THE RETURN OF THE SUN

Fabulous snow cover under blue skies

Northern Coire's path

Nearing the summit

Creag an Leth-choin summit (Lurchers Crag)

Snow cover in Lurchers

Weather quickly changed above 900m

Into blue skies again 

Lots of folk out enjoying the sun!

The Cairngorm mountains have been under a layer of thick, low cloud for 7 days. Light snow falling through much of this period with upland gales. The ski road has been covered in drifting snow many days and the snow gates closed. This morning the skies were blue, the winds light and a beautiful sun was shining above the deep snow clad hills. I love it when someone books a day out with me and the weather plays ball. Anne timed it perfectly! It would have been a much different day yesterday! Anne was wanting a winter walk in the Cairngorms, nothing technical. This was her first taste of Scottish winter hillwalking. With lots of choices for 'easy' angled walks around the area it isn't hard to find something suitable. We chose Creag an Leth-choin (Lurchers Crag) for our day out. This 'demoted; Munro summit is a fine objective with stunning views of Braeriach and the Lairig Ghru from its summit. You never see many folk up here so guaranteed a peaceful time. Anne was out with me two years ago for a couple of days summer hillwalking in the area. Very different in winter of course. With a full cover of snow down to low levels it seemed to be a hard day trail breaking on the cards. Thankfully the first bit of the Northern Coire's path was well trodden so made for easy progress. We decided to go up the well filled Lurchers Gully to get to the hill. This popular route for ski tourers is a great route for walkers too. We saw a few skiers on the way up. The final slopes we had to ourselves. Plenty of windslab of course but it's all easy angled. We were in cloud for the final 150m and some light snow showers. We didn't quite get the views with the stubborn cloud drifting over the Nothern Corries on the southerly wind. It was still a great day to be out and some wonderful sunshine.