Ben Wyvis

Beautiful day today with blue skies and lots of snow. My friends had gone cross-country skiing, but my skis were in Edinburgh so I went for a wee walk on my own instead, up Ben Wyvis.  The snow made it hard work, though.  There was a trail, or rather a trench 18 inches deep, at the start, and a mix of ankle deep snow and ice higher up, which made progress slow. I got to the top eventually, without having to put crampons on, but my ice axe was welcome in places. It was cold but there was very little wind and I could almost convince myself that there was some warmth in the sun at the top, where I ate sandwiches with a rather dry mouth, because the tube from my water bottle had frozen.

I was somewhat bemused because I couldn't find the trig point at the top, until I realised that there was at least 4 feet of snow on the summit and it was buried!

Today's blip is looking south from the summit ridge.

There were a few skiers around (see extra, skiers on the summit), and the other extra is the clear blue sky on the way up in the morning. Who needs the Alps when they have Scotland?