The winter is officially on now with the 1st of December and the start of the metrological winter which runs until the last day of February. Although I winter season in the mountains runs until April just to note! Jo and I arrived back from Spain with almost perfect timing hoping to return to some winter conditions back in mid November. A cold snap was underway which gave some good conditions but was quickly taken over by storm Bert which initially brought some heavy snowfall but milder air and rain followed through.
It stayed fairly mild since but as I type some colder air is making its way in today (December 2nd) and should have a few wintery days in it until the weekend.
I had some fun at Cha No with Simon in the first spell of wintery weather in mid November. Its a nice venue which has been well written up by the SMC which has a topo and guide which is downloadable from the SMC site. A good early season venue, in a good winter though it could largely bank out given its short routes on the plateau edge. One thing worth noting and an error that I made last winter was that if it has almost any sun on it it can strip in minutes.
Jo and I also made use of the Daviot woods for a cross country ski as storm Bert arrived bringing some initial heavy snowfall with it. There is actually a XC ski base at the Slcohd which would be worth a visit more info here.
Jo and I also had a trip up to Torridon which looked stunning on a clear blue day, hoping that there are a few more days like that to come. The Torridon hills often being a bit more fickle with conditions due to its proximity to the sea.
The avalanche forecast made its first appearance for the season in the Cairngorms during this wintry period which it does do early season if there is a significant amount of snow although wont start officially until December 15th.
At the moment its very much winter in the hills and hopefully some build up will begin. We are taking booking for our winter courses which are filling up so please get in touch for further details.
Comments