Glencoe Winter

A rare event: fine winter weather coinciding with a weekend, and, that rarest of commodities, a weekend not working. The Highlands have been on the receiving end of significant snowfall over recent days, and temperatures have stayed low. Potentially fine conditions for photography. The webcams in Glencoe showed snow still falling yesterday, and a great deal of cloud, but after gambling on the weather forecast, I headed out in the dark of an invigoratingly early hour and turned northwards.

Cliché though it is, I wanted to revisit Buchaille Etive Mor to catch a particular slanting winter’s light just after dawn. Nowadays there is a steady flow of photographers around the pathways up the Etive, and this morning had a fair few despite the thick ice and snow coating the Glen Etive road. Perched on a rock in the middle of what would normally be fast-flowing water, and cracking slabs of ice to land ankle-deep in the river, the light rewarded the early start with some wonderful views of the mountain.

Buchaille Etive Mor

Making the most of the rarity of the morning, I added the further cliché of Lochan Nah’Achlaise (how can anyone resist this?), and then westwards to Loch Leven and Loch Archtriochtan. I even scrambled my way up the icy path on the north side of Glencoe to catch the Three Sisters in a snowier coating than on previous visits.

A grand day out. Hope you enjoy the results.