Scottish-Irish Skier

Front hasn't got here yet. Went for a dug walk here: Wardhouse 2 | Castles of Clan Gordon Wiki | Fandom GORDONCASTLES.FANDOM.COM Home | Castles Index | Gordons of Interest | Lands, Estates, Battlefields Wardhouse may have received it’s name from an older Castle (literally down the road from it’s location)... Must have been quite the mansion in its heyday, and whit a view! You can see the snaw line in the distance clearly. Above around 300 m it's hung aroond.

I drove back home from Carrbridge that day because it was just a yellow. Bit of rain and maybe some snow on a shortish higher section so nae bother. What I got was the worst driving conditions I've ever personally experienced. Trees down on roads that were completely flooded. Blawin a hoolie with torrential horizontal rain / sleet / snow making for very poor visibility. Higher sections impassable if you didn't have a 4 x 4 and/or winter tyres. Some lower roads impassable for any regular car due to the depth of water. Lucky I was in an SUV 4 x 4 as I think my regular car would have been too low to risk some of the lochs I drove through even though it has winters on. And the lorries I saw getting stuck might not have been so ready to take the high routes. Totally useless Meto. We need one HQ'd in the central highlands rather than Devon. Then we'd be sure to get accurate warnings as they'd be able take stick their heids oot the windae!

An unsettled period toward the end of 2023 WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK The last few days of 2023 are forecast to be unsettled, with strong winds, rain and even snow featuring in parts of the UK. "Looking further ahead into 2024, there is low forecast confidence. Nick Silkstone is a Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster. He said: “Through to mid-January, there is a signal for a shift in the pattern compared to the winter so far, with more settled and colder-than-average conditions becoming increasingly likely.”"

Snow on again at Glenshee. Forecast is for snow on and off with freezing temperatures at the centres until at least Hogmanay.

HIE’s decision to close the Cairn Gorm funicular again (3) - parkswatchscotland PARKSWATCHSCOTLAND.CO.UK (A) The steel strengthening brackets This picture shows the three different types of bracket used in the strengthening works. I have labelled these:- Type 1. The bracket in... They'd be better just installing a gondola. Maybe get a second hand one from the Alps.

The wonders of the internet. The news sites have this pic: Which was the lorry that was right in front of us this morning and got stuck, so we went past it. found the same route looked like this Feb 2021: A920 Dufftown to Huntly.

Looking at footage of the A9 Drummochter today and there are 4 x 4s in the line of static traffic that could have crossed into the empty oncoming lane and got out of there. If you can do this with your car and know you can, do it. It’s not selfish in a situation the authorities are right there trying to deal with. In fact you are helping everyone by getting out of the way. When you have a line of traffic stuck like that, it’s a nightmare as the vehicles are in the way of the ploughs. The less vehicles, the more of the road that can be cleared, and the sooner everyone goes home. Sure if you see someone alone, lost on a lonely snowy road, you might want to see if they need assistance / offer a ride, but when it’s chaos on a busy mountain pass, just help clear the jam!

The Lecht at lunchtime today. Seems the cam went down at that point. Hope it (the ski centre) is still there.

I know. I have never seen this amount of surface water on the roads. Between here and Insch, there is a small loch on the road. Even at crawl speed you are struggling to see out the windscreen as you go through due to the water thrown up. This is on the top of a small hill too. I'm struggling to remember driving in worse conditions. It was yellow though and didn't seem too bad when we set off. Just light rain and gusty. But within 30 mins it was a howling gale, driving sleet / snow, and flooding. Part of the issue was all the snaw from Christmas day melting. The new sleet/snaw/rain on top of this means the ground is totally saturated. So nowhere for today's downpours to go.

Well that was some trip back fae Carrbridge. Driving conditions are appalling. Roads flooded and covered in sleet or snow. Blawin a hoolie with trees down in various places onto the road. On the moor between Dufftown and Huntly, white out with the road getting buried. Freezing level must be 300 m or so. The lorry we were behind got stuck 0.5 mile from the summit. Lucky were in the 4 x 4 so could pass and keep going. We saw various other lorries heading up as we descended. Must be carnage up there now. TBH, if the lorry had made it over, it might have been worse, as the descent would be just as slippery = jack knife. Our 4 x 4 came with regular tyres, but brand new so they're staying for now. I crawled down the from the moor to make sure we didn't go sledging. The higher section of the A96 between Huntly and Insch was not a lot better! Stay at home folks if you can, otherwise, go super slow and keep yer eye out for hazards galore. --- EDIT Ski centre bonanza weather. Snaw + gales is ideal for filling between the fences.

Aye, they hae a wee slope they make artificial snow for. Good for beginners starting out. Glenshee and Cairngorm I know do the same. Not enough to attract people above beginner level though.

Ski centre forecasts are are for snaw every day into the new year now. So we could be skiing soon! Although I hear the Cairngorm funicular isn't fixed as it was supposed to be, albeit they are saying it will be soon.

Boxing day dug walks around Carrbridge.

Merry Christmas fellow kilters. Hope Santa wis guid tae ye aw. I saw this: Christmas Day set to be hottest in years after 'warmest' Christmas Eve since 1997, says Met Office NEWS.SKY.COM By midday on Monday, the Met Office had provisionally recorded the highest daily minimum temperature for Christmas Day on record. And thought huh? As oot the back, the scene currently is thus here in Carrbridge: WhatsApp Video 2023-12-25 at 15.24.01.mp4

Looking pretty seasonal over the festive period. Ski centres could have a chance of starting to build a base.

Might get lucky in Carrbridge. Heading over there tae ma folks hoose for Chrimbo shortly.

Aye, the temperature contrasts have been nuts. The difference between the Lecht and cairngorm cams highlighted this starkly. Cairngorm was pishin cauld rain on heather, while it was tanking it doon wi snaw turning everything white at the Lecht. 1 C here. Snaw melting, but not very fast as per Ravelin.

Daylight shot before it begins to thaw. Quite a bit more than I imagined, and very picture-sque!

White Christmas eve eve.

Ah huvnae looked oot, but this is ma recent forecast...

I have some experience in this area. TBH, I'm thinking that with decent solar panels and a battery, the sun could supply emergency needs (and more) as we face south. But that's for the years to come as the CAPEX costs are big!

I have a 3kw petrol generator at the new hoose. Handily, the previous owners had the meter box fitted outside, complete with a switch for changing between mains and generator power. The latter has a 16A plug, read to go into a generator. As we have oil heating, if the power goes off, I just need to switch over to the generator and everything in the house comes back on, including freezers etc.

That's the snaw oan at Cairgorm.

Aye, no bad runs. Fingers crossed. Hope folks tae the west are ok wi aw the rain.

Breezy oot.