A lull before the storm

Heading up to the Chais car parkCairngorm mountain staff working very hard as they use JCB diggers to carve their way through the 3 metre drifts on the link roads.

Firm windslab creating excellent off piste skiing at lower altitudes

Windy - Heavy Drifting

Substantial drifting on a South-Easterly wind has been taking place, for 3 days now.

The above clip is at about 850m alt on a NW aspect.

Very poor visibility - High avalanche hazard - good route choice required.

Avalanche day

Six separate avalanches were noted today on Westerly and North-West aspects. One was triggered on the Chais Headwall. There has been a lot of drifting and new windslab is overlying the soft snow from yesterday. This is making the snowpack very unstable and the picture below demonstrates the windslab failing on isolation on the soft snow beneath. Drifting on across the Chais ridge on a strong Easterly wind.

Recent avalanche debris below Jacobs Ladder...not triggered by the skier who has just made a descent of the gully. A calculated risk???

12cm of new snow

Heading into Coire an t-Sneachda which was deserted.

Cold and Sunny

Coire an t-SneachdaEtchachan and Shelter Stone

Loch Avon looking East

Poor viz with Clear spells

Hells Lum
Snow depth at plateau level
Descending into the Coire Raibert

The snowpack is very variable with some very poorly bonded snow on southerly aspects when it starts to steepen. on other aspects cracks appeaered in the surface layers underfoot.

Cold, calm but no visibility

Cairngorm summit weather station is entombed in ice

Today's pit was at windy col facing West. Visibility was very poor making it slow going on the ski's but the snowcover is superb on the plateau.

Snow cleared during the afternoon

The new windslab sheared easily on this soft layer below.

Deep accumulations of windslab and cornices seen in the distance on this Westerly aspect.

Happy New Year

It's still snowing in the Cairngorms, there is an incredible amount of snow here at Glenmore Lodge and its difficult for the snow plough man to find enough room to put it all! We think this giant marshmallow shaped mound could be a car.

Mean while in the mountains conditions are very unstable so careful route choice is needed, and the snow is very soft and deep so without snow shoes or ski's travel is very arduous.

Lots of deep snow

New deep accumulations in Corrie an t Sneachda

There are deep snow amounts at all altitudes which make for very difficult trail breaking.

The snowpack is very weak on most aspects with heavy and hard windslab overlying sugary faceted layers.

In the cold temperatures this weakness will remain for some time

Drifting at higher altitudes

We have an unstable situation in the Cairngorms with newly drifted windslab lying on an already unstable cold snowpack. Views into Coire an t-Sneachda...ski's or snow shoes recommended for travel as the snow is waist deep in places.

Bitterly cold day

Climbers below Aladdins Buttress in Coir an t Sneachda

A burp test showing failures in the snowpack on buried surface hoar on a West aspect at 1080m.

It has been a bitterly cold day with light East winds, but only a little drifting has taken place. Generally the snowpack seems well consolidated but weaknesses do exist and will become more pronounced if these layers are covered by windslab and more snowfall. (it has been unusually calm for the last 10 days or so).

Pea soup day

Views from Glenmore...lots of snow

Stunning conditions in the cairngorms

Coire an t-Sneachda

Today's pit was dug on at SE aspect at 945m. Several weaknesses were noted and there is a very steep temperature gradient.

Spey Valley

Great ski touring.

Happy Christmas

We have a lot of deep soft snow in the Cairngorms, skis or snow shoes recommended. Happy Christmas everyone.

Thick Cloud- Deep Snow

Looking onto Mess of Potage in Coire an t Sneachda.

A day of very poor visibility and deep snow - difficult trail breaking - it took a party 3hrs to get to the base of the crag in Coire an T Sneachda from the car park !

The snowpack feels very spooky especially with the weak layers 40 cm down on the old surface hoar layer on what seems like all aspects.

A Pea souper !

At the profile siteLots of fresh snow overnight has added to the snowpack of yesterday. The new snow has fallen on the surface hoar layer which is now buried and presents a very weak layer about 40cm down. The weak layer above the old hard snow mentioned yesterday is still present.

Shooting cracks occured underfoot on all aspects above 800m.

A Glorious winters day

Coire an Lochain
Mess of Potage Coire an t Sneachda

Looking toward Creag Meagaidh
Looking towards the Northern Corries and the Sgorans

It has been a rare day with good visibilty and snow - good touring on the tops -

hard work on foot.

Some deep instabilities are present in the snowpack at about 50cm depth on

NE aspects at 1000m level. There is a strong temperature gradient which is

producing facets above the old neve layer.

This will develop in the cold temperatures and shallow snowpack.

I'll look at this layer again tomorrow.

It's still snowing!

The Cairngorms are looking very white and wintry. Accumulations of new snow are quite deep and unstable on many aspects especially in steep terrain. Great snow for skiing apart from the poor visibility.

looking into Sneachda

Wild and wintry Conditons

As forecasted we had a spell of strong North winds with heavy snow, leading to poor stability and visibility. Great snow for the skis!

Cold and calm

Its still very cold with snow showers. Everything on the plateau was completely white due to the good snow cover and mist, so we couldn't see very much but we did have one friendly visit from this Snow Bunting.

Today's pit was dug on the South side of Cairngorm.

Winter in the Cairngorms

Climbing Conditions in the Northern Corries are looking good now that temperatures have fallen considerably.

Thick blue ice has developed on the Cairngorm weather station

Warm and sunny

This is our last observation day of the season, hill conditions are dry and settled with the dominating high pressure over Scotland. The photo below is of Coire an Lochain which is still holding some snow. We look forward to issuing our reports again for next season starting mid December 2009. Have a great summer .

High pressure and low cloud

Ribbons of snow remain in Ciste Gully Conditions are calm with the dominating high pressure system. Unfortunately with the Easterly air flow the Cairngorms tends to get cloudy weather. We did get the odd glimpse of blue sky today as it tried to clear but it didn't last for very long.

Firm Spring Snow

Looking across the Northern Corries from Cairngorm - It has been surprisingly cool on the tops today and the snow is quite firm after the previous nights cold temperatures freezing the snowpack. Some reasonable large fields of snow cover the plateau which can be linked with imagination if on skis.

Warm and sunny

We have had another nice sunny day here in the Cairngorms. It was generally quiet in Lochain two climbers were seen at the bottom of The Vent in Lochain. The rest of the population were mainly bird watchers....Spring is nearly here. There are still some bosses of ice on the easier angled terrain. Some recent cornice triggered avalanche debris was noted in hanging corrie East of the main Lochain buttresses, presumably from Friday when we had mild wet conditions.

Crampons and ice axe required.

There has been a re-freeze of the existing snowpack leading to icy conditions in places underfoot. The two figures sat amongst the marker poles were very determined to summit Cairngorm as they used the "crawling on all fours" technique on the icy sections.

The plateau is still holding plenty of snow although careful route choice is needed if your ski touring to avoid the bare patches.