Fresh snow

 Some interesting shaped drifts behind snow fences. 

 Plenty of fresh snow behind the snow fences at 1150m.

 Not just climbers and skiers who were enjoying the return of winter. 

Snowing though most of day at the top of the gondola.

Cloudy on Top.

It was cloudy on the top of Aonach Mor this morning so no nice pictures of the crags or the view over to Ben Nevis.  It did clear up later, but I was down in the office by that time.  The existing snowpack is very hard and icy. There has been a dusting of fresh snow above about 800 metres and things were riming up in the thick cloud. 

All change tonight and tomorrow with a fair bit of fresh snow being forecast. Although this should improve the climbing conditions care should be taken as I suspect the fresh snow won't stick to the existing snowpack very well. 

 Busy at the top of Easy Gully.   

At 1000 metres it was clear with good views to the North. The summit was still in could at this point.

A dusting of soft snow on the grass on the Right. The old snow, on the left of the picture, is very hard and icy. 

A dusting of fresh snow.

Coire Dubh on Aonach Mor: looking south.

Looking east from Aonach Mor north ridge.

Views of the Ben

 Looking over Tower Ridge towards the Orion Face and Observatory Ridge

Carn Dear Buttress and the West side of Tower Ridge

Fresh Snow!!

If you look closely enough you will see a very very light dusting of fresh snow on Aonach Mor, taken this morning. Not enough to get excited about though!

The queue for the patch of snow this morning! Actually its not that bad. There is still plenty of snow round the East side of Aonach Mor for doing winter skills. This picture is at around 800m, 20 mins walk from the top Gondola station

The thaw continues!

Here is the view up from the CIC hut this afternoon after the cloud had come down. Still plenty of old snow in the main gullies

Summit plateau of Aonach Mor this morning

Corie Dubh, Aonach Mor this morning

Mild day.

It was a mild day, but not too wet (by West coast standards that is). The rain was drizzle rather than heavy. At 1050 meters we found the top 15cm or so of the snowpack to be wet, but still dry and sub-zero underneath.  Plenty of cornices have come down recently. 

The camera lens was a bit wet by this point. However, avalanche debris from a cornice collapse can be seen in foreground on the left of the picture. Some substantial sections of cornice remain as in the background.  

Looking up the Nid ridge at about 1000m.

A brief view

I got a brief view from Aonach Mor today. The light was not great for pictures, but I think you can just about make out.

 A substantial cornice above Left Twin.

 Cornices all along the top of Coire an Lochan.

 Top of Easy Gully.

Climbers in Coire an Lochan. 

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.