Wednesday, December 25, 2013

White Christmas on Ben Nevis


Heading up towards the CIC hut. Although not quite as windy and wild as it has been there were still some heavy showers and a gusty wind. 

Carn Dearg and Castle Ridge.  Notice the avalanche debris near the bottom right of the picture.

We found a weak layer of graupel within the snowpack. Graupel is formed by the riming up of snowflakes and because of its spherical shape can form unstable layers when buried by subsequent snowfalls. Despite also being known as soft hail, it did not feel very soft when hitting us in the face at about 40mph in some of the heavier showers.