Chris Townsend Outdoors

Camp in Coire ArdairHigh pressure building. Wind dropping. Clear skies. The forecast for the Cairngorms looked good. My friend Tony Hobbs arranged to come up from England for his third trip this ...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/april-snow-on-creag-meagaidh.html

Mount Sir Alexander, a great view on a tough day of cross-country travel. September 3.As it's over a month since I mentioned the new edition of my book High Summer about my walk the length of the...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/high-summer-update.html

 First snow campSearching through my rather disorganised photos from film days for more Canadian Rockies ones for the forthcoming reissue of my book High Summer I came across some black and ...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/thirty-years-ago-in-greenland.html

Back in 2012 I read Graham Forbes' first book Rock and Roll Mountains and enjoyed it very much. The book tells the story of the author's discovery of the pleasures of mountaineering after a life ...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/book-review-playing-tribute-by-graham.html

A chilly morning at the camp in Glen Affric Glen Affric is one of my favourite glens and I hadn’t been there for over a year, which is far too long, so I decided to make a visit my first s...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/a-spring-trip-last-year-with-look-at.html

 Following on from the last video clip here's my camp below Sail Mhor. I must learn how to avoid/crop my shadow!

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/camp-below-sail-mhor.html

Here's a little video I took on Sail Mhor last month on the trip described in this post. I took the clip twice, once on the Sony a6700 camera and once on the OPPO Find X5 Pro smartphone. Thi...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/the-view-from-sail-mhor.html

The igloos & the tentThe annual Inverness Backcountry Snowsports Club igloo building trip took place on the last two days of March this year. These trips began back in 2010 after I’d given ...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/04/igloos-ski-touring-on-moine-mhor.html

The May issue of The Great Outdoors is out now. In the gear pages I review four men's big packs (50 litre +) and Fiona Russell reviews four women's ones while John Manning and Lara Dunn review fi...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/a-look-at-may-issue-of-great-outdoors.html

An Teallach from Sail MhorAfter leaving the path work party on An Teallach (see last post) I drove a short way alongside Little Loch Broom then climbed up beside the wonderful Ardessie Falls to t...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/celebrating-spring-equinox-on-sail-mhor.html

Last July I posted about Mountaineering Scotland and the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland's campaign about the need for investment in hill paths called It's Up To Us (see my piece here). Part of...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/its-up-to-us-pathwork-on-teallach.html

Uath Lochans & the Glen Feshie hillsOn recent trips to Glen Feshie I’d been shocked by the storm damage in the lower glen, where great swathes of forest had been flattened by very strong wi...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/uath-lochans-winter-storms-climate.html

Original on the left, processed in PureRaw 4 on the rightLast July I posted about the amazing power of DxO PhotoLab editing software and the noise removal abilities of Deep Prime XD. I've been us...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/photography-post-dxo-pure-raw-4.html

  A very short little video! I did remember to make one though. I'll try and remember more often.

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/last-weeks-camp-in-glen-feshie-video.html

Across the Moine Mhor to cloud-capped Sgor GaoithLooking at maps is always a pleasure. I can do this for hours. There is so much to see, so many ideas for walks generated, so many places to explo...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/mullach-clach-bhlair-long-way.html

Tony Hobbs crossing the Allt Garbhlach at the site of the washed out path in January this yearThe streams running down the steep slopes of Glen Feshie are prone to flashfloods and landslips. This...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/glen-feshie-landslips-stream-crossings.html

A month ago I posted about plan for a new edition of High Summer, my book about walking the length of the Canadian Rockies back in 1988 that has long been out of print. Andrew Terrill is republis...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/03/high-summer-backpacking-canadian.html

Wandering across the snow-covered fields near our house a few weeks ago we came across some tracks. Consulting identification books back home we reckoned they were made by a badger. We followed t...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/badger-tracking-success.html

Stag Rocks, Loch Avon, & Beinn MheadhoinWinter made a return of sorts to the Cairngorms last week with lower temperatures and a few falls of snow after many days of thawing and warmth. With a...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/a-wander-in-winter-cairngorms.html

The April issue of The Great Outdoors is out now. I review six budget fleeces (budget in price, but still good quality) and Columbia's Arch Rock Double Wall Elite Hooded Insulated Jacket. Also in...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/a-look-at-april-issue-of-great-outdoors.html

A communications mast is proposed for this area in Abernethy nature reserve. Since I wrote about the threat to wild land from phone masts last November more and more of them are being proposed. T...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/communications-in-hills-masts-or.html

Gleann EinichAt the end of last week my friend Tony Hobbs again came up from down south with his dog Lassie hoping to gain some snow skills, just as he had at the end of January.  Unfortunat...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/a-stormy-cairngorms-camping-trip.html

The top of the Dava Road with the Cairngorms in the backgroundSix months having passed since I was last on Geal-charn Mor, an 824-metre summit in the Monadh Liath to the east of Aviemore and the ...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/dramatic-light-on-walk-up-geal-charn-mor.html

 This is the most important film Terry Abraham has made. That's because it's a campaigning natural history film about the plight of red squirrels, a film that is both beautiful and disturbin...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/film-review-terry-abrahams-cumbrian-red.html

Dawn on the Moine Mhor. Braeriach in cloud on the left. Sgor an Lochain Uaine & Cairn Toul on the right.A brief window between storms at the end of January looked good for a high camp so I de...

http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2024/02/a-high-camp-on-moine-mhor-windy-camp-in.html