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

Inversion

There were a few teams out climbing in Coire an Lochan today. There a are at least two teams on route in this picture, but they are quite hard to spot.

Looking east across the Grey Coires with Ben Alder in the distance.


Looking South West from Aonach Mor towards Glen Coe.

It was a lovely day on the tops today for those who made the effort to get up there. There was a sea of cloud at about 800m stretching out in all directions. A few parties were seen enjoying some good looking ice and neve in on Aonach Mor.

Blair

Lovely day.

Although it looks quite Spring like in the picture taken on the east side of Aonach mor, a chilly southerly wind made it feel cold. The surface of the snowpack remain well frozen (crampons advisable) with any drainage lines starting to ice up.
Blair

Settled conditions

Looking over towards Ben Nevis.


Coire an Lochan of Aonach Mor. There are some climbers at the base of some the icy runnels.

It was a lovely day on Aoanch Mor today, and much warmer on the summit than down in the glens. The snow survived the thaw has been freezing for the last few days, and is now very hard and icy. Although there is not a huge amount of snow and ice about, what exists will provide some great climbing.

Xmas Day on the Ben

Xmas day on the Ben: Plenty of old snow in the main gully lines and a lot of the old ice is still present high up (see pictures below) One reported ascent of Gardyloo Gully today

Santas little Mountaineering Assistants inspecting the snow pit at the bottom of Observatory Gully. They seemed more interested in building snowmen.

View into the corrie. Plenty of old ice high up still

Looking up towards NE Buttress and Obs Ridge. Plenty of old ice evident in Point Five and on Hadrians Wall

Lull in the Storm

After a very stormy week, today was quite calm. After a brief thaw yesterday evening, the snowpack has refrozen and is generally quite firm. Overnight snow showers have deposited fresh snow in some areas (as in today's picture). There is a bit more snow than this time last year. Unfortunately the forecast is for stormy, mild and wet weather tomorrow..
Blair

A new Season

Today (Tues 16th) was the first day of the season for the SAIS Lochaber and North Cairngorm teams. Typically after weeks of cold and relatively settled weather, the weather turned mild, windy and wet for our return. In some places there are good accumulations of snow for the time of year. For example at our snow pit site on the East side of Aonach Mor, at an altitude of about 900m, there was almost 260 cm of snow.
Blair

Easy Gully Cervasse.

Is this just a small hole in the snow?......

No, it is the entrance to a large crevasse. Here Jenny relaxed about 10ft below the surface snow. However, getting out proved to be quite tricky.....


Today it was mild with rain at all levels. A large crevasse at the top of Easy Gully on Aonach Mor was today discovered by an unfortunate hill walker, who fell into a hole in the snow. I don't think that he (or she) fell all the way in, as their tracks did continued on the other side of the hole (and there was no sign of them at the bottom).
Blair

Sping conditions

Some large cornices and strange "Mr Whippy" formations exist at the top of many crags.

Some large blocks of debris from a recent cornice collapse.

After an icy start this morning the snowpack soon softened in the warm sunny conditions. There are large cornices about, and some of these are begining to droop and become unstable in the mild conditions. We found debris from a recently collapsed cornice on the Cairn slope of Aonach Mor. This included some pretty substantial blocks. With the forecast for the mild conditions to continue tomorrow, cornice collapse will remain a hazard.
Blair