Cloud lifted off Aonach Mor early afternoon.

Looking across to Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis as the cloud lifted off the summits.

Blue Skies at last!

A very spring like feeling to being on the hill today, once the sun came out. Still feeling cool when the cloud drifts over the summits

The thaw is revealing all of the creep lines of the slowly drooping cornices. Bear this in mind during the next thaw!

The cornice "Crevasse" opening up about 8m back from the edge of Easy Gully, Aonach Mor. This is fairly typical of other cornices in the area. They are actually a hazard when walking about as you can easily break through the thin snow bridges and fall in!

Looking up at the crags on Aonach Mor. All of this snow, which has been in the morning sun, is wet and horrible to walk/climb on but quite nice to ski! Expecting it all to freeze overnight as the freezing level drops, then it will be the opposite!

Lots of drifting

Despite the beautiful blue skies and sunshine, strong South-East winds are causing extensive redistribution and drifting of existing snow

Snow drifting from the NE ridge of Carn Dearg Beag at around 900m

More fresh snow and lots of drifting

Plenty of drifting going on today, especially onto scarp slopes. Several natural and triggered avalanches

Even more Wintery.

 Deep fresh snow made for hard going in many places. 

Recent avalanche activity on an Easterly aspects around 950 metres. 

WInter time again!

A return to winter conditions today at last!

Traditional white-out on the tops

Sgurr a' Mhaim avalanche of 10 March

On 10 March the bare ground following a full-depth avalanche on Sgurr a' Mhaim South face 

was observed from Glen Coe by SAIS Forecaster.  

It was subsequently also reported by Adam Kassyk who kindly sent in the two photographs below.

Rocks appearing, cornices disappearing.

Another mild and damp day.  Rocks starting to appear on the summit plateau of Aonach Mor. I think December was the last time I saw any rocks in this area.

Cornices continue to slump and fall off. I noticed a few sections which had gone since I passed this was a couple of days ago.

Mild, windy and damp

 Windy enough to blow lots of water back up the hill. Rivers and burns were high from rain and snowmelt.

Poor visibility above  about 800m.

Slumping in mild conditions

There are some large cornices about at the moment. There have already been some significant cornice collapses, see the blog posts over the last few days. Plenty of large cornices remain, and some of which are cracking well back from the edge as these pictures, taken on Aonach Mor today, demonstrate.  Many of the cornices that exist are just too big and too overhanging just to melt away, they will collapse at some point. Make sure that you are not underneath them at the time.

Plenty of Debris on Ben Nevis

 The North Face of Ben Nevis. The debris from the Observatory Gully slide is very obvious and, just at the right hand side of the shot, the debris from Number Two Gully is just visible. Most of the debris is likely to be from either cornice collapse, or slopes triggered by cornice collapse. 

 Debris below Number Two Gully. 

Debris below Number Four Gully. This was triggered by a cornice collapse, but a witness said it was more like a serac than a cornice collapse.

Information from the public is very useful for out records. The best way to record avalanche observations is on the SAIS website. However, that is not always possible, and we have just put a book in the CIC hut for people staying up there to help us keep track of what is happening on Ben Nevis. The first two entries are shown above. 

A busy day on Ben Nevis

A sunny day at last, and the busiest climbing day of the winter so far. Many teams out, mostly on Tower Ridge and on or around the Orion Face

Some very large an unstable cornices still around. Many of these are collapsing and then triggering the relatively stable slopes below. Debris is running a surprisingly long way

Busy on Orion Face!

Looking up Orion Face and Observatory Gully

Cornice triggered avalanche debris from Observatory Gully

Cornice triggered avalanche debris below No2, No3 and No4 Gullies

Cornice Collapse

Some significant cornice collapse today on Aonach Mor. Triggered due tot he shear size and weight of the cornices instead of the usual temperature rise, although that will also be a significant factor in the next few days

Inspecting the cornice wall left after it released

Cornice wall prob about 5m high

Cornice released a slab in the old snow below. Crownwall on one side about 1.2m towards the top

Looking back up

Clearing up.

Poor visibility while I was on the hill, but it cleared up when I got down. Despite the thaw there is still good cover, and the crags are still holding a lot of snow and ice.

Looking across Easy Gully. The crags are still well plastered at higher levels. Although Saturdays thaw has removed some cornices, some substantial ones remain. 

It cleared up a bit during the afternoon. Looking up Aonach Mor. 

Looking over towards Ben Nevis

More avalanches on Sgurr an Mhain

These 2 avalanches must have come down the other day in the thaw. 2 separate avalanches whose debris trails join towards the bottom. The release zones are on NW and NW aspects so cant get them both in the same picture

Release on the NE aspects. Crown wall looks huge even from the glen!

Release on the NW aspect. This same slope has now avalanched 4 times this winter, each time its been visible from Corpach

Very windy on the hill today

In-between hiding from the ferocious hail showers, there were some good views of avalanche activity from yesterday. Not many people got above the CIC hut today!

Debris below Castle Gullies

Crown walls under Point Five gully

Dry after the rain!

At last it was a relatively dry day (well until lunchtime) with a period of good visibility.
Plenty of avalanche activity overnight following the thaw. Sadly I struggled with my camera a bit so only this one shot of a big slide on Carn Dearg Meadhonach with debris travelling almost 1km to the valley floor. The crown wall is visible just below the summit

If anyone has any shots/info about avalanches up the Ben today, please report them via the SAIS website

More wet snow!

Raining fairly enthusiastically at the CIC hut today. Expected to be even wetter this evening with widespread wet snow avalanche activity. Looking considerably drier for Thursday!

Very poor visibility (again) and then some views.

As I descended out of the clouds there were some nice early afternoon views like this one northwards

 from Aonach Mor. Then the cloud dropped again....

Visibility today!!!! Some of the time!!!!

During a welcome clear spell some fine views eastwards from Aonach Mor plateau.

Although winds were generally light there was still some drifting at higher levels. 

Crown walls are clearly visible below the crags of Coire an Lochan SE of Easy Gully.

And a stunning panorama courtesy of Alan Kimber.