Abacus Mountain Guides
  • Home
  • Adventures
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • About
  • Booking
  • Partners
  • 2020

The Cairngorms are purple.

18/8/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
Something like 80% of all the heather in the world is in Scotland. Much of this is in the Cairngorms and today it looked like it was all in flower. The Cairngorms have turned purple! What a wonderful sight it was for Sue and I as we walked up onto the plateau to do some navigation. Bog asphodels have been doing very well this year as well and we saw plenty still in full flower, sharp yellow counterpoints to the purple haze.
Picture
Despite the weather forecast for thick cloud on the tops and persistent rain, it was mostly dry this side of the A9  and we had much less cloud than expected. It was cold though with a stiff westerly breeze that brought out the dachstein mitts and wooly hats. We went up through Coire Laogh Mor and round the east side of cairngorm before coming back over the top and back down through Coire Ciste. We did get some cloud and low visibility on the very top as well as some rain which was useful for the navigation we were doing.
Picture
So we now have another fine summer mountain leader. Sue passed today by demonstrating good navigation skills all the way round the walk. I know that the Duke of Edinburgh students she often works with will have a great time with her as their mountain leader. For me, this was a wee warm up to another mountain leader assessment we have starting on Monday. It looks like we will get some mixed weather for that too!
Picture
1 Comment
Sue
18/8/2017 22:43:28

Thank you for a great day Mike. Very supportive and appreciated the detailed feedback at the end of the day.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Mike Pescod
    mountain guide.

    Self reliance is a fundamental principle of mountaineering. By participating we accept this and take responsibility for the decisions we make. These blog posts and conditions reports are intended to help you make good decisions. They do not remove the need for you to make your own judgements when out in the hills.

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Picture

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed


Picture
Jottnar
info@abacusmountainguides.com
+44 (0) 1397 703563
  • Home
  • Adventures
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • About
  • Booking
  • Partners
  • 2020