BENIGN CONDITIONS AGAIN

Douglas enjoying the fabulous conditions 

Steep & icy

More ice

Another glorious cloudscapes day 

Brilliant snow conditions again

Breaking out into clear skies (again)

Breariach

The Great Slab

Loving the Inversions

Quiet hillside

 Benign conditions continued today in The Cairngorms.  Another day of light winds, hard neve and a temperature inversion.
Douglas out on a 1 day Intro to winter hillwalking. We went to Coire an Lochain again as this is probably the best area for snow at the moment. Plenty of scope for differing terrain and steepness in impressive surroundings. It's also quieter than it's neighbouring coire
Just like yesterday, we enjoyed fabulous neve, excellent for gaining good crampon technique. No room for sloppy footwork just now, some serious run outs below the snow.
Apparently we may get some fresh snowfall next week, how welcome will that be?

TEMPERATURE INVERSION AGAIN

Breaking through the Inversion 

Ice

More ice

Cairn Lochan Inversion

Fiacaill Coire Sneachda above the Inversion 

And another one

Great photos day

Fabulous neve

Cairn Lochan 

Sneachda above the Inversion 

Heading down from 1141m

Broken Spectres here we come

Cairn Gorm & Sneachda 

Beautiful sunset

Snow was good too

Two days on the trot and the Cairngorms gets temperature inversions. Very nice. Today's was even more stunning than yesterday's.
Jamie was out with me on a 1 day into to winter.  He couldn't have hoped for a more stunning day. We walked into a low cloud Coire an Lochain this morning.  We started off with some step cutting at the snowfields around the Great Slab area. Quickly it was terrain for cramponing. Once Jamie was confident with crampons we traversed out onto the plateau . All the way along this traverse we could feel the warmth and it became brightened by the minute. Soon we broke out above the cloud top and into clear skies. Wonderful.  For Jamie this was his first experience of a temperature Inversion and we got a Broken Spectre. The snow in the coire was perfect neve. Up on the plateau it was rime ice but clear of snow. Temperature in the coire was around freezing point, up on the tops it was +8 C by afternoon. The views of the sea of clouds below the summits was absolutely beautiful.  We spent the last couple of hours on Navigation before heading reluctantly back into a gloomy and cloudy Coire Cas. What a day to be out on the tops.

CAIRN GORM TEMPERATURE INVERSION

Cairn Toul above the inversion

Mountain Hare, post roll in the snow

Broken Spectre and Inversion

Cairn Gorm summit

Braeriach and Cairn Lochan just poking out

Sgor an Lochain Uaine above a sea of cloud

Feathered rime 

Mr. Broken, The only skier today

Good Mountain Hare terrain

Another cold morning in the NE Highlands. Braemar reaching minus 10 C this morning. Up on the high Cairngorm summits there was a temperature inversion this morning. Coire Sneachda and Coire an Lochain were in a sea of cloud whilst the high summits poked into glorious sunshine. I made a good choice this morning to get into the sun for some wildlife photography. Cairn Gorm was busy so I wandered out to the east in search of solitude and mountain hares rolling in the snow! Another fine day to be out in the mountains. Light winds, sunshine and great views. What's not to like? Once again all the old snow is solid and well frozen. Some fresh stuff would be welcome.

SUB ZERO AND BLUE SKIES DAY

Heading up to the Fiacaill 

bomber snow

Rime ice on the ridges

Some old snow on the Fiacaill 

Low temperatures,  ice forming 

Most snow in the Goat Track /Point Five area

In the sunshine 

Beautiful delicate feathered rime 

Best view in the Cairngorms 

Coire an Lochain 

Serious run outs, sharp crampons 

Hell's Lum area

Third and final day with Amanda and Laura. Beautiful weather day to end their course . Clear skies, low temperatures and no winds. It was minus 5 C on the tops today. Just like yesterday, the old remaining snow pack is rock solid. Crampons essential. We headed into a busy Coire Sneachda,  the fair weather folk out or is it start of winter skills courses? So we escaped the crowds and from the coire linked up the snow patches to gain the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda ridge. We had the rest of the day to ourselves.  The ridge has very little snow on it but it was rimed and it was one of those days were you decide to take off or leave on the crampons. Lovely rime on the plateau. For lunch we went over to the finest view point in the Cairngorms. Then back across plateau to descend into Coire an Lochain. Fabulous day and great end to the course.  The ladies are off on a big expedition to a 6000m peak near Stok Kangri in July. Good luck and have a great adventure. The Scottish mountains in winter are a fine training ground for big mountains around the world. In 2020 they're planning a Patagonian trip, guided by yours truely, thanks! 😀

NEW YEAR, COLD TEMPERATURES

Fab neve

Crampons essential 

Coire an Lochain quiet

The ladies on Cairn Lochan 

Cliffs with rime

Coire an t-Sneachda 

Rime

Coire an Lochain 

Minus 4 on the tops

Ice forming

Coire an Lochain 

A very happy New Year,  especially as the normal winter temperatures returned today. Much colder with minus 4 C on the summits. There had been a small dusting of snow above 800m and rime ice above 900m. Any old snow is completely solid, fantastic cramponing but with serious run outs onto very rocky and steep ground.  Today Amanda and Laura were out on day 2 of their bespoke course. We rescheduled today from yesterday. There was high winds of 80mph+.  When you book a course with Tarmachan Mountaineering we always try and schedule around the best weather and snow conditions while we are available.  Don't get this with your 'run of the mill winter skills courses' :)
The ladies built on day one's skills and some great technique along with bags of confidence. Very quiet on the hills today. As we like it :)