We are on the verge of that special time of year when the mountaineer’s thoughts begin to turn to the big question: when will the snow return? For the UK’s highest mountains, summer is a brief pause. If you find yourself pondering the first snowfall question in August, you know you’ve really been bitten by the Scottish winter bug!
In the spirit of enthusiasm I propose a sweepstakes.
- For the purposes of this competition (which isn’t to be taken too seriously) I shall judge ‘first snowfall’ to count as the first snow that settles on one or more Scottish mountains for more than a few hours.
- Tiny flurries that melt as soon as they hit the ground can occur at any time of year and don’t count.
- Place your bets by commenting below or by tweeting me at @alex_roddie. Alternatively there is a UKC thread where you can place your bets. You only get one guess and can’t amend it a few weeks later based on more accurate forecasts. I’ll record all bets in this blog post.
- You can choose either an exact date or a given week (eg. “first week of October”). Saying “some time in November”, for example, is too vague!
- Winners specifying a week range shall receive a free digital copy of one of my books of their own choice. I hope to have released The Forbes Challenge by then so people who have read my two existing titles should have something new to look forward to!
- Winners specifying an exact date shall receive a paperback copy of The Only Genuine Jones.
Al de Ba Last week of August
@alex_roddie 1st week of September
Lew13 2nd of September (on the Ben)
Cameron94 3rd of September
Simon Yearsley 4th of September
keith-ratcliffe 4th of September
Simon Caldwell 5th of September
Iain Cameron 8th of September
@Caleyscribbler 10th of September (above 2,600ft in Lochaber)
@FlintyRich 10th of September at 12:27pm
@fbroon79 14th of September
@greedyrunner 15th of September
@Barry_the_cat 3rd week of September
@CountrysideBen 3rd week of September
@edvones 3rd week of September
cfer 17th of September
Daniel Sutherland 18th of September
Chris Sleight 20th of September
@rossmacscot 21st of September
wee jamie 22nd of September
TobyA 23rd of September
NottsRich 24th of September
@andyblackett 25th of September
crowberry gully 25th of September
fire_munki 25th of September
alooker 27th of September (morning)
@BathosProfundo 27th of September
@IrishHillwalker 29th of September
SeanB 29th of September
Jim Walton 30th of September
Susan Fletcher 1st of October
Goose299 1st week of October
Jennifer Will 2nd of October
Ann S 3rd of October
Gareth Lynn 4th of October
@walkhikeaholic 9th of October
neon_blue 12th of October
Andrew Mallinson 13th of October
@CliveVardakis 16th of October
@pixiepippi 17th of October
Richard Prideaux 3rd week of October
@nickbramhll 21st of October
@ArrocharAlps 24th of October
Joak 24th of October
@Areteroute 27th of October
Martin Rye 15th of November
tattoo2005 6th of December
abseil 5th of February 2014 (bit pessimistic this one!)