Cool with moderate winds

Hill conditions this Friday

Looking South across Coire Raibert towards Etchachan.  Underfoot conditions a mix of rocks, ice, hard neve and  windslab

Mess of Potage 

Alladins Buttress

Fiacaill Buttress 

All Change- Windy with Blizzards

A party ascending the Fiacaill a Choire Chais  in wild winter weather

A real contrast to yesterday with strong winds and severe drifting - piling in some deep windslab in places 

Sunny and Calm

Looking into Coire an t Sneachda from Coire rim

Loch Morlich and the Spey Valley from the summit of  Sneachda

Cairn Toul and Sgor an Lochain Uaine from Sneachda summit, feith Buidhe and plateau in foreground

Cairngorm Summit beyond Coire Raibert

Very Strong Winds and Severe Drifting

Northern Corries from Loch Morlich

 From a distance all looks beautiful and calm

Up close, severe wind transportation of snow is obviously taking place and unstable windslab is being formed

North Westerly winds

Cracking underfoot within new windslab accumulations.

The old snow is very hard and icy, windslab accumulations are distributed around approach slopes and within gullies

The goat track - a mix of firm snow ice and windslab with  Fiacaill buttress to the right 

Cold with drifting snow

Cornices along with  deep poorly bonded windslab forming on lee slopes.  This is looking towards Cnap Coire na Spreidhe 

Firm hard snow on wind exposed slopes good cover in the Ptarmigan bowl area above 1000m

Looking across towards Cairngorm summit, crampons are handy for crossing any steeper slopes if your ski touring as its hard neve on windward slopes.

Coire an Lochain

A return to winter conditions

                                                                Coire an t-Sneachda

The old snowpack has firmed up and buttresses are beginning to look a little more wintry.  

A mountain hare pops up from the boulder field.

Looking towards Fiacaill Buttress

Underfoot conditions - the main trail out of Sneachda.

Turning Colder

A glimpse looking West from Cairngorm summit area toward Coire an t Sneachda

Slowly slowly it is turning colder but still around zero degrees centigrade on the summit early afternoon.
Snowpack is beginning to freeze above 1000 metres, the thaw has stripped a lot of snow away but cooler temperatures should now halt this.

Bright and Very Breezy

Northern Corries from Glenmore

 A very windy day on the tops with wind speeds of over 100mph recorded on Cairngorm summit

The  'glacier like' great slab in Coire an Lochain

Serac and crevasse like forms

Dry an Mild

Coire an Lochain

A depleted snowpack but good complete cover  on plateau

Mild and Windy

Coire an t Sneachda from the moraines - 

Cornice debris and rockfall below main crags

Twitcher 'commandos' stealthily approaching suspecting!  Ptarmigan in Coire an t Sneachda

mild and wind

 Ciste Gully

Large patches of soft snow remain above 600m - looking towards Coire Lochain

Rain with gale force Westerlies

Cornices remain large and unstable,  glide cracks becoming more defined in Lochain.

Rain at all levels with gale force winds gusting 114mph on the summits.  This was at 900m at the bottom of the Fiacaill of Sneachda, walking was manageable with some careful route choice which involved skirting around lee areas to avoiding the Westerly winds.

Mild and Murky

 Ptarmigan on walkabout; looking for food and romance  

Quite the opposite to yesterdays blue sky day - misty, more humid and mild.  This photo is looking East towards Bynack More and was taken in the brief 10 second clear spell from Ciste Mhearad at 1100m.

Sunny and Warm - Icy and soft Slopes !

Tenuous skinning on icy slopes

Hells Lum crag with large cornices and debris at base - note two persons for scale

Carn Etchachan with large cornices looming

Coire an t Sneachda with avalanche debris and large cornice chunk with climbers on top

Hells Lum crag with Ben Macdui beyond

Sunny and Clear

Contemplating the great views from Cairngorm summit

Cornices ready to collapse on an East aspect

Snow ice covers many areas

Ice glistening slopes of Ben Macdui

Clear and Sunny, Firm Snowpack Surface

Good but very firm (icy) snow cover - Looking toward Bein Mheadhoin from Cairngorm flank 

Ptarmigan enjoying the calm conditions on the Summit of Coire an t Sneachda

Fiachail of Coire an t Sneachda

Cairngorm and the Sneachda buttresses

Large Cornices overhang Coire an Lochain

Climbers topping out on Western Buttress Coire an Lochain