Cairngorm Spring

The last four days have been spent in the company of a great group of chaps who decided on the Cairngorms National Park as a great place to catch up and have a reunion. From a base at Suidhe Lodge, Kincraig, we had four days to play with. Day 1 was a relatively gentle introduction, with me taking the group over the Kincardine Hills above Glenmore Forest, including the iconic Meall a Buchaille, and the famous Ryvoan Bothy. For the second day we upped the ante and, with the benefit of two vehicles, had a great day traversing the Munro of Sgor Gaoith and on to the Argyll Stone. This is a lovely ridge set between beautiful Glen Feshie and the dramatic Gleann Einich. On both of these days I had Alex Cowan along to help; he is working towards his Mountain Leader award, so this was good experience for him.  For days 3 and 4 some more of the group arrived, so I was joined by my colleague Olly Stephenson to allow us to split off in various directions. I took a group rock-climbing and abseiling at Kingussie crag in the morning, followed by an afternoon roaring around the fantastic tracks and trails of Rothiemurchus on mountain bikes. This was a welcome change in the muscles being used for some! Olly led the other group hillwalking, doing a similar day over Sgor Gaoith, for those that had missed it the day before.  Our final day, today, was a fitting finale, with a great circuit of the Northern Corries of Cairngorm, followed by the summit of Cairngorm itself. Light winds, good amounts of sunshine and great views made for a terrific last day,  and lovely to enjoy the company of all eleven folk. The group were really good fun, a delight to spend time on the hill with--thank you guys!

Abbey Road meets the Cairngorms!

Soaking in the views over Gleann Einich

Still wintry on Sgor Gaoith

The A-Team hit the bike trails

A great team

Mountain biking

Here are a couple of pictures from earlier this week, guiding Mike around some of the tracks and trails of the Cairngorms and Strathspey. We started in Aviemore itself and took in lots of ground including Rothiemurchus, An Sluggan, Loch Garten, Carrbridge etc.  A nice change from the hill walking, although not exactly an easier day-----the computer read 63 km and >3000ft up and down but the end. Phew!

Fantastic light and colours---on the Speyside Way

View to the Cairngorm mountains

Heatwave

We have been enjoying some fabulous weather over the last week, especially so on the West coast, where temperatures have been consistently some of the highest in the UK, in the mid 20s Centigrade.
At the start of the week I had a quick dash to the incomparable Torridon hills to do a mountain bike loop that has been on my list for some time. This is the classic Beinn Damph loop. Although not enormous in terms of distance, there is a good amount of tricky climbing to get done, before the final long, long blast down singletrack all the way back to Loch Torridon. The final ten minutes of descent through the sun dappled warm pine forests, rich in scent, were a fitting finale to a great day. A change back to Arctic northerly air streams tomorrow, so forecast to be much colder, albeit still dry!

Fantastic singletrack riding, fantastic views

Good spot for a break

And another!

A pause for breath during the helter-skelter descent. Beinn Alligin looking magnificent across Loch Torridon

Back to the Cairngorms and still sunny!

After yesterday's steep ups and downs in Torridon, today was a bike day to cover some ground and give the leg muscles a change of scene. Plenty of fun as usual on our fabulous trails and tracks that we have around Rothiemurchus, Loch Morlich and Glenmore. Lots of people out enjoying the fabulous weather. Simply stunning.



The Northern Corries of the Cairngorms from Loch Morlich

 



Good to replenish some Vitamin D!

The Cairngorms from the north early this morning

Biking in the sun

Stunning Autumn day again here in the Cairngorms. We enjoyed a cracking bike ride on the singletrack around Carrbridge........the trails remain pretty dry with a fine coating of fallen pine needles. The colours remain fabulous just now. Warm in the sunshine, but chilly in the shade today. Lovely!

Mountain biking guiding

We are so lucky in Scotland to have some of the best mountain-biking in the world, in wonderful scenery. Indeed, top US magazine Outside voted Scotland "Best Biking Destination 2014", which is high praise indeed. I am thrilled to say that today I passed the assessment to become a British Cycling Mountain Bike Leader (Level 2), having shown skills in navigation, group management, personal riding, emergency procedures, trail side repairs and much more besides. I am really looking forward to showing On High Hills clients, old and new, what all the fuss is about. We will be offering mountain biking alongside our existing walking, guiding and skills courses in the future. Watch this space.......