It was warm in the van this morning. We woke up to several inches of snow covering the van. Unfortunately the gas had finally run out during post dinner tea last night so we needed to go and get breakfast in Aviemore. Breakfast was at the Mountain Cafe, which was nice. Lizzy an dI then headed up to the Ski Centre to gear up and head out onto the hill. 

The plan was to head up to the Cairngorm Plateau, then either over to Ben Macdui or round the top of the Coires depending on the weather. The forecast was for a repeat of yesterdays apocalyptic weather. 

Just before we were about to leave Lizzy realised that she couldn't find her phone. After 10min of franticly searching the van and our bags we came to the sickening conclusion that it must still be in the Caffe. So back down to Avimore it was. Then back up to the ski centre. So it was about 11 by the time we finally got round to leaving the van.  

We set off into the Coires chatting about winter navigation strategies and quickly overtook a party of Ski tourers who were heading towards the Hutchinson Hut. then we made it up to point 1083. before striking out for the summit of Cain Lochan. The weather was better than expected, but we were now too late to head out to Macdui. We had a session practicing cutting steps on our way up to Lochan. Then we ambled along the rim of the Coires before descending to the carpark. It was a nice day out and a good opportunity to practice some winter skills. 

Back in Aviemore it was time for Lizzy and I to part company. She headed back to Skye while I headed for Glasgow via Fort William. 

Glasgow via Fort William, an odd route choice I'll grant you, as it turned out it was totally worth it.

I reached Glen Coe in full dark, but as I drove up the pass I had to pull over. The sky was clear and a million stars were visible. Better than that was the moon. Although not quite full it was clear and bright. It lit up the whole valley. 

So what is really weather? Thats a hard one to answer. Scottish winter mountaineering is not like summer alpine weather. In the Alps you usually only go out if its a nice day. In Scotland it is rarely a "nice" day. Those stunning blue bird days of clear skies and crisp snow where you can walk in a T-shrit all day and enjoy life and rare. Really rare. 

Real Scottish winter weather is pretty brutal. Lizzy and I were reminded of this today. Lizzy had hoped over from sky for a few days of winter mountaineering with me. Now I had never been out with Lizzy before so a short bimmble from the Cairngorm Ski Centre carpark was on the cards. 

We met in the carpark and after a quick chat about the apocalyptic weather forecast (heavy snow and strong winds) we geared up and headed out. The route was to wander up to point 1141, then over to the summit of Cairngorm, then back down to the carpark. 

The idea was to see what the weather was like and always be happy to turn back if it got silly. 

So up we went. It was very very windy. It snowed, a lot. All this before we left the carpark. but we carried on. Up we want to the top of the ski tows on the Fiacaill a Choire Chais. 

The weather was bad but not un manageable, so we headed up to point 1141. Where the weather eased a bit. So we decided to navigate to the summit of Cairn Gorm. We had a quick chat about winter navigation strategies then off we went. We found the summit without much difficulty, after all there is a massive weather station on it! 

Now came the task of navigating our way off the summit. We decided to head for the Ptarmigan station as it should prove quite a good catching feature. As we left the summit the weather closed in properly. Visibility dropped to a few meters, and then only if there were rocks in front of us. We had endeared a proper whiteout. After a period of time we hit ski fences. I was glad to find them. Whiteouts do funny things to your head. There is nothing to fall off between the summit of Cairn Gorm and the Ptarmigan station, but that doesn't stop you expecting to fall off some unseen hazard when navigating in zero visibility. 

We reached the ski toes an realised that we were about 100m East of the station. So turning to a new bearing we headed off to find the station. We found it. Upsettingly the ski doors were locked. We could see people inside though so went round to the wakers entrance and rang the bell and knocked on the glass. 

We were let inside by some very surprised looking Cairngorm Staff. We looked like snowmen. My pockets and bag had filled up with spin drift and I had a large clump of snow attached to the windward side of my face. We were told that the ski road was about to be closed, so we decided to call it a day and get the train down. 

It was a proper introduction to the challenges of really bad winter weather. 

Well slightly warmer weather and strong winds and scoured the slopes and melted the snow this morning. Will and I decided to head up Bynack More. Its about 22km round trip, but most of it is on 4x4 track so its a relatively easy day.

As we walked through Glenmore Forest it felt like a spring day not a winters day. Well we made our way towards the mountain chatting shop and planning an Intro to Winter Walking course for next year (anyone interested) we came across a Ski mountaineer with the largest bag that either of us have seen for a long time. 

The steep summit slopes of Bynack More rose above us before we met anyone else. There as we tried to hide from the biting winds we met a couple of ladies who were heading towards the summit. Unfortunately as we watched they struggled on the snow slopes. It looked as if the wind was getting the better of them. The line they were following, although the obvious line, was the very crest of the ridge of Bynack More. Thus they took the fully brunt of the wind and after a doze of meters hight gain they turned round and retreated. 

