Once Upon A Time In The Distant Past .......

Myself, David & Bob (plus unidentified backside) at the Bickershaw Festival, May 1972. Photo: Pete Crick.

Yesterday the magic of the internet brought a wonderful email from a friend from college days I'd had no contact with for nearly 40 years. David Folkes had been reading and enjoying my book Grizzly Bears and Razor Clams. Noticing that I mentioned the music of The Grateful Dead, which was playing at the Bonaparte Lake Resort, he dug out a few old pictures from the Bickershaw Festival, which I went to mainly to see the Dead. I had forgotten such pictures were ever taken. I remember that the weather was wet and windy - a bit of research found some stuff on the web about it (is there anything that isn't online somewhere?) that says it was "definitely one of the wettest rock festivals of all time". I really enjoyed it though, especially the Grateful Dead.

I have of course been playing some Grateful Dead to go along with the photo and the memories, especially those tracks on the Europe '72 album that were recorded at Bickershaw - the version of Dark Star from the festival is playing as I write this. I'm also currently downloading the free tracks from 30 Days of Dead - the third year running the band has given away tracks each day of November.

By the way, I hope no-one is going to ask me what the tent is in the photo. I haven't a clue!

A First Winter's Day In The Cairngorms

Stob Coire an t-Sneachda & the top of the Fiacaill a'Choire Chais

Snow has come and gone and come again on the Cairngorms already this winter. I missed the first falls but today I ventured up onto the Cairngorms Plateau for the first time in many months and found the land frozen hard in the grip of winter. Dark swirling clouds draped the summits and a bitter and strong north-west wind roared up from the corries. Away from the edge of the cliffs there was little more than a breeze but I could still hear the wind, thundering against the rocks like surf. I could have believed I was on some icy cliff in the arctic and the sound was that of the ocean surging against the rocks below. I’ve never heard the wind quite like that before. There is always something new up here.

Walkers on Stob Coire an t-Sneachda

 

The wind, strong enough in places to almost knock me off my feet and to make walking difficult, plus the dense cloud, deterred me from heading for Ben Macdui as I’d have had to struggle against it all the way back. Instead I followed the rim of the Northern Corries over Stob Coire an t-Sneachda and should-be-a-Munro Cairn Lochan. The ground was hard and icy with patches of old refrozen snow to crunch through and the stones were coated with hoar frost. The wind was harsh, almost painful, and my face was scoured by the icy blasts. My cheeks felt burnt by the cold. I could not tell if they were hot or cold. There was ice in my beard. This was a real winter’s day. Spindrift swirled around me. Or perhaps it was snow falling. I couldn’t tell.

 

A pair of ptarmigan in their white winter plumage half-flew, half-skittered over the rocks. In the whirling wind above the edge of the cliffs a raven hung in the air, wings angled, then plunged straight down like a diving gannet, before soaring back up and letting the wind blow it backwards. The birds of the mountains, at home in the snow and rocks.

Cairn Lochan

Down below the mountains in the corries the world was still frozen and monochrome. Ice covered the pools and the bogs were crisp but treacherous, the skin of frozen water and vegetation not supporting my weight.

Feeling refreshed and renewed by the intensity of the winter landscape and the power of the weather I drove home. Rain was falling. I didn’t mind. Up there it would be snow.

New TGO: Waiting for the Snow, Gloves & Mitts, Klymit Inertia Sleeping Pads, Berghaus Vapour Storm,Reviving Down

Igloo in the Glen Affric hills, January 2012

The December issue of TGO is just out. Before getting onto the contents I'd like to echo Acting Editor Daniel Neilson in his editorial in congratulating Editor Emily Rodway on the birth of her son. Emily will be back at the magazine in the spring.

In this issue my backpacking column, written in early October, is about looking forward to a snowy winter and some winter camps and igloos. In gear I review 15 pairs of gloves and mitts plus the curious Klymit Inertia sleeping pads amd have a first look at Berghaus' vented Vapour Storm waterproof jacket. In the Hills Skills section I discuss reviving down clothing and sleeping bags. I also have a trip in the Wild Walks section this month - an account of a stormy day in the Berwyn hills in North Wales.

