Some sunshine at last.

After a long period of mild, cloudy and damp weather (the last time we saw any hint of sunshine was Sunday the 19th of Feb, almost two weeks ago) it was nice to see sunshine and get some views todays. Here are a few pictures of Aonach Mor today.

The North side of Coire an Lochan.

Cracks above Easy Gully.

Looking down to the loch of Coire an Lochan. I am not sure if you can see it in the picture, but the remaining ice in the loch is covered in mud, dirt and rocks, which must have been transported there by avalanche.

The South side of Coire an Lochan as the cloud starts to roll in.

Looking over Carn Dearg Meadhonach to Ben Nevis.

Aonach Mor on Thursday

This lovely green (upperside) and orange (underside) montane lichen (Solorina crocea) is now visible on parts of the plateau as the snow has receded considerably.

Aonach Mor: Coire Dubh

Carn Mor Dearg East slopes

The thaw slows down.

It was a bit colder on the tops today than the past few days. It was also generally dry, if rather cloudy. The remaining snowpack is slowly thawing. Still plenty of snow on higher East facing aspects. Unfortunately I the cloud prevent me from seeing if any ice remaining in any of the gullies.

A pair do some winter skills on the Nid Ridge.

Looking down Easy Gully into the gloom.

Aonach Mor North-East side

Coire an Lochan below the cloud

Coire Dubh

Its still winter up there

You could be forgive by thinking that winter is over. Certainly driving around Fort William when the cloud is at 700m you cant see any snow but....

.... round the East side of Aonach Mor today at 800m there was plenty! Only 20 mins walk from the top gondola station and its still winter!

On my return I did manage to ski all the way back to the gondola station but the last 1km was on steep wet grass, which actually is quite fun. Could be a new sport?

What remains.

I think that it is fair to say that it has been pretty mild and wet over the past few days and walking up by the Allt a Mhuilinn this morning, there didn't appear to by much snow or ice left on Ben Nevis. However, up in Coire na Ciste conditions it was looking a bit more wintery. The snowpack is firming up in the colder temperature, and from what I could see through the cloud there looked like reasonable ice on routes like The Gutter, The White Line, The Cascade, Number 3 Gully Buttress, and some of gullies on Creag Coire na Ciste. I would say there were about 20 people out climbing.

The South side of Coire na Ciste.

Creag Coire na Ciste with Number 4 Gully on the right.

Wet again on Ben Nevis!!

Lots of things falling down.

Avalanche debris below Number 5 Gully. This would have come down sometime yesterday (Monday).
Avalanche debris onto the loch in Coire na Ciste. The slopes of the West and South West of the Lochan are covered in debris from two large avalanches, one down by Trident Buttress, and the other from Number 4 Gully area.

Some big lumps of ice have come down in the past few days.

A fair few rocks have fallen off as well.

A bit of snow at higher levels

There didn't seem to be much snow when walking up the Ben today.

However, up in Coire Leis at around 950 metres I was surprised to find a substantial area with between 20cm and 50cm of fresh windslab. This windslab was dense and sticky. As shown in the photo, I did managed to produce a shear failure, it required quite a lot of effort.

Wet Grains

Remaining cornices are slumping and prone to collapse in the mild conditions.

Wet grains. The snowpack is now almost completely made up of wet grains. Some layers harder and more frozen, while some are softer and wetter, but all are some form of wet grains. Although the appearance of the hill is being significantly affected by the mild temperatures, on high East aspects there is still quite a depth. In the background of the photo the end of the probe can be seen. This probe is 3m long, and even from the bottom of the snow pit, which was just over a metre deep, it did not touch the ground, implying a snow depth of greater than 4m. This is the case on a lot of high Easterly aspects.

Castle Gullies.

I often see piles of debris below the Castle Gullies, but have never been up either of them. I decided to take advantage of the stable snow conditions to head up South Castle Gully, to have a look at the starting zone near the top.

Heading up towards the Castle Gullies, lots of old avalanche debris about.

There was some good looking ice on the side walls of the gully. As seen in the picture the top pitches of Compression Cracks and Plum Line were looking good. An icefall higher up the gully called Plum Duff looked superb (sort of like a steeper version of the Cascade over in Coire na Ciste) and, due to the stable snow conditions, safe to get to at the moment. I have never heard of anybody doing this routes, so hopefully now I it has been mentioned on the blog someone will be up there climbing it tomorrow.

Icy crust.

As highlighted by my crystal card, the was thin but very unusually icy layer on the surface of the snowpack at higher levels today. It was less than 1cm thick, but was made up from almost clear water ice. It was either a form a glaze ice, formed by freezing rain/drizzle, or very hard icy rime, which is caused by supercooled water drops in the atmosphere.

Danger! Danger! The ice also covered this Danger Sign.

A climber belaying at the top of the cliff of Coire an Lochan. Cornices are making the exits from some routes quite tricky at the moment.

Mild and still on the Ben.

Cloud coming and going. Still plenty of ice about.

Looking up towards Point Five Gully and Hadrians wall. When digging my pit a small wet snow avalanche come down Sickle, the ice smear just to the right of Hadrians wall. This was probableyt quite exciting for the two pairs of climbers on Hadrians Wall at the time.

By adjusting the setting of the photo, the debris from this avalanche can be seen. Although not particular extensive, it would certainly have been enough to knock you off a climber.

Aonach Mor before the rain.

The slowly approaching rain.

Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis

Aonach Beag

Had a good little trip over to Aonach Beag today. Another nice day, but as can be seen in the pictures the first sign of a change in the weather can be seen out to the South-West. It is forecast to be milder on the summit of Ben Nevis tomorrow than at sea level on the South East coast of England. Terrible!

Looking south from the summit of Aonach Mor to Aoanch Beag.

About to head down to the col with Mamores and the hills of Glen Coe in the background.

Looking back from the col to Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg.

Heading home via Summit Gully and Coire an Lochan.

Beautiful winters day.

Cornices and steep snow making the exits from some of the routes on Aonach Mor quite tricky at the moment.

When Easy Gully, the usual way to access the routes on Aonach Mor is hazardous, the routes can still be reached by abseiling down Central Buttress as these climbers are doing. Note the avalanche and cornice debris lower down.

The crags of Coire an Lochan of Aonach Mor. If you look carefully you can see a crown wall running from below Forgotten Twin over to below Grooved Arete, and the debris running down and disappearing into the shadow near the bottom right of the image.

Back Coires

Oops some snow on the lens. A few people were out enjoying some good skiing in the back coires of Nevis range today. However, care need taken as there were some areas of poorly bonded snow as well as some large and fragile cornices about. We met a pair of climbers who got a bit of a fright when a large section of cornice at the top of Easy Gully collapsed as they approached it.

A change in the weather.

Lumps of ice dislodged by warming temperaturs and increased water levels floating down the Allt a Mhullin.

A view up into Coire na Ciste just before the weather closed in.

The Douglas Boulder through blowing wet snow.

A bit of a change in the weather today, with a fair bit of snow on the tops. Thanks to the team staying in the CIC hut for reporting their (rather exciting) snow stability observations this morning.

Another sunny and cold day on Aonach Mor. Climbers on White Shark

Winter on the Ben

Loads of parties climbing on many of the main lines today. If you look closely at the pictures you can see teams on Hadrians Wall and Point Five among other things