SPRING GM/ES Activity Day - 6 March 2026

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Let’s try again, shall we?

An activity day, centred around Braemar in the Cairngorms. Plenty of summits nearby, from 1 point to 10. Winter bonus still available! Some of the summits have easy access from the Glenshee and Lecht ski areas.

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33 summits within 20km of Braemar

Activations are generally around 1000h or 1030h, with a late lunch meet up at The Bothy, Braemar, which is here, around 1330.

Let me know if you’re coming. Also, let me know if you’re up for more than one day. The locals don’t need much persuading to climb more hills, or to be available for chases.

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I’ve booked the day off and will decide on a hill closer to the date.

Andy

MM7MOX

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It’s in the diary so it is a definite maybe depending on the wx…. Provisionally Meall Alvie GM/ES-055. I’ll also be around on Saturday providing the wx is reasonable.

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I’ll be up on the Friday and if the weather forecast good for the Thursday come up early to do some other summits using the bike for access…..ES-015 and/or ES-088

Archie

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Hi Fraser, yes count me in ! A bit of deja vu …
I have plumped for GM/ES-036 : Geallaig Hill again.
… 2nd time lucky, hopefully there will be less snow than you had ! :grinning_face:
We plan to be in Braemar afternoon of Thu 5th March and driving back home after SOTA and Bothy meet on Fri 6th.
73 Peter

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There’s still loads of snow on 2 point summits upwards. Milder conditions forecast next week. Could all change in 13 days time though!

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If you aren’t on this list and plan on coming, let me know. :smiley:

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OK so far the ducks are all in line, the pass is stamped and just a bit of packing to do. Roughly what is the current snow level? ( I have been reading the Glenshee ski report so I’m guessing 600m but very dependent on the slope? but an update would be welcome ). I assume that where the snow has stuck it is now a nice shiny icy surface. I had planned to do Mt Blair on the way up and was hoping it would be relatively easy, as was my plan for Meall Alvie on Friday morning. I’ll pick Alex’s brain about Morven which I was hoping to do on Saturday.
I realise that by posting this it will either trigger a hurricane or blizzard in time for Friday…

PS In a 4t 2.2l automatic van I am aware that I might experience some red shift when Andy accelerates past me……

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Been mild here. Quite a bit of snow melt last week. Fraser took this of Morven on Friday:

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I was on Battock on Friday, a little snow, mostly collected in the track at about 600m but hardly anything and very easy to walk around on the heather. The snow was also soft and not icy. Although this week is forecast for chilly nights so maybe a little frozen where any is left.

This is the top of Carn na Drochaide (GM/ES-025) 818m.

You can also see the changes over time on the Glenshee webcam, as only the runs retain any snow.

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Martyn and I will not be able to make GM/ES for this, but are hoping to be out on a GW/SW summit, and looking for potential S2Ses. Especially looking for completes for the GM/ES summits we did last year, or for potential future completes for a planned visit to GM/ES later this year.
Caroline.

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10

I’ve posted an alert for Allermuir GM/SS-171 on Friday.

I think some other folks are planning to activate from the Pentlands as well.

Andy

MM7MOX

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:crossed_fingers::blush:

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:open_mouth:

I was thinking about trying to chase locally but then I remembered that I’m off to Crufts. :dog:

Have fun people, looks like it will be a braw day.

73, Colin

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It’s what Down Jackets were invented for.

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:rofl:

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I wasn’t going to mention the forecast. Mostly as I was grumpy that today was so nice and I had to go to work (and I don’t do any school runs on Tuesdays). But also because of the risk it suddenly turns into gales, hail and 12’ of snow :sweat_smile:

That rain on Thursday has come earlier than previously predicted but there’s still time…

So fingers crossed :crossed_fingers: indeed.

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Tuesday evening snow pack observations, as we (Mo) drove north over Glenshee around 1830.

Mount Blair - some large isolated snow patches on the south eastern side.

Ben Gulabin - no sign of any snow.

Cairnwell - isolated patches on the west face.

Carn Aosda - minimal snow on south and east faces.

Glas Maol - significant coverage further up, with large cornices on the west side.

Creag nan Gabhar - no sign of snow, apart from small patches on the western screes.

Morrone - nothing on the south or east sides, but by the time we got to Braemar it was too dark.

Also, the ski area was mainly back to heather, apart from groomed runs.

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Ahhh! Fond memories of my one and only Scottish ski trip (not forgetting the wind and rain of course). :rofl::rofl:

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Forecast is looking good here in NI. Hope you all have a great time and maybe catch some of you S2S

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…and rocks. I guess if you can ski in Scotland, you can ski anywhere.

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Absolutely! It’s also where I discovered the limitations of my first cheap, non-waterproof ski suit. I upgraded after that!

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