Elsewhere in this issue there's a lovely picture of Shenavall Bothy by Dougie Cunningham; some wonderful pictures of last month's Northern Lights from TGO readers; John Manning on a stormy backpack in the Northern Pennines; Jim Perrin on a circuit of Snowdon, an excerpt from his new book on this iconic mountain; Cameron McNeish in search of the most remote Munro; more storms with Daniel Neilson on a backpacking trip in the Lake District with a review of the gear he used; Roger Smith on the badger cull; Jim Perrin praising W.M.Condry's Snowdonia National Park; compass navigation, wind chill, snowshoeing and fire lighting in the Hill Skills section; reviews of Patagonia and Berghaus insulated jackets by Daniel Neilson and reviews of 12 women's gilets by Judy Armstrong;

A Rare Visitor to the Bird Feeders

Jays are scarce in Northern Scotland so I was both surprised and delighted when my partner told me she'd seen one on a seed tray. Later the bird returned and I was able to take some photographs. It stayed for fifteen minutes or so. Jays are beautiful birds, though they have a very harsh call, and I'd be very pleased to see them more often. They are slowly becoming more common in the Highlands.

The Scottish Bird Report online for Highland 2007 says jays are a "scarce but increasing breeder" and notes for autumn/winter sightings "birds were reported from 10 sites in Badenoch & Strathspey". Roy Dennis's The Birds of Badenoch and Strathspey, published in 1995, says there were just four sightings in the district after 1985 so jays are clearly spreading in this area but still quite unusual.

Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards Video Shoot - And You Can Vote For Me

Craigellachie woods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As I posted last month I've been nominated for the Glenfiddich Spirt of Scotland Awards in the Environment category for my work with the Save the Monadhliath Mountains campaign. This is a public vote and there's still time to support me, if you so wish.

Today Ross, a video photographer, came up from Edinburgh to film me at work. The organisers had suggested that he should video me at my computer but that sounded dull and boring and anyway my office is rather disorganised (i.e. there's outdoor gear, books and magazines strewn everywhere). Instead I suggested we head for the outdoors as that is where I really do my work - the writing is just formalising it. I do actually think out much of what I write while walking as well of course as taking photographs.

Outdoors video agreed we met in the Mountain Cafe in Aviemore (as I've mentioned before this wonderful cafe is a favourite meeting place -I'm happy to use any excuse for a visit!). Then we headed up into Craigellachie Nature Reserve where the lovely birch woods are still showing the last of the autumn colours. Here I wandered round being filmed walking and looking at the trees and the views.

For a bit of variety we decided to film me taking photographs - which seemed relevant as I have visited the site of the proposed Allt Duine wind farm several times over the last year to take photographs and some of these were used as evidence in the Public Inquiry and have appeared in newspapers and magazines. Being filmed taking photographs felt rather odd and I needed to distract myself so I would look more natural. There was only way to do this. Take photographs! So I stopped pretending and started looking for compositions and adjusting the camera. That's when the photos shown here were taken.

Photographing the photgrapher photographing the photographer .......

Then Ross took some close up video and asked me to point my lens straight at his camera, which was only about a foot away. Again I thought it best to take a real picture so above you can see Ross videoing me photographing him. Some of the things we do seem really strange!

Craigellachie

Wild Land, Wind Farms & Public Opinion: New Survey

The John Muir Trust has just released a new YouGov poll that shows that more people (40%) want wild land protected from wind farms than want wind farms prioritised over wild land (28%). The survey also shows that 43% of people would be less likely to visit a scenic area with large numbers of wind turbines while only 2% said they would be more likely to visit such an area.

JMT commissioned this poll because previous polls showing support for wind power didn’t ask about locating turbines on wild land. These polls have been quoted repeatedly by energy companies to justify industrialising wild land even though they did not show support for this, only for wind power in general. In fact, as the JMT poll shows, far more people are against wind farms in wild land than in favour of them.

Interestingly, the poll, which covered the whole of the UK, showed that opposition to wind farms in wild areas was strongest in areas like the West Midlands and London, showing that this isn’t a countryside “nimbys” against the rest issue.

Hopefully politicians will take note of this survey and think carefully about where wind farms should be located. It should encourage tourism bodies to more actively object to wind farms in scenic areas too. Overall, I find this poll very encouraging as it shows that those of us campaigning for wild land are not out of touch with public feeling. Rather it is those who wish to industrialise wild land who are ignoring public opinion.

Second Place: Favourite Scottish Nature Photography Book 2012

Coming second seems the place for my photo book A Year In The Life Of The Cairngorms. Following the Highly Commended in the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild Awards for Excellence I am pleased to hear that the book has now come second in the Favourite Scottish Nature Photography Book Vote 2012, part of the Scottish Nature Photography Awards. Thanks to every one who voted for my book.

This is my first book of photographs. I am really delighted it has done so well.

The winner of the Favourite Scottish Nature Photography Book was  Eilean Dubh, The Black Isle by James A Moore, Andrew Dowsett and Russell Turner. I must admit I haven't seen this book. I will have to find a copy. Third was Caledonia - Scotland's Heart of Pine by Peter Cairns and Niall Benvie, an excellent book that I reviewed here.