Spring has Sprung.

Looking over to Ben Nevis.

Topping out on Right Twin.

For the first time this year it really felt like spring in Lochaber today. While wandering along the top I noticed my friend Rob topping out of Right Twin. He reported good conditions in shady locations, but things begining to soften where exposed to the sun. There are some large cornices about, and although they were generally stable today, they made topping out in some loactions quite awkard. Conditions were looking good over on the Ben.
Blair

Drooping cornices

Long crack appearing well behind the corniced edge.

This section of cornice is unlikely to be there for long. In fact I am sure that the crack you can see was getting wider in the time we were there.

Ben Nevis yesterday (14th March). A fair bit of ice high up.

Conditions have been mild for the past few days. Cornices are slumping, cracking and prone to collapse, as these pictures indicate. There is a fair amount of ice on the Ben. It is thawing at the moment, but what is left if/when it freezes should be good.
Blair

The Ben

Freezing level has lowered to around 1000m on the Ben today. Looking pretty thin low down. The Curtain has all but disappeared.

Quite a lot of recent debris below No 2, 3 and 4 gullies

The Ben

The Ben has a distinct winter feel about it with masses of fresh snow up high. Many of the lower routes are a bit on the thin side

Team Hopeful having a look at the Curtain

Its all down to route choice in the end. Various teams I spoke to today were all slightly agast at the scene below. Now they may have had some divine information as to the stability above, but I rather suspect not. Hopefully they survived, but if they did, it would be down to a lot of luck and not good route choice.

Team Suicide head up Number 2 Gully

It is often said that "Buttresses are a safer option" The team below have certainly taken this to heart! See if you can spot them

Team Steep on Sassenach

Weak Cornices.

The section of cornice which collapsed yesterday, with the debris in the background.

One section (further away) collapsed, while the other (foreground) section cracked, and settled a bit, but did not release. This failure was caused by stepping onto the location that this picture is taken from. When cornices are as weak as this, sometimes just approaching them can cause their failure. Other hill goers reported similar behaviour yesterday.

Yesterday there were some large cornices noted on Aonach Mor. This one collapsed when I skied a little too close. A climber was injured in Coire an Lochan, when he fell off when trying to surmount one other these cornices. Although the cornices were very unstable, the snowpack on the slopes below seems more stable. This cornice collapse failed to release the slope below. As the avalanche report indicates general snow stability, rather than specific cornice collapse hazard, a category 3 rather than a category 4 hazard rating was issued (although the cornice hazard was mentioned in the text).

Today the weather was very different with rain at all levels. Although all the cornices we observed today were still intact, but it wont be long before they begin collapsing due to the mild conditions. Also the stability of the large quantities of windslab about, will be dreceasing in the rain. All in all, an unpleasant, and potentially dangerous afternoon on the hill. However, a freeze is forecast for tomorrow, which will improve climbing conditions , and make travel around the hill alot easier.
Blair

What a difference a day makes,

Smile folk, it's snowing.

Yesterday (Monday) I was verging on losing the love for Scottish winter. Two weeks of mild weather, and then snow that was forecast, turned out to be rain all the way to summit level. To make matters worse, I slipped on some wet grass and ended up falling face first into some slush.
Today (Tuesday) things were very different. Heavy snow was falling at all levels, with the ski runs filling in nicely. Visibility was poor, so I could not see much on the tops. I imagine the climbing conditions will be improving, although some careful route choice is recommended as some large fragile cornices exist, and scarp slopes are likely to hold some poorly bonded snow. The fresh snow is quite soft, so in some places walking is quite hard going, but I think this is a small price to pay for a return to winter.
With the longer range forecasts predicting wintry weather all week, I have decided that maybe Scottish winter is not so bad after all.....
Blair

Winter returns

A party making their way up Coire Dubh, There was a bit of fresh snow here, but no real cornices. In other locations some large and fragile cornices have formed.

Winter made a return to Lochaber today. There was quite alot of fresh snow in the tops. Some soft cornices are forming. On Aonach Mor the area around Coire an Lochan didn't seem too bad from an avalanche point of view, with many people heading down Easy Gully no problem . We then headed over to the top of Summit Coire, the next coire to the south. Despite a similar altitude and aspects, there seemed to be more fresh snow here, and some substantial cornices were observed. A careful investigation revealed these were soft and prone to collapse.

Some wild and snowy weather expected tomorrow.
Blair

The thaw goes on.

A winter skills group in G+T gully (Aoanch Mor). There is still reasonable amount of snow at this level (about 900m), but it is thawing quite quickly in the mild weather.

