Tarmachan Mountaineering

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Tarmachan Mountaineering

Guided mountain walking, winter skills courses and navigation courses. Based in The Cairngorms of Scotland. Vast amounts of experience and fully qualified.
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19/11/2024

Monday 18th November
Brilliant early winter conditions in the Cairngorms. Staying way below freezing on the summits.

Are you kitted out properly? Can you navigate in winter?

Photos of the Cairngorm plateau taken yesterday. A lot more snow to come.

30/10/2024

Wednesday 30th October.

Nice to get another fine day in the Cairngorms. That's 2 in a row. We've not had that for a long time. Unseasonably warm for the end of October. Don't worry, winter is never far away :)

10/10/2024

Thursday 10th October.

First proper winter day of the season. The big boots and ironmongery were out today in the Cairngorms. Yesterday we had a dump.of snow in the colder conditions, along with some strong NW winds. This morning there was snow down to 800m and temperatures of minus 4 C on Cairn Gorm summit.

The Fiacaill Coire Sneachda ridge is a brilliant short day out and gives lots of wonderful fun. I've traversed it in winter well over 200 times and it never fails to deliver a grand time. I only saw one other group today.

Of course getting the odd wintery day in October is not unusual, it won't last but it gives you chance to hone up those skills and get used to carrying a winter rucsack with a the essentials.

A top day out, winter proper is not long away.

07/10/2024

Saturday 5th ,& Sunday 6th October.

It's been a rather grey and dull weekend for the hills. Compared to the previous few days of beautiful Autumn sunshine and great views. But that's how the cookie crumbles.

On Saturday I was running an environmental workshop, geared towards folk who are on their Mountain Leader qualification journey. The natural environment, conservation, access and wildlife is such an important part of guiding folk in the hills that it now plays a major part on the ML syllabus. It was just Kim on the practical workshop ( 2 folk cancelled). The plan was to head up to the high Cairngorms but with 50mph+ winds and poor visibility forecast, we opted for a day in the Monadhliath. Despite quite different terrain there are so may aspects of the environment to talk about and observe. A great day out and it stayed dry for us.

Sunday's weather forecast was cloudy and drizzly. Karen & I headed for a smaller hill. The wee Binnein Shaus near Loch Laggan is a hill I've never been up. I've passed under its craggy ramparts on many occasions whilst heading up the 3 nearby Munros but never quite got round to climbing up this 747m 'Graham'. A Graham is a hill between 2000ft - 2499ft. Despite its lowly stature it is quite an impressive peak. More well known for its climbing appeal on the Ardverikie Wall area. If you fancy walking up this hill and you like nice paths then you're out of luck! Like many of Scotland's smaller hills, the route to its summit is virtually pathless. So make sure your navigation is up to scratch, there are may wee bumps and crags to confuse you. A great hill for a short day and being lower you are more likely to get a view, unfortunately the cloud was on the top 100m. Binnein Shaus only just falls short of Corbett status, 762m.

I really must try and complete the Graham's sometime, I think I've walked up about 120 of them.

The Autumn colours are looking superb just now, hopefully some sunshine next week to bring out the best.

04/10/2024

A few images out of the proper camera, guiding over the last few weeks.

30/09/2024

I still have a couple of places left on my mountain environmental and conservation day here in the Cairngorms.
Specifically aimed at anyone on their summer ML journey but equally a great day out if you have a deeper interest in the mountain environment.

The day will cover:

The mountain environment
Conservation matters
Wildlife and their habitat
Landforms
Access
Rewilding

Saturday 5th October

More details on request.

28/09/2024

Some of my images from earlier this month in The Alps.

Summer guiding in The Alps is now over. Looking forward to our fabulous Scottish winter :)

27/09/2024

Thursday 26th September.

Final day guiding Darren Olofson & Shelley J. McLeod on some of the Cairngorm Munros.

Today we headed up Mullach Clach a Bhlair, above the beautiful Glenfeshie. This is another Munro summit that doesn't give an impression of magnificence, stunning symmetrical beauty, steep flanked ridges or any other landscape photogenic qualaties. But it makes up by it's isolation in the vast and glorious Moine Mor with huge, open views to the Braeriach plateau and across Glenfeshie & Strathspey. The beautiful forests of Glenfeshie adorn its lower slopes. The wildlife in spring/summer is also one of its special characteristics. The finest feature of the mountain is the impressive Coire Garbhlach. To get a good view of this remote and seldom visited coire you need to get off any paths and stand on the edge of the plunging slopes. This is where you will be rewarded with the finest views of the day.

It was a lovely sunny day but a strong, cold wind blew even down at lower slopes. The winds were strongest in the morning at around 900m where it was funneled across some areas. Up on the Moine Mor it was never really a problem and we weren't impeded much. The snow from a couple of days ago was still lingering on Braeriach.

