Just back from the Falklands where we walked the route over Tumbledown Mountain that was taken by the Scots Guards during the conflict. The hill behind my house is higher! But it was very atmospheric. The trip changed my perceptions about the war completely.
The scenery is very similar to the North of Skye, but the wildlife's a bit different - penguins, sealions and albatrosses!

Hi Karin !

Any pictures of your walk ?

Greetings from France,

Lionel

Yes loads, but I'm a numpty and don't know how to post them here! Could someone talk me through it?

Karin - PM on its way!

Last week-end, (16th, 17th and 18th February) I had a great time ski-mountaineering and snow-shoeing with my friends Dominique and Alain and my nephew Florian. We travelled to Switzerland to the suspended valley of Loëtschental which is part of UNESCO World Heritage. It's an Alpine paradize and we also attended the famous Carnival. Here are my first pictures : pictures of our first day in this awesome place. We walked with our snowshoes from the village of Blatten (1500 m) to the mountain of Tellialp (2050 m) under a fantastic sunshine and blue sky.
PICTURES HERE (16th February 2007)





More pictures to be shown tomorrow.

Beautiful photos again, Lionel! It all looks so bright and clean. And I can't feel the cold in the pictures.

Thanks Puffin !!! Yes indeed, it was very cold before we walked into the sunshine. It was freezing.. but the air was so pure and the light so clear. Wonderful !

Saturday 17th February 2007 : our second day that we spent ski-mountaineering in the Loëtschental valley, climbing the glacier. At night we chased masked people in the villages narrow streets to take some pictures. Breathtaking and frightening !

Saturday pictures are HERE !!!





More pictures to follow soon (third day in Loëtschental).

Brilliant photos Lionel. All that snow looks fantastic!

Thanks Jacky !!! Indeed so much snow was really fantastic. The Loëtschental valley is known to get lots of snow every winter.

Great photos Lionel ...wish I'd had that much snow in Scotland last week

Just got back from a brilliant week in Scotland...stayed in Fort William...can't believe the weather we had it was 13 degrees the one afternoon ....where was all the snow?????

Our first hill was on the journey up on the Saturday...stopped to walk Ben Vane ...weather was fantastic on the way up and the views from the top were spectacular. On the way down it started snowing but it didn't come to much and didn't last long. A quick stop @ the Green Welly then before crossing Glencoe just as the sun was setting with Runrig blaring Suilven and Solas as we drove through

On Sunday I was to have my lesson on winter walking...although I have worn crampons before I have never done any serious walking in them and have never used an ice axe. So it was off to Glencoe to walk up Stob Coire nan Lochan where we hoped there would be plenty of snow. Sadly there wasn't as much snow as we would have liked but enough for Andy to teach me ice axe arrests and cutting steps etc. So after my lesson it was time to put it all intp practice and head to the top in all the snow we could find. The views from the top were breathtaking...there can't have been many of the Scottish hills we couldn't see......we could even see the Skye Cuillin in the distance We headed down then to a well deserved pint of Beserker in the Clachaig ....has beer ever tasted so good????

Our next outing was up to Aonach Mor to try and do some winter climbing but sadly it wasn't to be .... the snow conditions up there meant that there were too many people there on the easier climbs (which I needed) so it was a case of coming down and heading to Nevisport for retail therapy

Next walk was Sgurr a'Mhaim....another brilliant day...as we were going up we were overtaken by a fantastic bloke who was climbing it for his 99th time.....when we hit the snow I just followed in his footsteps sussing that he knew where he was going . As we got closer to the top the weather closed in and the snow cornices looked pretty dodgy. We got the shelter out to have lunch as it was blowing a gale up there as well. Then it was off over the Devils Ridge and down into the valley....we had hoped to do Stob Ban as well but decided that time was against us.

Our last walk was Aonach Beag via Glen Nevis....we couldn't decide whether to do Aonach Beag or the Carn Mor Dearg arete so we walked to the saddle between the two and when we got there decided that as visibility wasn't good on the arete we would stick to Aonach Beag !!!.....so thats more unfinished business It was the worst day weather wise ....very little in the way of views as well so not many photos...but we had been so lucky the other days we really couldn't complain.

On the way back through Glen Nevis I managed to cross the Steall Bridge...something I have been wanting to do for a long time so that made up for the lack of views

Can't wait to get back up there in 4 weeks time

Have posted some photos on photobucket and the link is HERE

Hi Annie,

Waw... stunning pictures of Scotland. No much snow though !!! But the views are just incredible. Thanks for sharing your great photos. They reminded me of the places I saw last summer.

In 4 weeks time, do you go to Scotland for the Runrig hillwalking meet ?

Nice one Annie, I'm glad you enjoyed it (despite there not being much snow). The pictures look great.... wish I had hills here

Got a man-made mound down by the new stadium, but you can get up that in 10 seconds if you run up the side of it.

great pics Annie glad u had a great time sorry u didnt get much snow