El Perro Negro

Grumpy old mountain man living in Spain

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Since Dec 2022 we have been running our own Mastodon & GoToSocial servers. What a breath of fresh air the Fediverse has been. We have made many hundreds of new friends from around the world, mostly related to our mountain, tech and nature interests.

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A few from today's excursion into Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains. Once away from the ski area we saw nobody all day and had to make our own tracks through the snow. Varying conditions, some hardpack, some breakable crust, some ankle deep powder. Crampons and ice axe essential. Superb day with brilliant mountain views

A person follows a solitary pair of tracks up a snow covered hillside. A long shadow comes out of the snow to the right of the person. Above are the indications of mountain summits. Bright blue skies.

A person descends a snow slope from right to left. Behind are snow covered mountains

A person dressed in a pale blue jacket descend a slope from the right towards a small summit with a large cairn on. Behind rises a big mountain

A person follows footprints in the snow to the right of the image. The person is beneath a large boulder covered in snow. To the left the cliff drops off vertically

After 2 winters with either health problems, poor snow conditions or just plain bad luck, it was nice to get back into the high Sierra Nevada again. I forgot just how much I love this environment and how comfortable I feel here. Good to be back!

I apologise in advance, as there might just be quite a few snowy mountain shots heading to the timeline over the next few days! 😂

A person (me) with a yellow hat and blue jacket and trousers is walking down a snowfield with an ice axe in one hand and a walking pole in the other.

Today I've been hiking in an area that was badly burnt during a severe wildfire in September 2022. It is so refreshing and inspiring to see plant life recovering and new growth coming through.

Some burnt tree stumps come out of rocky ground whilst new green plant growth starts to appear. Snow mountains behind

Out of a barren and burnt hillside some lush green cactus type plants start to emerge

Lot of snow loss below 2500 metres in Spain's Sierra Nevada. Strange really as temperatures have remained cold. Here a view of the Río Lanjarón valley leading up to the Cerro de Caballo 3009m. To the right is Cerrillo Redondo 2912m and Las Alegas 2700m

A dirt road in the foreground leads the eye to the mountains behind which become snow covered towards the summits

At long last we've had some much needed rain, falling as snow above 2000m. Here is the town of Lanjarón seen a few minutes ago with threatening, but very welcoming, rain clouds gathering. Small rainbow showing too

A small town sits in sunlight on a small plateau. Above are dark rain clouds with a small rainbow on the upper right hand side

If you came across this monster in a snow covered winter forest you might just be tempted to turn and run! In fact, today I am remembering my beautiful Leonberger, Bruno. A big dog (he was 70kg+) but extremely friendly and very family orientated. A gentle giant indeed.

A large black and gold dog stands in a snow covered forest

There's nothing quite like fireside dreaming on a winters day. This last week my wife & I have been doing a lot of this & are delighted to announce that as a result, we have booked flights so we can attempt the long distance "Alta Via 2" trail in the Italian Dolomites in July.

It's 10,000m ascent/descent +150km of tough mountain scenery to negotiate. Staying in refuges so we can travel light. I shall be 69 years old by then, so will be a tough enough challenge!

Snow and ice on the highest peaks of Spain's Sierra Nevada yesterday. Mulhacén 3482m, Veleta 3394m and Alcazaba 3350m

Veleta peak on Spain's Sierra Nevada. Snow and ice from 2700m upwards. The lower slopes a mix of open hillsides and lush pine forests

Northern faces of Alcazaba and Mulhacen in the shade. In the middle ground are open hillsides and at the bottom of the image are pine forests