Warm and Misty

View into Coire AnT Sneachda
A warm day - remaining snow is firm and hard in Corries. Some stonefall noted. Ice remnants on crag and in flat areas.

Today's boys

It has been another glorious day with spring snow conditions on the plateau. Here Dave and Derek pose by our melting pit on the South East side of Cairngorm.

Ben Mheadhoin.

Hibernation

After a long winter season this clever little avalanche mole was seen coming out of her burrow near Hell's Lum.
She must have known that tomorrow British summer time begins.
Hell's Lum is still holding onto some very fragile looking ice in the warm temperatures. The plateau is covered in large linkable patches of spring snow.

Blue sky day

What a day...blue skies, amazing views as far as the eye could see, warm, good conditions underfoot and chicken sandwiches, my favorite. Take a look at the Northern Corries, we still have conditions, there is some ice left seen below on Alladin's Mirror Direct although a bit thin and firm snow in the Trident gullies.

Views of Carn Etchachan and Shelter Stone with Ben Mac Dhui behind. Kathy

A winter's day

It was another snowy day in the Cairngorms. Today's pit had many unstable layers with lots of graupel and a snowpack temperature of minus 7 degrees. Below this Sandy triggers the slope in Ciste Mhearad.

Our ski tour over to Ciste Mhearad was a mixture of rocks ice and soft snow.
Kathy

Blizzards Return

Collecting data and navigating home.
Unpleasant conditions encountered today, but at least it is winter. Lots of deep snow in drifts and sheltered areas

Avalanche in Coire Laogh Mor

Winter has returned. After last nights heavier snow and high winds we made our way up to Coire Laogh Mor and came across this recent avalanche debris on a North-East aspect.

HI MUM
Happy Mothers Day

Kathy

Lakeland boys and girls.

The girl and boys managed to stay out of the strongest winds (90 mph+) today, by heading up the Ciste Gully where there was snow of ample depth to dig a profile, and have a nice time. There was rain at all levels today but tomorrow is looking much more wintry with lots of snow forecast but unfortunatly the strong winds are continuing. Below is a a view of Lochain taken around midday today.

Bird Watching

Mild temperatures with rain turned much cooler and it was dry during the afternoon. Here Blyth with halo keeps his eye on the boys and girls.
Kathy.

Midday Views

Looking toward Northern Corries from Cairngorm.
Getting mild but a reasonable snow cover today.
Rain tomorrow at all levels !!

Wet snowpack

We had another wet day in the hills today but it was much less windy. There is some winter sport left in the Corries, although it's all looking very soggy and loose at the moment. Below are the Trident Gullies in Sneachda with some interesting looking cornices looming above and Alladin's Mirror on the right looking rather thin compared to last week. (see archive picture).
Coire an Lochain today.

Warm wet and windy

Yes it's been one of those days...Warm and wet with over 100mph gusts, but there were a few keen beans out there getting some winter action. Coire an t-Sneachda is still holding onto some snow, not an easy photo to take in the high wind speeds but our well practised staggering and crawling techniques got us there in the end.
Kathy

Avalanche day

There was plenty of spindrift blowing around today in the strong winds. These photos were taken in Ciste Mhearad...lots of avalanche activity some triggered and some spontaneous.
Todays pit site showed firmer layers beneath with a very weak surface layer which was demonstrated in the photos above. Kathy

On Guard

This Snow Bunting was seen on guard outside his impressive snow hole in Ciste Mhearad.


Conditions on the hill today have been quite windy with some drifting but generally dry. Here's my mountaineering assistant from Glenmore Lodge looking pretty cool....Nice googles Tom!
Kathy

RIP

This unfortunate avalanche victim (seen on the right) was found in some old debris from Monday night's thaw.
Below climbers head up to climb Alladin's Mirror. Conditions are generally looking good.

Coire an Lochain today.

Thaw-freeze cycles.

There have been two thaw-freeze cycles over the past two days but the snow cover is still looking good, apart from the annoying breakable crust. This is looking towards Beinn a' Bhuird taken from the East side of Cairngorm.
Kathy

Thaw-freeze cycle.

we've had another windy day in the hills today but not quite so wild as yesterday. There was a thaw-freeze cycle last night which has stabalised yesterdays heavy snow. Below is Coire an t-Sneachda and the Fiacaill Buttress. Kathy

A "good goggles essential" day.

We had very wild conditions in the Cairngorms today, with 128 mph winds and snow. Visibility was pretty poor at times especially in my snow pit with the heavy drifting. After this my mountaineering assistant went off to buy some new goggles! Kathy

Good Conditions

Good conditions all round in the Cairngorms today, not too windy but windy enough to make it interesting with the spindrift. Today's pictures show the cornices around the top of Jacobs Ladder which look a little curly. The plateau has good cover, and lots of folk were out climbing in the Northern Corries, this is the top of Central Gully where we dug our pit today. Kathy

Surfing in Ciste Mhearad.

Today's pictures were taken in Ciste Mhearad. It was a very pleasant day with light winds and blue skies. Pictured above and left Simon enjoys surfing on the slab after triggering this scarp slope.