SHORT THAW

No crampons needed!

Crampons needed!

Fiacaill Buttress 

Avalanche debris,  Alladin's Buttress 

Snow Shelters 

Nice afternoon 

Descending Windy Col 

For the first time since about Christmas it rained up on the mountain tops. Temperatures rose during the night and into today. Summit temperatures were well above freezing. Despite this there is plenty of deep snow in the Cairngorms to survive a thaw. Charlotte is out with me this week on a 4 Day Winter Course. Today we walked into a misty and drizzly Coire an t-Sneachda. By the time we arrived at the Moraines the rain had ceased and the cloud lifted above the tops. We looked at the snowpack and made some Avalanche assessment in the coire.  After digging a snow Pit we made a snowshelter for elevenses.  Later we went up to Windy Col , going through good footwork and axe placements.  We went up, across and back down into the coire.  Of course the snowpack is soft with the warm temperatures and rain. By the afternoon there was some bright spells and blue skies. We finished off the day at the Flat Iron with some crampon techniques on the ice. Getting cold tonight and temperatures dropping. The snowpack should be nicely firmed up tomorrow.  Cold continues into most of this week with light winds.

SNOWCRAFT, NAVIGATION & SNOWSHELTERS

Stunning morning in Sneachda 

Coire an t-Sneachda 

Mess of Potage 

Windy Col 

Ciste Mhearad 

Navigation off Cairn Gorm 

Cairn Gorm summit 

Snow Shelters 

Second day out with David & Harry on their winter course. Another beautiful morning with lots of blue skies and sun. Winds were light. A fantastic day to be out . Today we headed into Sneachda.  Much quieter on Sunday. The boys led the way and we made our way up to Windy Col. Perfect timing when we reached the plateau, some cloud rolled in. Perfect for some navigation. We walked over Cairn Gorm summit and then down to Ciste Mhearad.  It was poor visibility as we made our way to Ciste Mhearad,  AKA Snow hole City. Some big, beautiful cornices in the Corrie. After some fun digging some shelters and finding some old ones, we descended Windy Ridge. Another brilliant day.  Great fun with these guys. They're off to the west coast with James tomorrow who's guiding for me.

ANOTHER FINE DAY IN THE CAIRNGORMS

Lunch at Hell's Lum

Cairn Lochan

A lot of windslab at Hell's Lum Crag

Harry & David on the Fiacaill 

Mess of Potage

Great views

Cornices, Hell's Lum

Ptarmigan

Afternoon light on Coire an Lochain

We're doing well, another lovely day to be out on the Cairngorms. Light winds and bags of sunshine by the afternoon after a breezy early morning. This weekend I have Harry and David out on a two day course. Harry has been out with me last winter and his friend has no winter experience but both enjoy lots of summer scrambling and climbing. With the weather being so fine we decided on a day to be out over the mountain tops. We ascended the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda and were on the top by lunch time. We then escaped the crowds and headed over to the top of Hell's Lum, one of the finest view points in The Cairngorms. Lunch with a view. The plateau has a wonderful covering of snow for ski touring. It is also becoming much easier for walking. Some scouring across the tops making for good, solid walking and cramponing. The western slopes are well windblown too. Lots of wind slab around the Hell's Lum area. Another top day and the boys taking to winter like a duck to water. Or a ptarmigan to snow.

SUNSHINE AND LIGHT WINDS AT LAST

Harry on the Teeth

The team in the sun & snow

Near the top

Fiacaill Buttress

Adam breezing along

Great day for it

Coire an t-Sneachda

The Team on Top

Fiacaill Buttress

Moving together 

Hard snow for cutting steps

The high winds finally eased overnight. It was a beautiful clear morning with bags of sunshine. Even by 10am there was a well trodden trail into Coire an t-Sneachda, well done folks. I think I've done my share of trail breaking this winter, ha ha! What a great day to be out. Today I had a fun group of 6 guys who have been on holiday all week, based in Braemar. They all have some basic winter skills, having done some long days out over Lochnagar area and a wild camp thrown in. So a good opportunity to step up their skills set and tackle some steeper terrain. We headed to the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda. A good choice in the current avalanche conditions. Route choice and awareness where the themes of the walk in to the ridge. We found some nice hard , windswept snow at the foot of the Fiacaill. Good spot for some axe swinging skills, cutting steps. We had some great snow conditions on the steeper section of the Fiacaill. Well trodden and a great build up of snow. The guys loving the exposure (sometimes) and the awesome mountain architecture. There was a few folk heading up the Goat Track today. Not a place I would have been in the current conditions! On the top we found great walking with a scoured plateau. Winds had picked up a wee bit in the afternoon. Great day out and a brilliant day for the guys on their final day in The Cairngorms.

SNOW PLOUGHING & NAVIGATION

The road up Glen Banchor, quite pleasant

Poor visibility at 700m

'Leep frogging'

Windy and ploughing, no so pleasant

Snow showers

Far more wildlife than humans today

Which is snow and which are rocks?

Last blizzard before the road

Glen Banchor in sun

Another snowy, cold an windy ole day in The Cairngorms. A lot of snow has been falling over the ast couple of days. When the weather clears it should look fabulous! But until then it's more battling in the elements and deep snow ploughing in the unconsolidated snow. Last day on Debbi & Alex's course this week. Today it was the number 1 'Winter essential skills'. Navigation. The Monadhliath hills are perfect terrain for honing in on your map and compass skills. Much of this vast areais featureless in summer and even more so in winter. With high winds forecasts for the bigger Cairngorm mountains it made good sense to visit these hills today, being that bit lower. Even so it was a struggle in the winds above about 600m. Gusting over 50mph, coupled with deep snow made for another challenging day out. The guys did a great job of getting to the lower summit of about 800m. We descended the eastern slopes in almost white out conditions. All good for that number 1 skill in winter. Did I mention that already? Yes it's not all about axes and crampons. We saw no other humans on the hill today but plenty of red deer and mountain hare. Top day out. Less windy tomorrow!

HIGH WINDS, LOW ALTITUDE NAVIGATION

A struggle in the winds at Ryvoan

Navigation in the woodland a better place

Lochan Uaine

Struggling to walk with a bike down Ryvoan Pass

Cairngorms in a blanket of wind and cloud

Not a day for Meall a' Bhuachaille

'Wind clouds'

High winds on the mountains today. Forecast of over 70mph on the summits meant a day at lower altitudes for us. Alex and Debbie on day 3 of their course with me this week. We intended a day of mountain navigation but that was never going to happen. Instead we stayed low for some essential map reading skills. Our high point today was Ryvoan Bothy and a welcome respite out of the gales. Never seen so may folk in there! One guy who was well loaded up on this mountain bike almost took off in the winds just outside the bothy. I gave him a had to push him a few metres down the track. We stayed in the tree line for much of the day. It was a brighter afternoon after some morning snowfall but the photos don't really do justice to the winds today.