I woke up in the morning hoping for better conditions, but apart from some frost on the ground and frozen tarns, not much changed that morning. It was one of those mornings, where you regret you haven’t kept your down jacket in your sleeping bag. Learn from your mistakes.

Motivation

I spent most of the day avoiding rain by any means possible, which included eating cake and drinking coffee in Glencoe Cafe (aye, that’s suffering for ya!). Things looked like they’re about to clear later in the day, so I decided to start an ascent before 5pm. It’s not usually advised to go that late into the mountains, but if you’re going to hunt for images, safety isn’t always your primary concern.

I started to work my way up the path towards Buachaille Etive Mòr, very much loved by both walkers and climbers because of the excellent views it offers once atop one of the Munros. Sadly, the closer I got to the ridge, the worst the weather had become. Very near the top, I saw some walkers struggling to get past some old snow that was still there from the harsh winter the Highlands saw this year. It was time to strike up a conversation.

“How’s it looking up there?,” I asked. “Much snow past this point?”

“Nah, just this bit, once you get past it, it’s alright,” replied the walker.

“Are you guys coming back from a trek, or?”

“Actually got lost in the fog earlier, so we changed route. This is our way back. Are you only going up?”

“Yeah, I’m a photographer, so I’m hunting for the right conditions. I hope to get a break in the weather.”

“Well good luck, we’ll be at the pub!”

Having seen the guys struggle over the old snow, I decided to negotiate some harder climbing terrain, which was free of snow, putting rock climbing skills into good use. It allowed me to clear all of the snow and I was shortly on the plateau. The only problem was, that I couldn’t see any of the peaks, the rain came in.

Now for those reading who have never stood in a rain cloud before — the concept of rain coming from the sky no longer applies, particularly in Scotland. It appears to simultaneously rain from all sides and in stronger gusts also upside down. This is the point, where GoreTex doesn’t always work as good as advertised, since water gets in through every single opening in your clothing.

Slightly stormy

It was around 6pm, the weather didn’t clear for another hour and a half forcing me to stand there enduring the onslaught. By the time the rain and wind decided to subside, I was wet, cold, my fingers were considerably numb and my GoreTex jacket appeared to be wet inside out, probably from the mixture of water that got in and sweat it took to navigate all the obstacles.

“In a rain cloud […] the concept of rain coming from the sky no longer applies, particularly in Scotland. It appears to simultaneously rain from all sides and in stronger gusts also upside down.”

I quickly ran to over some easy scrambling terrain, since another path was still under old snow, and secured a vantage point I would be attempting to get some images from. Considering how wet I was and the fact that only this morning there was ice on the mountain lakes, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience waiting for the right light conditions. Even my insulation jacket I kept inside a dry bag couldn’t stop me from shaking, so I had to continue moving to keep myself warm. I got my shot. Time to run back.