Unstable Cornices

No pictures today due to very poor visibility when on the hill

Its worth noting that there has been significant quantities of new snow over the past few days especially above 1000m.

Cornices are extremely unstable. On Aonach Mor, cornices were failing around 2 metres back from the edge and then releasing the slopes below. They are made of fairly hard windslab which supports your weight very well so walking about on the plateau feels relatively safe, which its not!

Similar picture on the Ben with reports of somebody going through the cornice above No4 Gully.

Please take care!!

Damp Ben Nevis

 Looking into Coire na Ciste. 

The Orion Face and Point Five Gully area.

It was cloudy on Ben Nevis today with the freezing level hovering around the summit. It cleared up a bit during the afternoon.

Aonach Mor.

 Still plenty of cornices at the top of Coire an Lochan.

 Looking over to Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis

A crown wall in Easy Gully in Aonach Mor. This probably released on Wednesday after some fresh snow as the temperature rose. 

Ben Nevis

Quite a nice morning on Ben Nevis, but it turned milder and cloudier through the day.

Arctic April.

It was another cold day, but at least it was clear. I found some fresh deposits at the top of some of the Gullies on the West Face of Aonach Mor which showed poor stability.

 Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis

 North Face of Aonach Beag.

Shooting cracks in fresh deposits. 

Poor visibility again

The top of the West face of Aonach Mor. 

Despite being clear and sunny in the glens, there was a cap of cloud that hung about over the tops making for some poor visibility on the tops. It was cold with a little fresh snow.

Not much visibility today on Aonach Mor.

Today's view Eastwards from the 'Climbers' Col' ridge on Aonach Mor.

And yesterday's view Eastwards from near the same location.

Sunny day up the Ben

Looking up North-East Buttress

Looking up Tower Gully

Corrie na Ciste

Several teams on Orion Direct and Point 5

Sunshine on Carn Dearg

Remaining dry and cold.

 Although Easterly aspects are generally scoured and icy, a few patches of windslab remain. 

Coire an Lochan. There were a few climbers out today, a pair can be seen below the crags on the left. Reports suggest that there is some good ice remaining on Ben Nevis. 

Patterns of erosion on the snows surface. 

Another sunny day.

 Coire an Lochan. 

Surface hoar forming in the cold settled conditions. This could create a very weak layer should it get buried by future snowfall. However, there is no sign of any significant snow in the weather forecast.

 Looking East over the Grey Coires.

 Looking South West over the Mamores toward the Glen Coe hills. 

Todays snowpit site. Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis in the background.

After the storm

Finally made it up above the CIC hut today. Generally the hill does not look very different to before the storm. The snowpack is generally old hard neve, or hard windslab. I did however find a few pockets of softer slab in some sheltered location. The erosion and redistribution of the snowpack in the strong winds has left some fine patterns in the snow. 

 Climbers on the CIC hut cascade. The last reports I had were that the ice was quite hard and brittle. Best to have nice sharp ice axe picks. 

Buttresses looking quite black up in Coire an Ciste. 

Patterns in the snow surface caused by the erosion of the snowpack in the strong winds. 

Storm Damage

Trees down over the Ben track. They probably came down sometime yesterday (Friday) afternoon or last night. 

Some of the bike tracks will need a bit of work.

Still wild and windy weather when we finally got up through the forest and out onto the hill. 

Wild weather

It was a wild day on the hill today, by far the wildest day I have had this season. According to the staff at Nevis Range a gust of 111mph was recorded on the one of the Gondola Towers at about 600 metres. The Aonach Mor summit station was recording gusts of up to 90mph, but the wind was from the South East, and the weather station is slightly sheltered from South Easterlies.

There was lots of snow blowing around, I am not sure how much of it was blowing down from higher up the hill, and how much was falling out on the sky. The picture shows my snowpit site just below 600 metres. After being flattened by the wind numerous times I decided that I had seen enough and  that the risk of being blown over into rock was getting too great.

Windy day

 This morning the spindrift could be easily seen blowing off Aonach Mor.

Walking up to the CIC hut through fresh drifts of wind deposited snow. 

Plenty of snow blowing around Coire na Ciste. The cloud was sitting over the hill, and just a couple of kilometres or so down the Allt a Mhuilinn it was sunny all day. Unfortunately the water supply pipe outside the hut has frozen up, so if you if you are heading up that direction you should fill your water bottles up somewhere lower down.

The Cuillins

Took this picture on the way to work this morning. Excellent visibility out at the coast with morning sunshine on the distant Cuillins. Visibility in Lochaber this morning was poor!

The White Room

It was another day the "White Room"on the tops in Lochaber today. It was lovely weather on Saturday morning, but then the cloud rolled in about the middle of the day, and there has been no visibility on the summits since. Although it remained dry in the Glens, it was snowing on the hills. There was also plenty of snow blowing around on the strong Easterly winds. After a bit of a bump last weekend the SAIS camera has been feeling poorly, below are a couple of shots I took on my own camera. 

Lots of snow, but still not a great deal of visibility on the tops today. 

Here's what it would look like, if you could see anything. Aonach Beag on Saturday morning just before the cloud rolled in. 

Sunshine on Aonach Mor

It was mainly a bright day with a more cloudy period either side of midday.

View West from the north slopes of Aonach Mor.

Coire an Lochan: southern side.

Carn Mor Dearg East slopes with Ben Nevis behind.

Lovely morning.

It was a lovely morning on Ben Nevis. During the afternoon there were some light snow showers. 

 The Orion Face looking good. 

 Coire na Ciste

 Water courses freezing up in the cold weather.

From the glens it looks like there is a bit of fresh snow on the hill. However, on closer inspection this is about as deep as the fresh snow got. Not a powder day I think it is fair to say.

Dry in Lochaber (again)

The cloud was coming and going from Ben Nevis today. Despite the strong East winds there looked to be quite a few people out and about enjoying some good looking climbing conditions. It remained essentially dry again, and so snowpack remains hard, icy and stable. Some fresh snow at some point would be nice. 

 Looking up into Coire na Ciste. 

North East Buttress and Observatory Gully

The upper part of Observatory Gully. Two climbers can just be made out below Tower Scoop.