Local hills

This lockdown has been quite a challenge for one and all I'm sure. In phase 1, about to enter phase 2 there are lots of different shades of grey in the rules. I can cycle to some hills to walk in them, but I'm not supposed to drive to the same ones.. really it makes no sense.

Jack the lad

 I met Jack (travelling separately) in Glen Affric for a socially distanced hill walk. I was a little nervous going, but on seeing 4-5 cars and other walkers in the car park I felt happier with the plan.

On the ridge

looking back to the hydro/route in

We headed North on a new path (well maybe a year or so old) from the new walkers carpark near Chisholme Bridge. The weather was interesting, warm and foggy, but with the 50/50 chance that it would clear. Immediately it felt great to be out again in the hills.

misty snow patches

Following the hydro track we diligently used hand gel after opening/closing the 2 gates before arriving at the hydro intake. We saw a grumpy man heading out at this point...

down to the bealach we go. Loch Mullardoch behind

It was atmospheric and as the mist/cloud started to occasionally clear and give glimpses of far off hills I thought 'yep it's going to work out'.

Golden Plover

We picked up the path heading NW up the Allt Toll Easa and again got great glimpses of views always changing as the path split and we ended up on the SE ridge of Tom a' Choinnich. What a great path, not even a scramble, but dramatic with big drops to the left, and big snow slopes to the right coming into view through the cloud.

Onto the 2nd hill and it clears!

On the top we saw two walkers from Nairn and had a nice socially distanced chat before heading down to the bealach. I was tempted to head back at this point because the second hill was fully enclosed in cloud, but Jack was keen so we pressed on.

Looking back at the ridge we went up and the snow patches we passed

And I'm glad we did as we saw and heard quite a few Golden Plovers on the grassy rounded ground heading to the top of Toll Creagach the second munro of the day. Chatting on top the cloud cleared and we were treated to great views (that I forgot to photograph) as we headed down.

On the path out an adder sunning itself started us, and we saw lots of stone chats. A tonic of a day for me!

Pre lock down

Strange times for all, but just before we had to lock down and stay at home we headed out West for a walk. Being slightly under the weather (hoping it wasn't Covid - 19) we opted for a shortish walk.

Canisp

Meal Dearg/Cul Beag our objective

I'd maybe forgotten how beautiful the drive out West was as we headed to Ullapool and North from there. We parked just South of the Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve and headed off walking NW towards Lochan Fada on a rough track.

looking NE

Meal Dearg getting bigger

From here we veered West and walked a beautiful section on a mix of heathery scrub and rock slabs. The sun was out, no-one else was around and it was amazing. Before long we bypassed Creag Dhubh before the steep pull up Meal Dearg (657m).

looking back at the vast expanse

From here there were great views in all directions. Snow capped peaks inland and the sea and the Summer Isles to the West.

snow!

On the descent to the small lochan Uaine Abi somehow managed to do a somersault and land upside down.. but after gathering herself she was okay and we carried on thank goodness.

Fine views out West

We continued up the Corbet of Cul Beag passing snow patches along the way. On top the views of the sea and Stac Pollaidh were incredible and we lingered for half an hour taking it in.

Stac Polleidh

On the walk back we stopped by a pool and lay on the rocks enjoying the sun, fresh air and solitude before heading back out to the reality of our changing world. A restorative day for sure.

Heading down

the relaxing pool!

Self Isolation - well sort of!

Strange times... I met Des in the Aviemore area hoping to ski. The weather was meant to be okay, with a strengthening wind from lunch time onwards.

sailing in

Des holding onto his hat

Trying to get high quickly we met at the Cairngorm carpark. The winds in the carpark set the scene as I was buffeted around trying to find Des!

must isolate!

The lifts started to operate as we headed away from the ski centre. The initial walking was even tough  with ski's acting like sails on our packs.

When we hit the snow line skinning was a little easier, but pretty tough, but we kept going until we had to admit defeat. It simply wasn't viable with the 40-50mph wind and worsening visibility.

Des making it look great on the icy patch!

I nice boiler plate ski out made it sort of worthwhile. The photo's make it look much better than it actually was, probably Des's excellent ski technique!

abort!

Back at the ski centre it was basically shut due to the high winds, but we skinned half way up the hill to have a final run down, again on boiler plate snow (ice). It was eerie heading up a very bleak closed ski area until the wind meant it was impossible to stay upright.

I enjoyed the morning... not sure if Des felt the same!

Tired legs

With a mid week day off I was keen to ski and make the most of the snow and good weather so I headed to the Cairngorms. I planned to ride the pistes for a couple of hours before touring off the back of Cairngorm.