They looked quite shaken up as they chatted to us about the difficulty of the task ahead of us. one suggested that if she had been wearing her crampons she might have been able to continue. We thanked them for their advice, said that we would have a look a the snow when we got to it and picked our line up the ridge. We stayed in the lee of the hill and although the wind was still strong it was not impossible to walk through. 

We made the summit without the need to spike up, intact I'm sure crampons would have been detrimental to walking on the frozen summit gravel. After a quick bite to eat on the summit we decided to pop over to Bynack Beg before heading back to Glenmore Lodge. 

Even though it lacked much snow it was a truly shattering day out. The wind has a draining effect on your body. Will decided that he was going to head back towards South Wales and give himself longer for the drive and to recover at the other end. So after a few good days we said our farewell and agreed to meet again later in the season.

Monday morning. My alarm goes off at about 7am. What is wrong with my life? I'm not being paid to be up this early. Its cold in the van. I have to reach out from my duvet to light the stove, to heat the kettle and the van. Is it worth it? 

Yes. Always. Its winter. There are mountains to discover and people to discover them with. The forecast for the day is very strong Westerly winds. However Will and I have planned our day well and chosen to head to Newtonmore where there are a couple of Munros that we should get up with out much trouble. 

We parked the BBV at the end of a narrow icy road. Its not an early start by the time we have finished sorting out our kit and left the van. Three chaps have already overtaken us and headed off up the track towards the distant mountains. I'm going to claim that this was tactical on our part as we got to follow there tracks for the first hour and thus avoided the arduous task of breaking trail in the soft snow. 

We folllowed a 4x4 truck up the side of a burn towards A' Chailleach, our first munro. Unfortunately the mountain was on the far side of this quite substantial river, so we followed it past the washed out fords hoping to find somewhere that we could cross. 

Will pioneered a crossing at a possible looking place. I didn't have much faith in his ability to get across with out getting wet, I very much doubted that I would get across dry even if he did, so i did the only sensible thing and started videoing. At least it would be a youtube sensation if he did get wet. 

He made it across. So did I . Thankfully we both had walking poles otherwise it would have been a very tricky crossing. Just as I made it across the river (dry) the three other intrepid hill walkers came down stream to follow our crossing. Apparently there was noting better further up. 

The first chap got across without issue, he used his poles; the other two decided to brave it without poles and we were quite sure that they got wet feet, but would admit to nothing. 

We went our separate ways then. Will and I planned to use the mountain to shield us from the battering that we were sure to get from the wind; the other three decided to try and find the path and follow that then follow along the ridge, fully exposed to the wrath of the wind. 

Well we headed onward and upward until we eventually reached the summit. As we sat at the summit enjoying a brief restate from the wind the other three guys joined us. One of them looked slightly worse for wear. We had a pleasant chat and explained that we were heading for the second Munro and the lead guy expressed and intention to follow behind with his friends. 

So off we walked into the wind. The snow was perfect. Solid wind scoured snow, we just walked over it without sinking. From the summit of Carn Sgùlain, our second munro, it was apparent that the others had retuned the way they had come up. 

We headed round above the tributaries of the main river so as to avoid having to cross the river later and then dropped back to the valley. Now it was just a case of plodding our way back to the van. Eventually we reached it just as the sunset had faded to inky blackness. A true quality winter day out.

Sunday 25th January. 

My first day out in Scottish winter this season. Its been along time coming but finally I found myself wrapped up for the Scottish hills and with a carefully packed rucksack on my back. My lunch had been carefully selected to provide a huge calorie count, and I was ready to go.

Sue and I left the Cairngorm Ski carpark and headed out towards the Northern Cories. It was blowing a hoolie. The idea was to practice our navigation techniques across the foot of the Cories up to point 1083 along the top of Cairn Lochan and back down to the ski centre via point 1141. 

It was a good plan. However to quote Robert Burns 

That is to say, the weather had other plans for us today. We navigated our way for about 2km battling strong winds before finally having to give up and return to the cars. we had made it to just below the plateau of 1083m, but the wind had started blowing us to the ground and on a couple of occasions moved us back down the hill. 

Its not often that the wind bothers me. Usually I love being battered by the wind. On this occasion I decided that the days objectives simply were not worth the possible risk to my ankles. So it was with regret that we turn tail and legged it off the hill. We ended up in the Mountain Cafe enjoying cake and coffee and musing over our defeat. Its a good place to muse over possible future outings. s

Well I'm late at writing this up, very late.

So it's he end of January and I'm sure you have all been wondering what I have been up to.

I started the year with Fran in France. We booked a last minuet ski holiday to Flaine, where one of Fran's friends had an apartment. Dave had agreed to put us up for the week, show us around and join us on the slopes. He turned out to be a quality guy and we had a great time. 


Now, I haven't been skiing for over 10 years. Henry (my brother) had talked me into buying ski boots and skis, so when we got on to the slopes on that first day I was slightly nervous. What if I hated skiing? What if I was awful? Was I about to look like a muppet with all the gear and no idea? 


Turns out my fears were mostly unfounded. I can still ski. Fran and I had a cracking time on the slopes and I was genuinely gutted when the week was over and it was time to pack away my skis and catch a flight back to England.