Bright sun, cold snow.

An almost perfect weather day yesterday. A real rarity in the Cairngorms. We walked in to Bynack More from the Glenmore car park. Weather and less than capable drivers around Aberdeen slowed the start slightly so we ended up getting back pretty late but it did mean a nice sunset behind Cairngorm.

I can't resist semi-abstract shapes in nature, be they ripples on sand or water or, as in the case of these two, wind blown snow. The shapes and textures of entirely natural forms are always fascinating and the simplicity of the wind driven snow is so appealing, especially with this low and intense winter sunlight.

Wind blown snow Bynack More

 

Mono snow shapes

Also heaps of the plants had beautiful ice patterns, here back lit by the sun over Cairngorm.

Ice forms on plants with Cairngorm

I'm impressed with how well the Canon S95 handles the dynamic range in this shot, it really delivers the goods in these shots directly into the sun.

A quick note on gear, I prefer the S95 over the newer models as it gives great battery life, delivers amazing images even, as here, in JPEG. It also doesn't have a touch screen like the S110 and S120 do and I prefer this, a touch screen is no use when wearing gloves and seems to be an energy sap that you don't want. I would consider an S100 but am thinking about trying to source a new old stock S95 for when this one dies.

Anyway, onto the mountain action shots:

Bynack More to the left with the lower peak of Bynack Baeg in the centre. Sort of shows how late we went today, a good mile from the top with the sun going down behind the ridge. The temperature was really starting to drop here, as were the energy levels.

Walking towards Bynack More

Sun setting behind Cairngorm from Bynack More

Time to get back

Another grand day with extraordinary weather, a quick check of the map to find the path saw the map just laid on the snow, a once in a decade situation in the Cairngorms, absolutely no wind, bright sun and perfect dry snow. Temps were about -10 degrees Celcius, plenty chilly on the ears.