Very quiet up the Ben today with only 2 parties visible: Point five and Castle Ridge.

Underfoot its still deepish unconsolidated snow

Spot the climber in Point Five today

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas from snowy Glen Nevis looking up towards Meall Cumhann and the West face of Aonach Beag

A new Season

Is the weather about to clear up.....

Well it has been a wintery start to the avalanche forecasting season. The past few days have been cold, with summit temperatures of around minus five and fresh snow down to sea level. For a short time this morning it looked like it was about to clear up on Aonach Mor, but suddenly the wind got up and it started snowing. At the summit hut I met two climbers who had originally planned to descend Easy Gully into Coire an Lochan. However, with a fair bit of soft windslab about, and the poor visibility, they sensibly decided to head over to the West Face (often a safer bet when there is a substantial avalanche hazard in Coire an Lochan).

Discussing options at the summit hut

Heading away from the top of Coire an Lochan in some wild weather.

Just about the end

Filming for Countryfile. Showing Julia Bradbury that avalanche forecasting is not as glamourous as some may believe.

Well it's just about the end of the season here in Lochaber (the last report will be published on Friday) and this will probabely be the last blog post.
During the past few days Countryfile been doing some some filming in the area, including the work of the avalanche forecasters. This will shown next Sunday at 7pm on BBC1.
Also on Sunday there will be a Seminar on the Provision of Avalanche Forecasting in Scotland at Glenmore Lodge. More information can be found on the SAIS website.
See you next winter.
Blair

Still Plenty of Snow in Lochaber

There is still a fair bit of snow about on high East facing aspects in Lochaber at the moment.

Boarding down Summit Gully. Conditions looked good.

Still some large cornices about.

It was so nice that pac-man quit his 80's computer game, joined up with spider man (on the tow) and came up with some boarding.

The Aonach Mor Crevasse.

Debris from an avalanche almost down to the loch.

It was mild, but thankfully quite dry on Aonach Mor today. Debris from an avalanche, which probabely released on Wednseday night or Thursday, was observed almost down to the lochan of Coire an Lochan. The crown wall could be seen at the top of Easy Gully. This was a vertical drop of about 350 metres.

Taken from standing in a rather deep crack in the snow. The overhanging natural of the walls meant that it felt about grade VI to get out of.

In the mild conditions some large creep/slump cracks are starting to form. This one was covered by a soft layer of snow until being "discovered" my assistant, it gave her a bit of a shock.
Blair

Lots of snow high up.

Lots of little sluffs in Coire an Lochan, probabley from yesterdays snowfall.

Still a few chunky cornices about. I would be very wary about being below one of these on a mild day.

Firstly sorry about the long time period since we last blogged, out camera got misplaced for a while. Have got it back now. Although it may not appear this way from the glens, there is still plenty of snow about high up in Lochaber. Conditions on many of the easy and mid grade gullies and ice routes high on the Ben and Aonach Mor are probabley quite good, if a little soft in places, at the moment. What's more the crags are very quite (there was nobody climbing in Coire an Lochan of Aonach Mor today) and there is loads of daylight so you don't even have to get up that early. Snow stability has generally been pretty good recently, but this can change rapidly if we have a big dump of fresh snow. Also be wary of cornice collapse and ice fall on those mild days.
Blair

Avalanche cake.

Damp, mild and windy on Aonach Mor today, hopefully a return to colder conditions on Monday

It was not very inspiring weather in Lochaber this weekend. Saturday started cloudy, cleared up for a while in the afternoon before staring to drizzle again in the evening. Sunday was windy with showers which fell as rain at all levels. The freezing level remained above the summit and so the snowpack continued to thaw.

The avalanche cake.

So to make up for the lack of interesting snow, we baked an avalanche cake. A three layers victoria sponge was used to create the underlying mountain shape. The top layers of this are cut up and placed in the approiate location to form your favourite avalanche track. The snowpack is made of regular white icing. The avalanche and debris is a mix of royal icing, and mini marshmallows. For extra realism (you can just make it out in the picture) a layer of surface hoar was created using edible cake glitter.
As well as being both fun and educational, such a cake is good tasty fuel for those of us whose job it is to look for real avalanches.
Blair

Aonach Mor in the sunshine

From the South

From the North.

Spring has sprung

Morning Slab, Ben Nevis with that nice water smear running down it

Looking further into the Corrie where much of the action was today. Many teams also on the ridge lines

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