills required using boot, axe and crampons, moving on steep terrain and good all round mountain sense are exactly the same techniques required for big mountains in the greater ranges.
We had a fantastic day, moving on various slopes and different types of snow. Some old, hard snow mixed with fresh snow from the last couple of days made ideal conditions to hone some essential skills.
Beautiful sunshine, a few snow showers and a strengthening wind with high windchill made some great weather conditions.
We spotted a lovely pair of Ptarmigan and a wonderful Mountain Hare in the coire this morning.
A top day with great company. Looking forward to hearing from Neil after he's bagged Mont Blanc. Usually a Scottish winter day is far tougher than a day up the highest peak in Western Europe 
This was, sadly, my final winter course this season. Its been another brilliant winter season. A usual mix of weather and snow. Always with wonderful groups of people.
Thank you to everyone who booked with Tarmachan Mountaineering this season. The finest season is almost over, but its not over till the fat snowman sings.
There's still winter - if you want it .
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| Alladin's Couloir |
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| Enjoying the views |
Saturday 15th April
Another fine day in the Cairngorms.
Beautiful winter conditions in the Cairngorms. Bright sun, cold and snow down to 900m.
Some interesting sights, clothing and footwear on the hills today.
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| Coire an t-sneachda |
Sunday 16th April
Another pleasant day in Strathspey and the Cairngorms. By the afternoon it had warmed up nicely down at lower altitudes.
The Mountain Hares were twitchy today, although there are two types of hares. Runner and Stayers. The Runners you will never get close up and personal with them. The wonders of nature, who knows why some will run from over 100m away, whilst others will sit close by and just think of you as part of the landscape.
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| Northern corries of Braeriach |
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| Ben Macdui & Lairg Ghru |
Spring seems to be in the air. The Wheatears have just arrived in the area I frequent and down at lower levels the beautiful flowers of the Crowberry have literally just come into flower (they weren't in flower last Thursday). The bees were loving the nectar!
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| Busy bee on the Cowberry flowers |
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| Pansey's |
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| Daffodils always late to flower in the north |
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