Monthly Archives: May 2020

Covid dreams 20: The breathtaking places

Posted on May 22, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

There are some places that are simply breathtaking. Loch Avon, in its deep, rocky-sided trench, is one of them. From most approaches it appears suddenly: a jewel in a perfect setting. There are so many viewpoints around the cirque of … Continue reading →

Posted in Topography | Tagged | 19 Comments

Covid dreams 19: The carefree days

Posted on May 19, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

‘Lithgae’ Jim Wright is caught mid-leap. A hill from the daft days. A hill started by walking away and sneaking round the back. A hill climbed by hiding from the views until the last. If you want to climb Beinn … Continue reading →

Posted in Stravaiging, Topography | Tagged | 6 Comments

Covid Dreams 18: Traverse of the Gods

Posted on May 17, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

It’s one of the most magnificent panoramas and one of the finest walks in Scotland, from Cairn Toul round to Braeriach.  Six kilometres of almost continuous cliff runs between the two summits, broken by only a handful of routes where … Continue reading →

Posted in Stravaiging, Topography | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Covid Dreams 17: Where sky and mountains meet

Posted on May 12, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

What jumps out first is the cloud-dappled sky… until you realise there’s land where there could be none and there’s a momentary sense of dislocation until you realise it’s not sky, nor even the reflection of clouds, but a frozen … Continue reading →

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Covid Dreams 16: Vertical pleasures

Posted on May 11, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

Another dip into the past, going back to 1996, when Colin McGregor and I climbed Squareface, the classic V Diff route in the Garbh Choire of Beinn a Bhuird. The angle is deceptive here – it’s always hard to capture … Continue reading →

Posted in People, Rock Climbing | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Covid Dreams 15: Glory and madness

Posted on May 9, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

It’s hardly seasonal but what the heck. This must be close on 30 years ago but I remember still how blown away we were by the sheer, in your face glory of it all. I don’t recall why we weren’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Misadventures, Stravaiging, Topography | Tagged | 6 Comments

Covid Dreams 14: Light in Glen Derry

Posted on May 6, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

I love the light in this photograph: the clarity of the air, the glow of the sunlit pines; in the distance, the cloud thinning and lifting to reveal a first dusting of snow on the tops, the sun catching the … Continue reading →

Posted in Stravaiging, Topography | Tagged | 3 Comments

Covid Dreams 13: Tree on a treeless hill

Posted on May 5, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

This ‘tree’ caught me by surprise one day as I was climbing from Meall Tionaill to Geal Charn, in the hills between the Bynack Burn and Glen Ey. The hillsides and corries may be shorn of trees by the deer, … Continue reading →

Posted in Stravaiging, Topography | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Covid Dreams 12: The A Team

Posted on May 3, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

After a few landscape photos, a nice cheery one of my mates. These guys are the A Team – some of it anyway – the core of the Eastern area of the MBA and the Friends of Bob Scott’s, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Bothies, People | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Covid Dreams 11: The granite layers

Posted on May 2, 2020 by cairngormwanderer

There’s something hard and unforgiving about this view across the grain of the central Cairngorms. In a land where one thinks mainly in terms of plateaux riven by great glens and nibbled at the edges by corries the view this … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment