The Ptarmigan of Sìdh Chailleann

Schiehallion has to be one of my favourite hills, particularly now that the John Muir Trust have amended the main route up so that it follows the contours of the hill better. The ascent gave some great views down onto Loch Tummel, and the mountains beyond.

Whilst to the South, a whole winter’s-worth of snow-clad peaks appeared, just begging to be climbed.

The locals were out in force too, with this pair of ptarmigan still in their winter colours,

but still managing to blend in perfectly with the surroundings when required!

The snowdrifts were still pretty deep on the way up, and the wind-chill on the top had to be experienced to be believed, but as a result, the exposed rocks at the summit had inherited an amazing variety of natural ice-sculptures:

So that’s it basically – another climb up one of my favourite mountains. Oh, and of course we didn’t descend most of the way on our bums or anything – that would have been irresponsible! 😉

But still managing to blend in perfectly with the surroundings when required!