The Southern Highlands

Springtime in Scotland can produce some massive dumps of snow in the mountains, even well into April. Generally, these events are quite different in nature to traditional winter falls: with the sun higher in the sky and raised freezing levels, the only significant accumulations tend to settle at higher altitudes and can disintegrate rapidly. In the wake of a colossal cold front which brought copious amounts of fresh snow to the Southern Highlands during mid-April 2018, I immediately made my way to Beinn Eunaich for the arduous 989-metre ascent. On the upper slopes, as suspected, the volume of loose, unconsolidated snow was extreme – waist deep on certain aspects – and I slowly battled on a step at a time using my walking poles as leverage to gain ground. This torturous race against the clock continued until eventually the summit cairn appeared, just poking above the pristine driven snow. I arrived rather unceremoniously on my hands and knees, exhausted but relieved. With time running out I took a series of images as the sun set and the landscape transformed.