Lowther Hills,Wanlockhead.

I went a drive up to Wanlockhead and Leadhills this afternoon to see what snow was on the hills.
The 4 North-West facing gullies from the ridge between Lowther Hill(725m) and Green Lowther (732m) which drop down towards Whiteside (572m) look to have a decent(ish) depth of snow.
I plan on heading up there tommorow and sliding all 4 gullies if the weather is favourable.

Below are 3 pictures I took from the B797 Wanlockhead to Elvanfoot road.

Hi Stuart,

Where are those hills located ? Are they close to Edinburgh or Glasgow ?

Good luck with the weather and I hope you have a great slide tomorrow.

Greetings from the Alps,

Lionel

________
Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities. Happiness is a by-product of effort.

~ Aldous Huxley

The Lowther Hills and the Moffat Hills are in the Southern Uplands of Scotland and are roughly 30-40 miles South of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
We have had a dusting of fresh snow here in Dumfries this morning ( a rare occurance) and the sky is now clearing.
I will be setting off just before lunchtime for my trip and it looks quite promising.

Had a good but hard day in the Lowthers today.
Its about a 45 min drive from where I stay in Dumfries up to Wanlockhead so when I dropped my son off at nursery at lunchtime I headed up the A79 to Thornhill and then cut off at Mennock onto the B797, from there it is just 6 miles to Scotlands highest village. As I approached the village the road was hardpacked snow but the gentle climb was easy and there was no need to get the snowchains out. On the way up it had been snowing lightly and when I parked the car the temp was -2c.
Visibility was not great but as I know the hills it was not of a great concern, only downside was that it was not much good for getting any photos.
I set out up the path along the side of Stake Hill, it was icy and hard with patches of windblown powder every now and again and as I gained height the north-easterly wind, although not bitterly cold was quite strong and kept catching my board which was strapped on my back pack.
Once I hit the main track up to the Lowther Aircraft tracking station I put my snowshoes on and made good progress. Visibility was coming and going as I neared the large golf ball shaped radar mast. I decided that as time was limited and I did not have the best weather conditions I would try and ride the first two gullies (on 3rd pic above they are the two gullies below and to the left of the golfball).
It was eerie as I sat on hard blown windpacked snow strapping in and looking back at the huge "ball" as it came in and went out of view. I was soon up on my feet and made a few turns on hard snow but when I dropped into the gully I hit deep,dry powder, I just pushed it all the way and although it was quite steep and narrow it felt really nice and eay to ride. The deep snow then came to an end and I then hit lightly covered but frozen grassy slopes, I dropped to about 30m above the valley burn which was nearly covered with deep snowdrifts before I traversed along to the bottom of the next gully. I thought for a minute before getting the snowshoes back on and picking the easiest route back up to the Lowther ridge, it was steep and hard work and more than once I thought about turning round as the wind seemed to get stronger ( it must have been gusting to 40mph at times) butthe cloud temporarily cleared and I was near the top. I sat for a few minutes to get my breathe back then dropped down into deep powder at the sides of the gully, in no time I was starting to traverse above the burn. I found the best snow down to the bottom and then had to climb back up the steep slopes of Whiteside and back to the Radar station road. I strapped back into my bindings and had a nice cruise down the road until it flattened out and with the wind in my face I came to a stop.
I found the track (part of the Southern Upland way)) and made my way back to the village, getting a few more turns in on my board as I approached the car. I had pushed on today and done quite a lot in a relatively short time but as I drove back down the Mennock pass I had a satisfied smile on my face..it had been another good day out in the hills of Southern Scotland.

The above 3 pics show the hike up, the first is a wooden bridge over a burn on part of the Southern Upland Way (Lowther Hill being the highest point of this long distance walk).
The second shows the track up to the aircraft tracking station and the final one is at the point where I got the snowshoes on.
The two pictures below show the "Golfball" radar station and the first gully I dropped into and rode (does not really show how good the snow was or how long a run it actually was).
All in all a good day and I look forward to getting back to do the other two gullies further along which are longer and probably had even more snow than the two I went down.

Nice one Stuart! Shame about the weather, but looks like a decent and worthwhile little trip - especially as it's close to home for you

________
Standing on the shoulders of giants