Snow in the Cairngorms

 

Cairn Gorm

A day of darkness and storms has brought snow to the Cairngorms. Wind and rain raged throughout the night and into the morning down in the glens. The hills were hidden in the dark swirling clouds. With +5C the highest temperature reached here at 300 metres I guessed that high up the rain would be snow. And so it proved when the clouds lifted a little in the early afternoon to reveal a ragged edge of white along the hills.
  

Bynack More & Beinn Mheadhoin

When the showers eased I ventured outside into the strong cold wind and strolled through the meadows and woods. Slowly the hills appeared, bright white against the grey clouds and contrasting with the vivid colours of the woods. Above the trees it's winter. In the forests it's autumn. Now as dusk falls the clouds have lowered again and the hills have vanished. I expect more snow is falling.

From the left: Bynack More, Beinn Mheadhoin, Strath Nethy, Cairn Gorm, Stob Coire an t-Sneachda, Cairn Lochan

The photos were taken handheld with a 55-250 zoom lens on my NEX 7 camera. I used fences for support as it was difficult to stand still in the wind never mind hold a camera steady. The low light meant I shot at ISO800 and the photos are quite grainy and slightly soft. I haven't tried to correct this as I feel the photos reflect how the landscape was as they are. The world wasn't sharp or clear! The trees were swaying in the wind, the clouds were racing across the sky, the air was dark and heavy.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z Review in The Great Outdoors

I've just reviewed the Sony Xperia Tablet Z as a tablet for outdoor use. My review is on The Great Outdoors website here.

It's a great tablet, especially being waterproof, but it is rather large. I'd love to see a version the same size as my Nexus 7, which I've been using for well over a year now and which I reviewed here in one of my most popular posts.

Of Wolves & Fences & Access: Alladale Plans Resurface

Alladale scenery

Way back in 2007 I wrote a series of blog posts about the proposals by landowner Paul Lister for a huge electrified fence round his Alladale estate in northern Scotland, inside which he planned on releasing wolves and other large animals. People would then be charged large sums to be taken on guided trips to see the wildlife. The proposals received a great deal of publicity - releasing wolves caught the media's attention and Lister had good PR people - but came to nothing other than a few small enclosures for moose and boars. Then in 2010 it was announced that the plans to release wolves had been abandoned and everyone concerned with this threat to access breathed a sigh of relief.

The last few days however have seen a sudden media blitz about the same proposal, mostly on BBC radio but also in newspapers and on TV. There doesn't seem to be anything different in the scheme other than Lister offering to talk to organisations like Ramblers Scotland and the John Muir Trust but he obviously feels it's worth reviving. I wasn't totally surprised to hear Lister promote the scheme again as he'd popped up with a question about releasing wolves at the talk by George Monbiot at the Edinburgh Book Festival I attended in August (see this blog post). Monbiot responded that he was in favour of wolf reintroduction. However in response to a later question Monbiot also said he was very opposed to any restrictions on access.

Unsurprisingly Lister's PR push has had a big response on the internet with much discussion on social networking sites. The best piece I've seen, which outlines the history of this story, is Cameron McNeish's on the Walk Highlands website, which I recommend.

My own view hasn't changed since 2007 when I said that the fence would be an eyesore and an insult to nature as well as breaching our hard-won access rights. I also wrote ' Lister says “it would not be practical to have people walking around Alladale while wolves roam". In fact there is no reason why people and wolves couldn’t coexist as they do in many other parts of the world. I’ve walked 1,000s of miles in wolf terrain in North America and seen wild wolves and heard them howling at night, which are wonderful experiences. I’d love to do so in the Highlands. Reintroducing wolves to the Highlands is a great idea but would only work with public support and in areas where the habitat is suitable. I’d like to see more wildness in the Highlands but not a safari park.'

That all these arguments have to be restated is disappointing but if Lister persists in promoting his ideas it's necessary to do so. No-one can be allowed to override access rights, whatever the reason. At the same time opposing Lister's fence does not mean opposing rewilding or the reintroduction of missing wildlife.

