BRAERIACH FOR THE THIRD TIME IN A WEEK

Tough walking on the Glen Einich track

Dont be fooled by the sun! Braeriach to the left

Beautiful approach lower down Glen Einich

More wonderful snowy trees

Mell a' Bhuachaille

Big drifts

Northern Corries on Braeriach

Given up on the biking then?

A big dump of overnight snow put pay to any thought of biking up Glen Einich onto Braeraich today. I was even contemplating snow shoes but they're not much use in fresh powder, so boots it was then. For the third time in a week I had a wander up Braeriach. Bit of a search mission too -  one of my clients lost her ice axe on Sunday up here so an added excuse for a hill day and a search. Needle in a haystack you say? Well we knew roughly where she lost it and I know the area so well so why not? The trees in the lower reaches of Glen Einich were looking stunning again, picture postcard stuff. Right from the word go it was always going to be a hard day with ankle to shin deep powder to trail break all day. After leaving the forest it was even tougher going with bigger drifts and a strong headwind with tonnes of spindrift. A quick search of the lost ice axe area revealed big drifts of snow, I was banking on the area to have been wind scoured so no luck with the needle in the haystack. A good day all the same but the visability deteriorated even more in the afternoon and prolonged heavy snow showers till the end. There were a couple of bikes dumped right on the track on my way back, the owners I passed 5 minutes earlier mumbling something about 'stinging your eyes' as they shielded their faces into the low level blizzard. I never saw them whizzing past on the way down so I guess it was hard going on the bike too. Don't let my photos think it was a nice suny day! Tonnes more snow on its way next few days and winds increasing again. Should be good when it settles down. You cant get great winter conditions without a storm or two! I think my next search mission for that ice axe may well be about May time!