Not a bad day (loch morlich)

However... the conditions were so good that I just kept going on the piste for the whole morning in the sunshine :-). Just one more run..

tourer 1

tourer 2

Sometime around lunch time I skinned up to the summit of Cairngorm. On the top there was loads of breakable crust so I decided to just head back into the ski area. Maybe I should have risked it because I saw later that there was some good snow about but it didn't seem worth it at the time.

on top of Cairngorm

views to the Corries

After more runs my legs were shot and I had to throw in the towel quite early.. I great day but I think I need to build up my ski fitness somehow!

more tourers..

time to head back

Murdo's ski shack is open!

I had a dream... (long pause)... that I would open a ski (servicing) shack in the Highlands! Well that hasn't happened, but I came a step closer to that by actually servicing my own ski's today, which was long overdue!

how does this go again..

I found the edges were rubbish yesterday and the bases were as dry as the Namib dessert. My excuse is that there is no electricity or lighting in the shed so it's taken a year to get to a point where I had free time and daylight! 

no comment required!

I even got Abi in on the action waxing them en plain air with sea views once the edges were completed in the security of inside - well you don't want all and sundry to know what crucial angle you grind your edges do you..

Weather window

Yet more Atlantic storms roll in... this seems to be the norm this winter, maybe it will be the new Scottish winter sadly, but I hope not. So with a brief weather window (one day) after storm Ciara and before storm Dennis I hatched a plan to ski with (storm) Des. 

leaving the carpark checking the map

that way!

There had been days of snow in the mountains, definitely more in the West, but the East also looked possible and easier for Des to get to on the train. We knew that even though there had been loads of snow it was delivered on strong winds so there would be large scoured areas and accumulations in natural features and on lee slopes.

flat light

but great skin track 

This problem solving is at times entertaining, often frustrating but does pass lots of time! Plan A was Cairngorm, ride some piste then head over into the slack country off the back and plateau, but on arriving at the ski centre carpark we noticed that the top of Cairngorm was covered in cloud, and this often persists all day on Cairngorm Mountain.... Whereas it looked sunny over near Newtonmore and the Monadhliath Mountains.

30 second conversation and car turned around we headed to Newtonmore. Half way between the two venues the van engine warning light went on and I lost power... Wouldn't this be ironic if we were half way between the two places and couldn't ski due to breakdown after Des had travelled from Edinburgh!?

fine firm snow

Luckily parking outside the GP surgery in Newtonmore and turning it off and on again seemed to reset it and we trundled up a snowy road to the starting carpark. 

views from the top

There was snow even in Newtonmore which is a good sign, but as all of the snow was pretty new there wouldn't be a base as it's not had time to thaw a little and refreeze so I started to think that skiing would be challenging. We knew that there would be compacted skiable snow in natural features and the lee slopes but weren't sure about the rest. 

time for the down

Seeing that a local guide parked up just after us and set off with 2 x clients I knew we had made the right choice as he would know the conditions, mountain and terrain better than us. 

looks quite bare, but great skiing 

They put in a great skin track as well and we followed their trail initially. As we got nearer to Creag na h-lolaire (a Corbet I think) they carried on up its shoulder on steeper ground and we struck off contouring round to the bothy near the burn. 

first tracks

The weather was good, snow as expected, no base but improving with height and compacted stuff in depressions and gully lines. We saw a few more skiers around and headed up. Initially we had planned to go to the top of one of the munro's, but this looked more scoured so we diverted to Creag na h-lolaire as we could see it had more skiable snow and the guided group had popped up on the ridge and were also heading that way. 

sastrugi gully

We had a nice lunch break on top before shredding the first downhill section. There was perfect firm snow... Okay so this section was quite short allowing 6 - 7 turns but it was great. So great in fact that we skinned back up 2 more times. All that way for 6 - 7 turns! 

other skiers skinning for more

On the final time at the top we could see that it was possible to link patches further down back to the bothy so we did! Even after the fantastic upper snow it was great skiing all the way! We were pretty happy after the run down for sure. 

Back at the carpark

Fair to say we both though that from here it may be quite arduous to get out because the gradient was small and the snow soft baseless. I presumed that would mean lots of hitting rocks, struggling to turn and maybe we would end up just putting on the skins to make it easier!

Soup at Ralia

It wasn't to be, we just rolled and glided the whole skin track back and I didn't hit a single rock. The perfect day, skiing van - mountain - van. Fantastic.

See you on the flip side Des