Ben Wyvis ski-touring

Fantastic day out ski touring on Ben Wyvis today. The full gamut of Scottish conditions, from heather survival skiing to perfect untracked powder, from glorious sunshine and views to whipping winds and Baltic temperatures. Brilliant! From the Garve road there doesn't look to be too much snow, but we had a hunch that with the prevailing winds of late that a good amount would have collected in the back bowls, and this it proved. Plenty of folk on the hill, but mostly hill-walking rather than skiing.

There is also a video from today available here

https://www.facebook.com/pages/On-High-Hills/805745176138694?ref=tn_tnmn

Freeze-thaw see saw

Since my last post we have had some dramatic weather, at one turn thick snow to all levels allowing cross country skiing, then a few days later much milder and vanishing snow. The last couple of days have been a thaw period, and the hills are looking a lot less white than they were. However, there's likely to be still plenty to go at over the New Year period. Today was mild with strong winds over the tops, a good day for mountain biking in the glens! We went to Inshriach forest and the bottom of Glen Feshie. It was hard going in the sections (thankfully short) that were exposed to the wind, even at glen level, but once in the forest is was a lovely day. The pictures are looking west and show the extent of the snow at present on those slopes.

Happy New Year to all who have shared a path or rope with me with this year, thanks for all the fun, here's to 2015!

The excitement builds.......

The familiar rush of excitement this morning as  I woke up this morning to snow at my doorstep. Beautiful atmospheric day. We spent some time exploring more of the wonderful Abernethy forest. Great views in between the snow showers of higher hills, looks like they have caught a good amount of snow, particularly further west. Hopefully this will be the the first storm cycle of the season that lays a proper base for us to build on. 

Moray coast trail run

We've added some pictures from today to our Facebook page......

https://www.facebook.com/pages/On-High-Hills/805745176138694?ref=tn_tnmn

Glorious sunshine

Sometimes, the best weather forecast is looking out of the car/house

window. Having done so this morning, tentative plans for other areas were shelved, and instead I opted to stay in the sunshine by having a quick yomp over the Kincardine hills. It was lovely to feel the sun beating onto the face today, a real change from the recent greyness. A chill wind to remind us it's November, but no snow of note yet unfortunately, though there was a heavy frost in places this morning. More of this weather please!

First taste of winter

Very changeable weather this week, at times mild then very cold, as the winds switched round from different directions. Out on the Cairngorms plateau mid week there was a suprising amount of new soft snow, mid calf drifts in places. Much will now have gone in the milder temperatures of the last few days but a definite taste of things to come. Getting excited for more snowy adventures to come soon with any luck......

Winter is coming

Cold today up high with a very strong wind. Much nicer down in the shelter of the pines. Colder weather forecast for the coming week, with perhaps some more sprinkles of snow on the tops.....