First ski tour of the year

Lowther Hill is the highest hill in Dumfries and Galloway, but being just off the M74, 40 miles SOUTH of Glasgow it's almost in Lanarkshire and the Borders but at 725meters high, it large enough to have snow on in the winter. So I escaped the office, tazzed down down the Biggar road in the fading afternoon sunshine (snow on the Pentlands' tops and on Tinto Hill), crossed the motorway and took the potholed road up to Wanlockhead, the highest village in Scotland. (Believe it or not, but the highest villgae in Scotland is actually 1 whole meter lower in altitude than the highest village in England - Flash in that wild place known as the Staffordshire moorlands yet neither are in the truly mountainous areas).
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With a rapidly setting sun, I donned the plastic telemark boots and walked up the damp and melting Lowther Hill track from Wanlockhead for about 1km, after about 520m in altitude the snow was deeper and more stable, with a definite icy crust - Lowther Hill's not-so-secret is the cold war golf ball on the summit complete with perfectly asphalted access road - which makes for quick hill ascents. However, it was perfectly dark with zero moonlight when I started my headtorch-lit run back down. It was a rusty, thigh-busting, side slipping, out of control nightmare - but it was ace!

Winter Skills Course with Gary at Killin

First winter skills course of 2009 - a dusting of snow on the tops on Friday but snowing on Saturday and a full on blizzard on the Sunday.

Gary, of course, knows where all the good snow spots are on Ben Lawers since he lives at the foot of the hill - Killin is an ideal base for winter skills courses - since we usually have the hills to ourselves, unlike at the ski centres.

Guide - Gary - tarmachan-mountaineering.com

Clients - Bruce, Anthony

The Most Boring Munro in the Land?

At Drummochter Pass, the high point after the long pull up the A9 from Blair Atholl is a good place for winter munro bagging becasue teh starting hight of 400m leaves half the job done in terms of altitude gained - the west side has Geal Charn, A Mharconnich and Ben Udlamain - which have great views out over Loch Ericht but somehow the east side's big flat topped lumps, somehow have never held the same attraction - I was wrong! I found myself at a loose end on saturday afternoon, so instead of tidying the bunkhouse, I headed up a landrover track up the frozen heathery slopes of A’Bhuidheanach Bheag with Alex and Sophie for some blatant Munro bagging - the track all the way to the summit was a bit of a cheat but the wide open views of the wintry sunset were definitely inspiring! Walking up hills is never dull!

Happy New Year 2009

We saw out 2008 cooking Haggis, Neaps and Tatties for 44 people at a bunkhouse at Laggan in the Central Highlands - the first real walk of 2009 was 2 days later (allowing for the traditional hangover to dissipate) - Meall a Buachaille, overlooking Glenmore, Loch Morlich and the freezing Cairngorm plateau. The trees were covered in thick hoar frost and we even had an attempt at an impromptu curling match on the thoroughly frozen blue lochan on the way to Ryvoan Bothy before the first uphill of the year punished us for the previous week's overindulgence. The view, above the freezing fog hanging around Strathspey and Rothiemurcus was well worth the effort!