We saw no one in the entire day. Strange but very welcome.

It's been a fantastic 5 days with the Canadian couple who come out with me twice a year for 5 or 6 day stints of Munro bagging. How many Canadian's have completed all the Munros?

A brilliant time with this fun, enthusiastic, super friendly people. See you in March Shelley & Darren!

23/09/2024

Monday 23rd September.

Darren & Shelley out with me again for day 2 of their Cairngorms Munro week. Today we headed for the remote and wild Beinn Mheadhoin. This hill sits beautifuly in the centre of the magnificent Cairngorms National Park. Whichever way you intend to tackle it, you're in for a long day. Coming in from the North the Loch A'an basin has to be descended and reascended twice from the plateau. A drop of 400m each way and a climb back up gives the whole day a big ascent. This isn't a chore as you drop down to that most beautifuly wild Loch A'an.

We were treated to a stunning Temperature Inversion once again this morning, with a brocken spectre thrown in for even more spectacular views. By 1pm the cloud engulfed all the hills to lower and higher levels.

We saw just 3 other folk all day.

Another top day.

22/09/2024

Saturday 21st September.

Friends & work colleagues Simon, Pete, Tony & Steve travelled up from London for a day's guiding with Tarmachan to walk the classic and finest route onto Ben Nevis, the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. They couldn't have picked a finer day for it. Wall to wall clear skies and warm sunshine. The guys loving every minute of it as we had plenty of stops for photos and soaking in the views. Steve had previously been out with me on a winter 3 peaks trip, doing one summit per day in full winter conditions on every peak, with a relaxing hotel, proper meal and a few beers at the end of each hill. The best way to do it. So it was great to see him out with me again and for him to get a contrast of conditions between summer and winter.

A brilliant, fun and stunning day out with great banter and laughs through the day.

It was interesting to note some random person thought they could just tag along with my group, even though I pointed out these guys had paid for my guiding services and also why should I have the responsibility of looking after another person who I know nothing about? If you can't plan or navigate or feel confident on this route then maybe think of hiring a professional guide. Rant over 🙂.

20/09/2024

Thursday 19th September.

A glorious spell of fine, warm, clear and windless conditions back home in the Cairngorms.

Valued return clients, Shelley J. McLeod & Darren Olofson are back over from Canada for more Munro adventures with me. They had already 'bagged' 3 days of Munros and were up for a big day in the high Cairngorms today.

Sgorr an Lochain Uaine & Braeriach are just 2 of the remote big 4000fters in the area. These were our objectives today. The conesseurs route onto Sgorr an Lochain Uaine is the magnificent, wild and remote NE ridge, commonly referred to as ' Angels Ridge'. Its a long and wonderful aprroach. For all those who just want to bag as many Munros in the shortest, most logical, most easy way then this route isn't for you 🤣. The best way for this brilliant day out is to bike in from Coylumbridge to the foot of the Lairig Ghru. Taking a bike knocks off at least 2 hours of walking and is a beautiful, easy bike ride through the Rothiemurchus Forest.

We saw only half a dozen folk in the Lairig Ghru, no one else once we entered the magnificent Garbh Coire Mor. We had a liesurley start so it was mid afternoon when we made our way up the ridgeline. The easy scrambling is the last 150m and can be made as easy or as adventurous as you like. It finishes slap, bang on the summit cairn. Fabulous light on the tops. There wasn't a breath of wind all day and a t-shirt job from bottom to plateau. Beautiful light as we made the stroll across the plateau to Braeriach, reaching the summit just before 7pm. Glorious. The Sphinx snow patch could still be seen in the Garbh Coire Mor. Its only just hanging on.

The beautiful moon peeped up above the horizon as we made our way down and back to the bikes. 3 hours with torchlight and a fun night ride back on the bikes.

A full, top day with great company and magnificent surroundings.

Darren & Shelley are off to see the finest football team on the planet (Liverpool) then returning next week for more wonderful days out with me. Will it be as warm and sunny next week? Stay turned!

16/09/2024

I've been guiding on my final Walkers Haute Route this season. Another brilliant Alpine guiding season over for me. Here's a few snaps out of the cheap mobile phone camera. I'll post some proper camera images later.

On this final trek of the season we had a right old mixed bag of weather. Clear skies, rain, snow, cold. Not all in the same day ;)

01/09/2024

In the last week or so I've been getting plenty of winter course enquiries & bookings.

The finest period in the year isn't far away!

Booked this week from keen folk:

Winter skills & guiding

Snowshoeing

Winter wildlife photography

13/08/2024

I'm out guiding in the Alps, 2 Walkers Haute Route trips back to back.
Here's just a few photos so far. It's been very hot and great fun with groups.

Address

Aviemore, Inverness-shire
Aviemore
PH22

Website

http://www.tarmachan-mountaineering.org.uk/

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