Sunday morning in the Pentland Hills - 5th December 2010.

At last we had some decent weather, although time and family was against us getting further north, so myself and Stevie opted for a quick jaunt on the Pentlands. We were the only people in the Flotterstone car park at 0730 in the morning and it was still dark as we left the trees near the rangers hut and made our way up to Turnhouse Hill. As we neared the summit, the sun was rising over the Lammermuirs to the east bringing a little warmth as it was still very cold on the tops. Even walking in the Pentlands can be difficult in winter if you're not prepared!  

From Turnhouse Hill we made our way to Carnethy Hill where after 2 hours (yeah 2 hours!) we stopped for a cup of tea and some happy snaps of Scald Law and East and West Kips in the distance. It was still bitterly cold, so I put on my Montane belay jacket over a Rab shell, over a North Face windstopper fleece and a Smartwool baselayer to keep warm. However we did have great views over to the kips with not a soul in sight, bar for one lone figure on South Black Hill.

It wasn't until we turned and headed back down off Carnethy towards Turnhouse that we passed two guys skinng up on skis, with another heading up from the west. Maybe that's something I should look into for the future as I'm sure that must save time on the descents.

 

The lone ski tourer nearing the summit of Carnethy.

Stevie on his way back up Turnhouse hill from the stile between it and Carnethy.

Looking back at Carnethy from Turnhouse with the morning sun almost on the summit.

Raised footprints near the summit of Turnhouse showing how the wind has been moving the snow around over the past few days.

The hills starting to get busy now with ski tourers, snowboarders and walkers.

Clear blue skies against the trees on the foresummit of Turnhouse Hill.

The final descent down to the car park at the Flotterstone Inn.

Windslab forming in Edinburgh, 1st December 2010.

After 6 days of snow in the Scottish capital and no real freeze thaw cycle, it became apparent the dangerous windslab was forming (err, on the hedge). As this was becoming a hazard when wading through the deep, unconsolidated snow to dig out the car (again), I decided the best thing to do was to trigger several releases, mostly onto myself!
Sadly, I have been unable to get anywhere near a hill since all this started and yet conditions in the west of Scotland, especially Glencoe and Locahber seem to be fantastic! The Northern Cairngorm SAIS blog did report big avalanches though in the Coire an t'Sneachda, so maybe best to avoid for a while.