WINTER NAVIGATION

 

winter navigation 

For Stuart & Peter's second day in the Cairngorms with me we concentrated the day on navigation. This is the 'no. 1 winter skill' of course, Summer aswell as winter. With another windy day on the high Cairngorms we chose to head over to the Sgorans above beautiful Glenfeshie. These hills offer lots of featureless terrain to hone your map and compass skills.

Still plenty of snow to lower levels

Goggles on at 600m

There was still snow down to Glenfeshie level when we arrived,  the temperatures were forecast to rise during the day. Good visibility at 9am. Above 600m the snow was drifting in the strong winds, goggles on. Map out.

Difficult walking in strong winds and icy rocks

Rime iced terrain 

Map and compass 

On the first top it was poor visibility,  drifting snow and strong winds. Great navigation conditions. For our morning break we headed to the 'notch'. This is a great feature, being one of those wonderful melt water channels that collects drifting snow on a regular basis. Good spot for snow shelters and snow holing. We got behind a deep, high drift where it was completely windless. 

Hasty pit

30cm sheer

Out of the wind

The notch

After coffee we did some avalanche assessment and then found a nice slope for more axe techniques and some axe arrests. 

No crampons required 

Up and down

Wind behind us on the descent 

With the high winds we decided to opt out of going to the highest summit, Sgor Gaoithe,  and instead we took a route down with the winds on our backs, far more pleasant!

Warming up on the descent 

Late afternoon sun and warmer at lower elevations 

Late afternoon sun and melting snow as we reached the treeline again. Don't panic,  a lot more cold weather and snowfall the next few days.

A top two days with Peter and Stuart who are now armed with lots of essential winter skills to head out on their own winter adventures. 

2 DAY WINTER COURSE

 

We love it when winter returns 

A great day to be out with the return of winter to the Cairngorms. Brothers team Peter & Stuart out on a 2 day winter course with me. We kicked off with lots of essential movement skills using axe and crampons. A sub zero day with fresh snow to Aviemore level. There were some heavy snow showers in the morning but the majority of the day was actually dry and the cloudbase lifted by midday to reveal the tops of the hills.

Snow cover vastly improved

Coire an Lochain 

We had the goggles on into Coire an Lochain but by the time we got to the lochans we were well sheltered and no need for any further eye protection. For the first time in a while the SAIS Avalanche reports had a CONSIDERABLE on some aspects. We looked at safe travel with this in mind and throughout our journey today we made assessments on the snowpack. 

All smiles

Tops cleared at midday 

Good here

The cliffs of Coire an Lochain 

Windblown and scoured areas

We covered lots of ground, going up, traversing, descending and finding plenty of scoured areas where the old refrozen snow was exposed. 

Descending

A top first day with these guys. Another snow plough out of the coire. The lower paths are well trodden and easier walking below 800m.

Poor visibility at times

Afternoon clear spells

WINTER RETURNS, THE THIRD TIME THIS SEASON

 

Winter returns for the mountain hares

For the third time this season winter conditions finally arrive again. We've had just two pervious good dumps of snow and fabulous snow conditions since mid November. The brilliant snow cover on both occasions was virtually wiped out with crazy temperatures which lasted many weeks, especially the period in January. Even the most positive and optimistic of people (me!) were in despair with the distinct lack of snow fall and unbelievable double figure temperatures. On Thursday evening that all changed! Yeah! The next few days are looking extremely promising with low temperatures and further snowfall. 

THURSDAY 3 FEBRUARY

Simon was out with me today on a mountain hare photography workshop. There as been a distinct lack of snow in the area where I regularly run my workshops. High winds were forecast. Simon was keen to photograph the ptarmigan this week but high winds on the big Cairngorm summits put that one to bed. He was equally as keen to photograph the beautiful mountain hares. We set off in dull, mild conditions.

The light drizzle and rain started not long after we got the cameras out and to make it even better there was cloud drifting to lower elevations.

A very drookit hare

Not ideal photography conditions but after a couple of hours we had our first session with a wet and obliging hare.

