What a weekend! I had the great honour of guiding Tim on his first three Munros over the last weekend of March. Tim had never been to Scotland hill walking before and we were treated to a blast of real winter as well as Alpine sunshine.
Late winter / early Spring can be the most magical time to go hill walking in Scotland. There can still be considerable snow cover but also warm sunshine and blue skies.
We were treated to a short white-out blizzard coming down off the summit of Cairngorm before glorious intermittent sunshine and incredible views on Saturday heading across to Ben MacDui - Britain's second highest mountain at 1,309m. Tim had hoped to be able to try out his new crampons but the conditions weren't really right for them. However, we did managed to look at techniques for walking in different snowpacks, a bit of avalanche awareness, and using the ice axe - including some fun cutting steps up a steep bank near the summit of Ben Macdui.
On Sunday, we headed up Bynack More - an isolated Munro on the NE edge of the Cairngorms commanding spectacular views. At 1,090m it is slightly dwarfed by the others on the main plateau but nevertheless we had an excellent and sunny day!
Whenever I'm guiding, I always try and introduce people to new skills to ultimately enable you to become more confident to go out and have your own adventures!
Plenty more coming up over Spring and Summer!
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