Very wet

My lovely assistants bask in some finest west coast weather conditions. How glamorous!

Today was perhaps the wettest day I have ever seen on Aonach Mor (and I have seen some pretty wet conditions up there). Heavy and persistent rain fell for most of the day. The snow is soft and wet. However colder temperatures are forecast for tomorrow, and with so much water about, there should be some rapid ice build up.
Blair

Blowing snow.

"...umm shall we go down there..... it looks a bit scary to me.....ummm..."

Snow blowing into Coire an Lochan.


There was plenty of snow blowing around at the top of Aonach Mor today. The wind was from the west, meaning that all the new snow is being deposited on East aspects. There were some soft cornices forming, and the scarp slopes were being loading. There were plenty of people milling around the top, wondering whether to try and descend into Coire an Lochan or not. Some were feeling lucky, and went for it, while others decided to try elsewhere.
Blair

New snow.

There was a good cover of new snow at higher levels today. In the picture (about 850m on the East face of Aonach Mor) there was about 30cm of fresh snow, but below this level there was little new snow. In increase in temperature meant that the new snow was very soft and wet. The weather forecast is for lower temperature tomorrow, so this snow is likely to consolidate.
Blair

Winter is back.

Winter made a return to Lochaber today. The picture shows Keith on the Nid ridge during the morning, before the weather turned really foul.
Blair

Snow showers today.

On Aonach Mor today the generally Westerly wind was variable in strength and direction with considerable transport of snow. Visibility also varied considerably as illustrated in these two photographs, though poor visibility was much more prolonged than good!!

A hard rain's a-gonna fall.

I was a very wet day on the hill with a strong winds and a hard driving rain falling in our faces. It made me think what Mr Dylan would have said if he had been out on the hill today....


Oh, where have you been, my blue eyed son?
Oh, where have you been my darling young one?
I've been out in a storm, at my eyes it was clawing,
I've dug a sorry snowpack, it was rapidly thawing,
I've climbed a distant ridge, we were all soaked to the skin,
I stood under great ice routes, they were bedraggled and thin
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Blair

Cloud inversion.

Looking West over Carn Mor Dearg to Ben Nevis

Looking East across the Grey Coires.

The Aonach Mor plateau was looking quite summery today.





It was a stunning day on the Lochaber hills. The tops were poking out above a sea of cloud. The snow is generally very hard and icy, but on southerly aspects it softens a bit during the day. Great conditions for hillwalking and some of the easier (grade I and II) winter climbs.

Room with a view

It was another lovely day in Lochaber. This fine collection of igloos on the East face of Aonach Mor was a good spot for some lunch. However, some of the walls were starting to suffer in the sunny weather.

Blair

Lovely day for a stroll

It was a lovely spring-like day for a stroll over to Aonach Beag today. The view back to Ben Nevis was great.
Blair

Spring has arrived! The snow generally remains frozen and should give some good climbing still in the gullies. Many of the buttresses are pretty bare and the plateau is grassy!

Crags on Aonach Mor today

What a difference a day makes

What a difference a day makes. In complete contrast to yesterday, it was mild, cloudy and very wet on Ben Nevis today. The lovely snow and ice which covered the hills is rapidly turning to water and heading towards the sea. This means that all the rivers and streams are raging torrents. This is okay if you are a kayaking freak, but not so useful for winter climbing or skiing. We failed to get across the Allt a' Mhuilinn to get to the CIC hut. See pictures of Allt a' Mhuilinn near the dam and walking up towards the CIC.

Blair

Coire Dubh

Today the Nevis range ski patrol accomapined us to have a look at the back coires of Aonach Mor, to see if it was possible to open them for skiing. As seen in the picture of Coire Dubh, there was plenty of avalanche activity there, some very fragile cornices and lots more fresh unstable snow blowing in. The coires remained closed.
Blair

More snow and wind

It would be fair to say that the conditions today were far from ideal for spotting avalanches, although I am pretty sure they were out there.

Strong S-SW winds and persistant snow above 600m.

The picture says it all!

Pretty wet and horrible up the Ben today. Large avalanches out of most of the main gullies. Looks like it is still freezing above 1000m so there will still be lots of unstable snow about there. There was no way I was going up there for a closer look after having watched No5 gully avalanche!

Extent of avalanche debris below Observatory Gully


Looking into the inner corrie

Snow down to the glen

Snow fell down to low levels today and Ben Nevis is looking suitably wintry. During short breaks in the mist these pictures were taken.

Wild conditions

Conditions were quite wild for our observations today. We found a fair bit of graupel within the snowpack. Graupel (or soft hail as it is sometimes called) is the name for firm, rounded pellets of snow/ice. These pellets are formed through the riming of individual snowflakes in humid, sub-zero conditions. Graupel can sometimes collect in certain areas. Windslab deposited on top of these areas can be very unstable as the graupel can act like ball bearings.

Blair

Fresh Snow

There was a fair bit of snow blowing about the hill today. A lot of this is being deposited on Easterly aspects, as seen in this picture looking North along the Nid/Lemmings Ridge on Aonach Mor at an altitude of about 1050 metres. Further down the ridge a couple of soft slab avalanches were released by hitting the cornice which collapsed and released the slope below. These avalanche were quite small, because the accumulation of fresh snow are not yet extensive.
Blair

A dusting of Fresh.

A light dusting of fresh snow fell in very light winds today. The snowflake did not get broken up or blown away before being observed. This meant that (if you are a snow geek like me) it was a good day for snowflake spotting. Today most were needles (see picture of the snow on my rucsac strap). The shape of a snow flake depends on the temperature and the humidity at which it forms. Irregular needles like these form at temperature of between about -4°C and -6°C. In comparison dendrites (classic Christmas card snow flakes) form at about -15°C.
Blair

Wet, mild and cloudy.

Wet, mild and cloudy (as picture shows), not much more worth saying about today. Forecast better for tomorrow.
Blair

Brief return of semi-winter

After a very wet and mild day yesterday, winter made a slight reapperance today. There was a bit of fresh snow above about 900m. However, below an icy crust the snowpack is very wet. Some winter skills groups were seen on Ben Nevis. A couple of climbers were also seen heading up Observatory Gully looking for some winter conditions. Back to very wet and mild conditions tomorrow.
Blair