Snowshoes and Snowboards: A Backcountry Boarding Adventure in the Scottish Highlands

It was an unseasonably warm February morning when I set off with Jamie, fellow snow-hunter, in search of a mountain that still had a reasonable covering of the white stuff. Just a couple of months earlier, there had been so much snow that I hadsnowshoed around central Edinburgh, but since then, warmer weather had descended upon Scotland, and the snowline had rapidly retreated back up the mountains.

With a hefty amount of gear, including snowshoes, hiking poles, and avalanche transceivers, we set off from Scotland’s capital, heading north, up and in to the Highlands. We had no set plan. If we saw a mountain that looked liked it had enough snow to ride, we would stop, climb it and ride it. However, it was sometime before any snow was sighted at all. The thaw had really done its damage and we began to worry if we’d find anything rideable. But as we drove further north along lonely lanes, past cold lochs and through tiny hamlets, we began to see evidence of winter on the mountain peaks, and our spirits rose. Read More