Mild and damp

Damp times, but still some pretty substantial patches of snow about.

Slight freeze on the tops

It was slightly colder overnight than it had been recently. Some rime ice had formed on grass and moss at higher levels (at about 1200 m in this picture). The snow cover at this level had an icy crust to it from the colder conditions.

There are a number of cracks about which have been created by cornices creeping and slumping the the mild conditions we have been experiencing over the past week. Although some sections of cornice have already dropped off, there are plenty more waiting for when the thaw resumes.

The thaw goes on

The spring snowpack was continuing to thaw at all levels today, as see looking over onto Carn Mor Dearg.

Ben Nevis: thawing at all levels.

19th March

The crags of Coire an Lochan. No climbers here today.

A group peak over the top of the chancer ski run. Note the size of the cornices above the crags to the left.

A couple of size 1 avalanches in Coire an Lochan. They released somewhere up in the crags above. We reckoned that one travel about 70m, and the other about 100m.

A sunny day at last.

Looking East over the Grey Coires.

Coire an Lochan of Aonach Mor.

Looking over to Carn Mor Dearg

On the tops, the South-Westerly winds were strong enough to transport the snow, and build fresh layers of windslab in sheltered locations. This is seen here at the top of an East aspect at an altitude of about 1200m.

Big snow fall

A three metre avalanche probe.

When pushed into the snow only about 10cm sticking out.

There has been significant snowfall over the past couple of days, with the winds from the East or North-East. There was no snow on this westerly aspects a couple of days ago, now there is almost 3 metres of windslab. This is not particularly stable, especially where it is sitting on top of the old hard neve. Poor visibility over the last couple of days has meant that I have not seen any avalanches from this storm cycles, however I am sure they have occurred. If you do see any evidence of avalanches, we greatly appreciate your reports. An avalanche reporting form can be found on the SAIS website.

Wild Day

Looking up the Nid ridge on Aonach Mor this morning, it did not look like there was a great deal of new snow. The strong winds, and low temperatures meant the most locations exposed to the wind like in the picture were very scoured. On lee slopes however, there was plenty of fresh unstable snow, and some big new cornices, and loads of blowing snow (no pictures as all the blowing snow made for very poor visibility). A quick probe close to where I dug todays pit site and I found over 150cm of fresh snow, and that was not even in a particularly sheltered location. I am sure in the back of Easy Gully and places like that there would be even more fresh, although I don't fancy going in there to find out at the moment.

At the snowpit location I found an clean shear at 24cm.

Having the ming.

Today I "had the ming" on Ben Nevis. It was a very wet day with heavy rain at lower levels and above about 900m soft, wet snow. It was not as cold as hoped for with the freezing level rising to about 1100 metres briefly around midday before dropping again during the afternoon.

The lower part of Comb Buttress

A pair below Trident buttress.

Spring Sunshine

It was a lovely Spring like day in Lochaber today. To the south there was a sea of cloud, which at times flirted with the summit plateau of Aonach Mor. To the North the cloud was more broken. Visibility towards Aonach Beag was poor, so no report on the ice conditions over there at the moment. The snow started off hard and icy, but where exposed to the sunshine was softening through the day, to provide great skiing in some locations.

Looking over to Carn Mor Dearg and the Ben.

The south side of Coire an Lochan. Still some substantial cornices about.

Coire an Lochan.

Looking up into Coire na Ciste today.

Old avalanche debris below Number 5 gully. This avalanche occurred during the mild wet spell last week.

Fresh cornices at the top of Number 5 gully. You might just about be able to make out an old crown wall on the shady snow slope in the middle distance. This is probably the same avalanche for which the debris is shown in the previous picture.

It was a lovely calm and sunny day on Ben Nevis today. Lots of climbers out with teams on The Orion Face, Hadrians Wall, Point Five Gully and most of the classic ridges. Saw old debris (from last weeks thaw) below Number 2 and Number 5 gullies, but no sign of any more recent debris. This contrast a bit with Aonach Mor where there were a number of avalanches yesterday (Sunday 27th).

After the Thaw

A view up towards the Orion face in between rain showers. Very warm!

On the Ben again.

Number Three Gully Buttress.

Easy shears were observed at the depth of 43cm at the snowpit location in Coire na Ciste today. This block, which measured about a metre by a metre, sheared easily when I stepped on it. The weather turned out to be better than expected, and there were plenty of teams out climbing.

Windy again on the Ben

Ben Nevis hiding in the cloud.

Carn Dearg Buttress

Trident Buttress during a brief gap in the cloud.

It was another windy day on Ben Nevis. The cloud cleared a bit while I was walking in, allowing a brief view of some of the crags. There looked to be a bit of ice about, with routes like Mega Route X and The Shroud starting to form. There was also a fair bit of fresh windslab about, especially at higher levels. Looks like we are in store for a wild weekend.

A lovely day on Aonach Mor.

A wild day on the Ben

It was windy with loads of spindrift blowing about on the Ben today. Walking up to the CIC hut I met a large number of teams who quite sensibly turned around because of the weather and avalanche hazard.

A slightly sinister looking Ben Nevis this morning.

Looking up to the CIC hut, the Douglas boulder peeking through the cloud and blowing snow behind.

Poor viz.

The original plan today had been to head over to the col between Aonach Mor and Aonach Beag to see if there had been any avalanches on the latters North side. However, the visibility was poor and a did not think I would see anything from the col, so I decided to stop near the actual summit of Aonach Mor and investigate the snow in one of the Gullies at the top of the West face.

On the way back it did clear slightly, which allowed me to take this shot of the South Side of Coire an Lochan. Although it is hard to make out there is a crown wall running diagonally up from lowest rocks to the the base of the route Stirling Bridge (the steepest buttress in the picture). This avalanche probabley released sometime yesterday (Sunday).

Avalanche Debris

Lots of evidence of avalanche activity during yesterdays thaw. Below is a big slide out of Easy Gully on Aonach Mor. If anyone spots any other debris, please can you fill out the form on the website. There is a cool new map you can just click, so you dont even need to work out a Grid Reference!

The ice before the thaw

Plenty of action up the Ben today. Various teams on Tower Ridge, Zero and Observatory Buttress amongst others

Looking up Observatory Gully

The Ben between thaws

Here is what the Ben looked like today. Plenty of teams in action, mainly on the easier snow routes

NW side of Tower Ridge