A small creature investigates a fine burrow that someone has kindly constructed near the Nid Ridge of Aonach Mor.

The thaw continued today. The snowpack feels very spring like at the moment, that is homogeneous layers of large (2-3mm) wet grains. Stability is generally good. The greatest hazard is rock and ice fall, or any remaining sections of cornice collapsing.
Every day there is a noticeable reduction in the snow cover at lower levels. At higher levels it is still hanging in there. There is a fair bit of ice in some of the higher gullies, and although damp at the moment, should hopefully survive the thaw.
Could really do with some colder weather, and some snow.
Blair

The Thaw Continues

Ice forming on flat terrain near the summit.

Patchy snow cover in the grey coires.

There is still a patchy but reasonable amount of snow about but it is thawing at most levels. Up on the summits the thaw-refreeze cycles continues. Whilst this isn't great for skiers it should be producing some good climbing conditions.

What is left up there.

No pictures today I am afraid. The camera would not work on the hill. Afterwards in the warmth of the office I discovered that this was because someone had put the battery in the wrong way round. Anyway high up on Aonach Mor and the Ben, the climbing looks quite good. The steeper mixed routes are black, but there is plenty of good ice and neve in the gullies. However, with few locations on good nick, these tend to get quite busy. When I had a look down East Gully, there were 11 climbers in the gully on their way down, and I about 20 more getting ready to head down. As I said in the report, be wary of higher climbers who tend to knock off rock and ice, or drop equipment, on top of you. I once had an ice axe dropped about 50 metres down Vanishing Gully (on Ben Nevis) onto my head!
Blair

The thaw

Windy, mild, and damp on Aonach Mor today.

The thaw properly arrived in Lochaber today. Over the weekend it was not too mild, summit temperatures just hovering about freezing, and generally dry conditions. Today the summit temperature were around +2C, and a heavy drizzle fell. The snowpack is getting pretty wet, and at lower levels in particular is disappearing quickly. The mild conditions are expected to last a few days yet. The snowpack will slowly consolidate through this time. When the temperatures do drop again, the surving snow will freeze solid, and likely to provide some great climbing on the easy and mid grade gullies. The thaw will also release a fair bit of water, and this will lead to rapid ice build up when the temperature drops.
Blair

Mildness

Looking over towards South Buttress of Aonach Mor today

At higher levels in Lochaber there was a brief thaw on Thursday/Friday. Summit temperatures were about -1.5C today. The higher crags are still holding some snow, and there is some reasonable ice and neve in some of the gullies. Lower down the hill there is some good spring snow, which is nice to ski on. However, mild temperatures are forecast for this week. The snow and ice that is left after this next thaw is likely to be good for climbing, but how much will survive?
Blair

Up the Ben

Here are a few pics of up the Ben today


G

Winter wonderland

Ben Nevis looking good yesterday (Saturday) evening

A great day for ski touring. Here a couple of skiers enjoy the run down to the Aonach Mor/Aonach Beag col.

Although there is some ice about, the ice routes on Aonach Beag generally are looking pretty thin

I took off my skis and went knee deep into soft snow. Breaking trail though this would be pretty hard going

It was a cold, settled winter day on Aonach Mor today. Loads of snow which is making skis the way to get about the hill. Hope you like the pictures.
Blair

Lovely day

A lovely day. A couple got engaged up here today, and another team (in the picture) seem to be having a picnic. I forgot my sandwiches today, so was very jealous.

After a cloudy moring it cleared up nicely on Aonach Mor today.It was so nice this afternoon that a couple got engaged near the top of the hill.

Tip Top conditions in Lochaber

During the last week we have had a fair amount of snow here, although not as much as in the Cairngorms. However, given the quantites of fresh snow, stability is not as bad as it could be. This is because the wind has mainly been from the North East, thus depositing the snow on South Westerly aspects. These aspects were generally quite bare before this snowfall. Some places, like Easy Gully on Aonach Mor, which are usually quite dangerous after snowfall, are in fact scoured and safe. Having said that, care is needed where the new snow has accumulated, especially as the run outs are not very good. This means that even a small slide could well have very serious consequences.


Sunday looks like being another great day, so get out there and enjoy the winter. The skiing is good. The buttresses are well hoared up, but have been reported to be a bit verglassed in places. There is a some nice ice about on the Ben. However, I imagine that walk-ins would be pretty hard going. Anyway enjoy whatever you get up to.
Blair

Windy Weekend

Lenticular clouds over Creag Meagaidh indicating high winds

The main feature of the weather yesterday (Saturday) was the very strong and gusty winds. At several points I ended up crawling to reduce the chance of being blown over. One scalp wopund was susstained be someone getting blown over. The high winds did however produce some nice lenticular clouds.

