A snow book, northern Scotland

Posted by & filed under Books, Mountains & hills, Science, December 22 2011.

Adam Watson has been continuously observing and collecting data about snow in the north-east of Scotland (and particularly in the Cairngorm mountains) since the 1930s, and this important book represents the culmination of that activity. It will have a strong claim in the future to being the standard reference work in the discipline of research… Read more »

It’s a fine day for the hill

Posted by & filed under Books, Mountains & hills, December 15 2011.

Adam Watson can surely lay claim to being a true ‘Mountain Man’ of Scotland – perhaps the premier contemporary claimant to this auspicious title! Adam Watson’s recently published ‘It’s a fine day for the hill‘ (subtitled ‘And once in a blue sun and moon’, the meaning of which is explained in the book) is his… Read more »

Using GIS techniques to analyse and model the topographical environment and dependencies of long-lasting snowpatch locations in the Scottish mountains

Posted by & filed under Mountains & hills, Science, December 7 2011.

One of my pet interests is the study of long-lasting (and sometimes ‘perennial’) snowpatches in the Scottish mountains. I have written many previous postings on my blog on this subject (see a list of these on my website here). The question of what factors affect the longevity of snowpatches in the Scottish mountains through the… Read more »

Cycle routes in the Cairngorms and the Borders

Posted by & filed under Mountains & hills, September 19 2011.

Last week I met up with my friend Bernhard and we undertook a 35km cycle route in the northern Cairngorms. The route was an anti-clockwise loop starting and finishing at Loch Garten. We took advantage of the only day with a forecast of good weather that week, and we had ideal conditions for cycling, with… Read more »

ITC Certificate in Outdoor First Aid

Posted by & filed under Mountains & hills, Personal, September 17 2011.

Last weekend I went on a 2-day first aid course. The course was run by First Aid Academy and was based at the Bonaly Outdoor Centre in Edinburgh. After the 2 days of the course I gained the ITC Certificate in Outdoor First Aid.

My 200th Munro summit – but who’s counting…

Posted by & filed under Mountains & hills, Personal, August 4 2011.

I don’t like to think of myself as a Munro-bagger (see my previous blog postings, ‘I’m not a Munro-bagger, honest‘ and ‘Munro nonsense‘), but I do keep a diary of all the hills I climb, so inevitably I also have a record of how many Munro summits I’ve got to the top of.