Autumn Colours, Anagach Woods

Into the woods

The stormy weather of recent weeks has not made the hills very attractive. They've been cloud-capped, windswept and wet. Struggling over them on compass bearings in thick mist and driving rain has not been very appealing and it's a few weeks since I ventured onto the tops.

In Anagach Woods

However at this time of year the woods offer a bright and colourful alternative to the greyness of the hills. Autumn colours are peaking now and this year the display is really glorious. I spent a day wandering round Anagach Woods on the edge of Grantown-on-Spey marvelling at the intense colours. The gentle rain that fell - gentle in the shelter of the trees that is, in open areas it was harder and wind-driven - only served to amplify the brilliance of the leaves.

The leaves are falling

In Anagach Woods

Anagach Woods are not ancient, being planted in the 1760s, but they are natural with much regeneration. This is not a plantation. Scots pine and birch are the dominant trees but there are many others including sessile oak, beech, elm, hazel, aspen, rowan and willow. The land is undulating with many glacial ridges and hollows, making for interesting terrain.

Hollow & Ridge

There are waymarked paths through the woods, including the Speyside Way, but I don't usually follow any one route, preferring to wander freely, following up anything that catches my eye, which on this walk usually meant flashes of colour. The woods are close to the River Spey and I ended up on its banks. After all the rain the river was high and fast. Goosanders and mallards swept past, allowing the river to drive them downstream. A coot skittered across the water, half running,. half flying. On the banks a fringe of trees glowed bronze and gold.

The River Spey

Today strong winds are ripping the leaves from exposed trees. The temperature has fallen. Snow is forecast for the summits. Winter is coming. The glories of autumn will soon be gone.

Anagach Woods

Wild Camping in Glen Feshie clip from The Cairngorms In Winter

Shelters for Backpacking

Camping with Terry Abraham on Mullach Clach a'Bhlair in the Cairngorms

 
This year various people have expressed surprise at my choice of shelters - the GoLite Shangri-La 3 single-skin floorless tent that appears in The Cairngorms In Winter film and the Mountain Laurel Designs Trailstar shaped tarp and Oookworks Nest that I used on the Scottish Watershed walk. A few years ago I wrote a piece for The Great Outdoors on shelters. Here it is:

Tent or tarp? Or maybe just a bivi bag? There are several ways to sleep out in the wilds. Recently there has been a debate on several outdoor blogs arguing that one or other is in some way superior or better than the others. I think this is nonsense. They all have their place and it comes down to personal preference and, often, the conditions. Many years ago a friend and I did a two-week trip in Yosemite National Park. The weather was calm and I slept out under the stars in just my sleeping bag every night. My friend slept in a double-skin tent with the inner and outer doors zipped shut. We were both happy, which is what matters. 

Perfect camping on the Arizona Trail - no shelter needed

My preference is for the most minimal shelter that will be comfortable in the conditions expected. Ideally I would always sleep out in just a sleeping bag. However if there is more than a slight breeze, if bugs are biting or if rain is falling or likely to fall then sleeping under a roof makes life easier and I want my camping to be as trouble-free as possible. I prefer tarps to bivi bags as there’s more living and storage room, which is important when it’s stormy. And if it’s not stormy I don’t need a tarp or a bivi bag. I like big tarps too – ones where I can sit up, cook inside, store all my gear and keep away from any rain that comes in under the edges. Small tarps can be uncomfortable. I remember a night in one high on Ben More Assynt in the Northwest Highlands. A wind sprang up overnight so I lowered the tarp so the perimeter was close to the ground, which stopped the wind ruffling my sleeping bag. However that meant I couldn’t sit up and couldn’t use the stove under cover. The tarp fabric hit my sleeping bag too – I couldn’t decide which was worse, flapping nylon or the wind. I slept badly and the camp was not enjoyable. I expect camping to be comfortable and fun, whatever the conditions. I’m not out there to suffer.

A nice big tarp

This tarp is too narrow

Tents have two places in my camping trips. The first is when snow is expected. Then a double-skin tent can keep snow from blowing all over you and, if a strong design, stand up to the weight of a heavy fall. That said, I have sometimes used a single-skin floorless tent in winter and dug the perimeter into the snow to stop snow blowing in when it's windy. Indeed, on a ski tour across the Sarek National Park in Arctic Sweden I did this for two weeks. Again personal preference came into play as my two companions were so dubious about the security of my single-pole floorless shelter that they chose to sleep in a much smaller geodesic dome tent, leaving me to the vast space of a three-person shelter. 

 

Snow camp with a double-skin tent - Tarptent Scarp 1

Snow camp with single-skin floorless tent - GoLite Shangri-La 3

The second situation when I regard a tent as essential is when insects are biting. Head nets, closely woven clothing and repellents may all protect against being bitten but they don’t stop midges buzzing round your head in clouds and the first two can be hot and stuffy. I much prefer being able to sit inside an insect-free tent. In calm dry weather just a mesh tent is adequate. On the Pacific Northwest Trail I often just pitched the mesh inner of my tent when mosquitoes were likely and rain wasn’t. There are mesh inners available for some tarps and single-skin floorless tents now, which I intend trying this summer to see if they make these shelters usable in midge season. (Note: And I did, with success, resulting in my using such a combination on the Scottish Watershed walk this year).

GoLite Shangri-La 1 used without inner. The doors stayed wide open all night.

GoLite Shangri-La 1 Nest used to keep off mosquitoes on a dry night on the Pacific Northwest Trail

When the midges are swarming or wind-driven rain is battering the tent being inside with the doors zipped shut can feel very secure. However doors don’t always have to be closed. One of the arguments I’ve read about the supposed superiority of tarps is that tents cut you off from the outdoors while tarps keep you in contact with nature. Actually this depends on how you use a shelter and not what style it is. I only close the doors of a tent when insects are biting or rain or wind is blowing in. This applies even in very cold weather – the tent is to keep off the weather. Warmth is provided by my clothing and sleeping bag. I like tents with big doors too so when they are open I have a wide view. I don’t want to be out of touch with the outside but I do want to be able to keep the outside from getting inside if it turns nasty. Often, I’ve woken during the night to feel rain or wind on my face and have only then closed the tent doors. Midges are a more serious threat though and I don’t want to be woken by them biting me so I always close the inner tent door when they are around. To reduce the feeling of being enclosed I like tents with mesh inner doors or at least mesh panels in the door so I can still see out, if somewhat hazily.

 

Mountain Laurel Designs Trailstar & Oookworks Nest in a midge-ridden forest

Filming for the Adventure Show

A dusting of snow on Cairn Lochan

 

 

 

Sometimes the weather just works out for the best. A few weeks ago I'd arranged to do some filming with Triple Echo Productions for The Adventure Show. The date was last Thursday and the forecast earlier in the week was not promising. But it changed and Thursday became 'the best-looking day of the week' in the mountain forecasts. And so it proved, a day of dryness in a week of wet weather. The night before was chilly with the rain falling as snow on the highest summits. It was still windy and we had to find sheltered spots to record voices.  Clouds tore across the sky, layered and fractured, with rare flashes of sunlight slanting occasionally slanting through them. The air was cold, hat and gloves cold, which was good as we were filming for a piece about the Cairngorms in winter. Appropriately, the clouds lifted at times to reveal a fresh dusting of snow high up.

Keith and Meg, cameraman and producer, heading for the Chalamain Gap

Filming takes time, as I know from making the Cairngorms in Winter film with Terry Abraham last winter. On this occasion we wandered across to the rocky ravine of  the Chalamain Gap and back again, a distance of around 8 kilometres. We were out for five hours. I walked much more than that distance though as I repeated several sections so they could be filmed from different angles and vantage points. I also carried a full pack so I could be filmed pitching camp and then sitting in the tent talking about winter camping. 

Reindeer ignoring us

Our route took us past a big enclosure where the Cairngorm reindeer are often found when they're not scattered over the hills. They were there that day, studiously ignoring us, though one did stare intently when I was pitching the tent.

The piece will be broadcast in the Adventure Show on BBC2 Scotland in early December and will include clips from The Cairngorms In Winter film.