Inversion

There were a few teams out climbing in Coire an Lochan today. There a are at least two teams on route in this picture, but they are quite hard to spot.

Looking east across the Grey Coires with Ben Alder in the distance.


Looking South West from Aonach Mor towards Glen Coe.

It was a lovely day on the tops today for those who made the effort to get up there. There was a sea of cloud at about 800m stretching out in all directions. A few parties were seen enjoying some good looking ice and neve in on Aonach Mor.

Blair

Lovely day.

Although it looks quite Spring like in the picture taken on the east side of Aonach mor, a chilly southerly wind made it feel cold. The surface of the snowpack remain well frozen (crampons advisable) with any drainage lines starting to ice up.
Blair

Settled conditions

Looking over towards Ben Nevis.


Coire an Lochan of Aonach Mor. There are some climbers at the base of some the icy runnels.

It was a lovely day on Aoanch Mor today, and much warmer on the summit than down in the glens. The snow survived the thaw has been freezing for the last few days, and is now very hard and icy. Although there is not a huge amount of snow and ice about, what exists will provide some great climbing.

Xmas Day on the Ben

Xmas day on the Ben: Plenty of old snow in the main gully lines and a lot of the old ice is still present high up (see pictures below) One reported ascent of Gardyloo Gully today

Santas little Mountaineering Assistants inspecting the snow pit at the bottom of Observatory Gully. They seemed more interested in building snowmen.

View into the corrie. Plenty of old ice high up still

Looking up towards NE Buttress and Obs Ridge. Plenty of old ice evident in Point Five and on Hadrians Wall

Lull in the Storm

After a very stormy week, today was quite calm. After a brief thaw yesterday evening, the snowpack has refrozen and is generally quite firm. Overnight snow showers have deposited fresh snow in some areas (as in today's picture). There is a bit more snow than this time last year. Unfortunately the forecast is for stormy, mild and wet weather tomorrow..
Blair

A new Season

Today (Tues 16th) was the first day of the season for the SAIS Lochaber and North Cairngorm teams. Typically after weeks of cold and relatively settled weather, the weather turned mild, windy and wet for our return. In some places there are good accumulations of snow for the time of year. For example at our snow pit site on the East side of Aonach Mor, at an altitude of about 900m, there was almost 260 cm of snow.
Blair