Snow then rain then snow.

After yesterday's snow and overnight rain at all levels there was quite a lot of water in the Allt a' Mhuilinn.  During the morning the freezing level dropped below the summits. 

Ben Nevis: NE Buttress

Wild day up the Ben with fresh snow down to around 300m. Lots of snow being blown around in the strong winds.

A more wintery day than yesterday on Ben Nevis.

After yesterday's rain at all levels, today's showers fell as snow above around 550 metres. 

Looking up into Coire na Ciste.

North East Buttress and Minus Face.

Damp day.

A mild and damp day. It was not quite a wet or as windy as I had thought it might be. However, it certainly was mild, plus five degrees on the top of Aonach Mor at midday.

 Looking up toward the Minus Face and the Douglas Boulder.

 Looking into Coire na Ciste. Avalanche debris can be seen centre left of the picture. This probably came down in the early hours of this morning as the temperature rose and the snow turned to rain. Fresh debris was also noted below Number 3 Gully, Number 4 Gully, Trident Buttress, Number 5 Gully and the Castle Gullies. 

Lots of water about, with the snowpack getting pretty wet. 

South Easterly winds causing extensive wind erosion from the East corries on Aonach Mor

Winter returns to upper Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis.

Two Ptarmigan trying hard to stay camouflaged on snow patches.

Fresh snow on Ben Nevis.

Not the best of visibility on Aonach Mor.

Visibility on the upper slopes of Aonach Mor was rather poor today.  During the late morning, when I arrived at the north end of the summit plateau of Aonach Mor (1200m) rain had turned to snow.  

Another stormy day.

It was another wild and windy day in Lochaber. I went up the Ben. The freezing level was around 900 meters, so the band of precipitation which crosse the area was falling as snow at higher levels.  

 Looking over to Carn Dearg buttress from the CIC hut. There is actually a team at the base of the Curtain, I am not sure if they went up to climb it or just for a look, but shortly later we saw them heading back down the hill.

 Looking up to trident buttress.

Tower ridge up on the left from near the base of the Douglas Boulder.

After the storm

After yesterdays wild weather, today felt relatively settled. However, it was still too windy for the Nevis range gondola to run so I walked up from the bottom. There has been a fair bit of snow over the past 24 hours or so.However, with the strong winds large areas of the hill have been scoured. However, in sheltered locations the deposits of fresh snow tend to be quite deep. 

Fresh drifts at the bottom of the Goose T bar.

 In locations which have been sheltered from the strong winds such as the flat area pictured above or the Goose gully (pictured below) there tends to be quite significant deposits of fresh snow. The strong winds have densely packed this snow in, meaning that hopefully not too much will be lost in the that which is forecast over the weekend.

Wild day on the Ben.

It was a wild and windy day on the Ben. Although not heavy, snow fell continuously above about 700 meters through the day. The wind was from the South-East, and as usually the case when it is from that direction was very gusty.  There was lots of snow blowing about, and although many areas were scoured, there were some deep drifts of fresh about.

Heading up into Coire na Ciste. Unfortunately the camera stopped working shortly after this, so no pictures from within the Coire. It was pretty wild up there though with lots of snow blowing around.

Winter up the Ben

Looking towards Carn Dearg and Trident areas

Observatory Ridge

Cornices and scarp slopes.

Visibility was only very slightly better than yesterday. However, today I had the rope with me, which allowed me a closer look at some of the scarp slopes and cornices in Coire an Lochan. 

The results of a tap test at the pit site. Although some clean shears were observed, a bit more effort was required to cause failure than yesterday. The snowpack has somewhat consolidated in fluctuating temperatures.

There are some pretty substantial cornices about like this one near the top of Left Twin. Fortunately this one can be easily out flanked on the left.

Start of a new season.

Not great visibility on the tops, but I could see that there were some substantial cornices about.

 Coire Dubh. 

Not great visibility on the hill today, but better than the past few days. I had a good look around on Aonach Mor to get a feeling for where the snow is. There is pretty good cover on the summit plateau, and on the upper half of the ski area. The back coires are slowly filling in, but not enough there yet for good skiing.