Simon waiting for the mizzle to ease off

A snowless scene 

After lunch we had a good hour or so with my friend who was sitting at his usual form. Looking as wet and drookit as ourselves. We had as many layers of clothing on as in much colder and drier conditions. I went through 3 pairs of winter gloves in the time we spent sitting about and photographing. Mist and water on the lenses is a huge problem, the wind wasn't helping! But we did get some intimate moments as per usual with this wonderful character

Waiting for the snow

My 'friend' waiting patiently for snow

The light was very dull most of the day. We did well getting what we did out of the day. We saw no one else all day from the carpark and back again.

Wet ground, wet lenses

The best of the weather, lasted 10 minutes

I was actually colder than any day when we have 'normal' winter temperatures. The weather forecast was suggesting a cold front over night. They weren't wrong!

Not long to wait

FRIDAY 4 FEBRUARY

From drookit to snow pelted

Overnight temperatures dropped and for the first time in a while we had some proper snow down to Aviemore level. Winter returns! With a fine day forecasted on some of the lower hills I abandoned the boring office work and headed out with the camera again.

Snow at Aviemore level

Ice to low levels

Deep drifts

It was a fine day to be out. Freezing above 300m and stunning views. The trees lower down in Aviemore and Strathspey with that wonderful coating of fresh snow. What a contrast from less than 24 hours previously! Above about 700m there was some atmospheric drifting of the snow. Inbetween the bright sun and windblown snow I spotted a beautiful hare just sheltering behind a large boulder.

Windblown snow and mountain hare

A coating of snow. Will he shake it off?

Eventually!

It was marvellous spending some time with this particular hare. The drifting snow building up on his coat and face. I waited patiently and hoped he would get up and give himself a shake. He did, eventually.

The winds increased enough by 1pm to make photographing (and seeing without goggles!) quite a challenge. I savoured the atmospheric snow conditions a while longer before heading down the hill. Reaching Aviemore ( I can walk from my house to these beauties) it started snowing again. Long may it continue! Some wee videos below to give a taste of the beauty of snow and wind.

This is more like it!

Rime and frosted vegetation

Looking good above 700m

TV FILMING WORK

 

The crew on set

The last couple of days I have been guiding and organising a film crew who are producing  some content as part of the Car and Country program to be screened later this year. With a tight time schedule and the unpredictable Cairngorms weather conditions we managed to get some good filming done. It was perfect timing on Monday with a fresh dusting of snow and colder temperatures.  The gales that had brought down a big tree onto Aviemore's main street the night before had abated, thankfully.

Freddie Hunt getting kitted out for winter 

Car and Country is a television travel series screened on Amazon Prime TV. A leisurely road trip interspersed with interesting activities along the way. Star of the show for this particular episode is Freddie Hunt, son of legendary Formula 1 driver James Hunt. Helping with me on the first day was Christian and Campbell who did a fantastic job with the porterage and tent erecting.  A total crew of 9 made up the fun group of folk. Because of the strong winds forecasted on Tuesday morning I rearranged the schedule for the two days, filming at lower altitude locations. 

Action

Deepak, presenter. First time on ice

Fresh snow at lower altitudes

TV filming is very time consuming work. Because of tight 40 hour restraints and the high winds up on the tops, I took the crew to some more accessible and less time consuming locations. The two days of shooting also included a wild camp. With the winds increasing on Tuesday morning we decided on camping lower than planned, around 500m. We finished Monday's shooting around 7.30pm.

Tents up and food on the go

Evening filming

It certainly was breezy in the early hours of Tuesday. It did calm down and stayed dry so we finished off in good conditions.

Tuesday morning, snow melted

Take 2

Once again there was a temperature rise. We had set up the tents in some light snow but this had melted away during the evening. The crew were all happy as they got some good footage in winter conditions the day before.

The crew at the campsite

Freddie retrieving a tent

Sheltered spot

Heading out

It was a fun couple of days and a good insight into the filming world. A great bunch of guys and brilliant to work with. I left them for their next sections of filming of the show. Go-karting, paddle boarding on the Spey and a woodland retreat up north are next up filming. This particular episode of Car and Country the 'car scenes' will be an old land Rover Discovery versus a new version as the guys travel around the Highlands. Looking forward to seeing the finished show, it may even have me in there at some point, I was 'the mountain expert'. But blink as you may miss me. Apparently there will only be around 8 minutes of 'The Cairngorms 2 day adventure' bit. So that's why movies cost millions!

The crew

'It's a wrap' - as they say in the industry.

Coffee and boots off at their lodge