Some good looking ice high on the Ben

Although still breezy today it was alot calmer than Saturday. Cold temperatures have frozen the snowpack solid. Looks like some good conditions on many of the easy to mid grade ice routes on Ben Nevis today.
Blair

Up the Ben

Looking up toward the Orion Face

Number Three Gully Buttress and Creag Coire na Ciste
Carn Dearg Buttress


I was up the Ben today. The higher buttresses were looking well hoared up. There was some ice in the seepage lines on Carn Dearg (Waterfall Gully, CIC Hut Icefall, Gemini etc). The Orion and Minus faces were looking quite white, but how much of that is useful ice starting to form,and how much is cruddy snow was hard to tell (although I suspect much of it was the latter)
The longer range forectas suggests a thaw then cold Easterly winds. This will stabalise the snowpack and, as long as it is not too long a thaw, is likley to improve climbing conditions.
Blair

Snow, Snow,Snow

It just does not seem to stop snowing in the the Lochaber hills. Southerly winds have been moving the snow about. For example the drift to the right of the skier in the top picture was not there yesterday, and as it has snowed quite alot it the few hours since I took the picture is probabley even bigger now.


The other picture shows some raised foot prints. These were formed by someone walking through soft snow (probabley yesterday). The wind has then increased, and eroded the surrounding soft snow to leave the hardened footprints standing proud. In many locations the eroded snow will end up being redeposited onto steep slopes, where it will show poor stability.

Although I could not see much higher up the hill, it is a safe bet to say that there to loads of unstable snow in many of the gullies at the moment, and that a few avalanches will have occured today. So just be careful if you are going out and about in the hills for the next few days.
Blair

Avalanches

About to Abseil down Morwind. Note the spindrift near the gound.

A combination of a Westerly wind and snow showers has created some unstable condtions on the East side of Aonach Mor. A guided team was seen about to abseil down Morwind to (hopefully) climb back out again. For those determined to climb in the current conditions, this is a safer option than decending Easy Gully.

Plenty of avalanche activity was noted on the east side of the Nid Ridge.
Blair

Lots of Snow

Loads of snow on Aonach Mor today. The skiing looks good for the weekend. The climbing could also be quite good, although the walk ins could be quite hard work and care will be needed on the appraoch slopes and in the gullies. Here Lucy, the mountaineering dog, shows off the latest in canine mountaineering equipment as she checks out the summit plateau.
Blair

The snow is here

There was some heavy snow showers this morning. Despite a clear afternoon (note the sunshine in the background) there was still plenty of snow blowing around in the strong winds.
Lots more snow forecast tonight and tomorrow.
Lets hope so
Blair

Up the Ben

Looking towards the West side of Tower Ridge

Looking up Number 3 Gully

It won't look this wintry tomorrow!

Graham

Winter again

Certainly felt like winter again today. (picture of Aonach Mor). All the old snow is refrozen and pretty solid. Some localised areas of fresh windslab which shows marginal stability

Is there anything left?

Here is a view of the Ben from the path.

On the bright side, it is getting cold again and the snow showers feel quite wintery. Hopefully get a better view of things tomorrow

Graham

Not a heathly day for snow.

It was been a stormy weekend, with heavy rain and gusts of over 100mph both days. Yesterday was a bit cooler with some fresh snow on the tops, but today was super mild. The forecast is for colder conditions tomorrow, in which case the snowpack will become very hard and icy.
Blair

Cloudy but no snow.

It was very cloudy on the Ben today, but we didn't really get much fresh snow. There remains some good snow ice in the high up gullies, and some water ice is beginning to form form at lower levels. However, as this picture of Carn Dearg shows, there is not much snow lower down. The CIC hut ice fall is probablely climbable if you were feeling brave.

On a non-snow related topic, last Monday (29th) I gave a couple of lads from the lakes called Chris and Donald a lift. One of them left their headtorch in my car. If you know them, then get them to get in touch at SAIS.Lochaber@gmail.com to get it back.
Blair

Another lovely day on Aonach Mor

It remained dry and cold on Aonach Mor with a good number of climbers enjoying the conditions.

New Year Hill Race.

Areas of water ice on Aonach Mor, very slippery.




People running up a big hill.



To start the year it was the traditional Aonach Mor hill race. About 100 competitors raced up the hill from the Nevis range car park to the Snow Goose restaurant. I took the gondola (and beat them all).

On the hill the snow remains very hard. Large areas of water ice are a hazard. Crampons are necessary for safe travel on these.
Blair