New Snow on the Tops

Looking South toward the Saddle 

New accumulations of deep snow on East through South to South-West aspects, in steep and convex  places especially, this is unstable. A very soft weak layer at around 60cm depth. Elsewhere though the snow is very good.

April Blizzards and Whiteout Conditions

 Navigating in a whiteout on the Cairngorm Plateau

Instabilities in the snowpack on a South-East aspect at 1100m

Winter Saturday on Cairngorm

Summit temperatures on Cairngorm were still below freezing on Saturday morning and it was windy.   Failures were identified in the surface windslab during field observations.  

In exposed locations snow was being transported and redistributed in the strong South-West winds.

Cracking underfoot below. Strong winds and significant snow forecast for Saturday evening and into Sunday. Still fantastic ski touring conditions. Skiable snow right to Cairngorm Car Park.

Possibly milder during the coming week and the prospect of more snow next weekend!

Light winds and sunshine

Deep drifts have developed on Southerly aspects after recent snowfall

Looking towards  Beinn Mheadhoin

Good cover on the plateau

Looking West from Cairngorm Summit

Still looking wintry in the Corries

A change in the weather

 10mph winds first thing this morning and by mid afternoon nearly 60mph.

Billowing clouds over the Cairngorms as winds increase

My skis were soon buried from drifting snow!

Intense sunlight during the morning

       

 The overall snow cover is still very good for ski touring , although variable and a little sluggish in places.

Looking up towards Coire an t-Sneachda, some nice large basins of snow.

Avalanche debris from the previous day below jacobs ladder and the central gully area.  Weak sugar like facetted grains are still within the snow pack presenting snowpack weaknesses especially in areas of steep and convex terrain.

Winter is still very much here !

Snowpack cracking underfoot - a sure red flag weakness sign - W aspect 1100m

Coire an T Sneachda - White Out conditions on plateau

Drifting

Still very cold temperatures with a low of minus 7.9 C on the tops today, winds were stronger than of late with drifting down to 600m

Wintry and Cold

Coire an t Sneachda - a fresh covering of light new snow

Occasional clear spells.

Winds have been very light and a few centimetres of new snow is lying on a firm base.    

Light winds and sunshine

Very quiet; two climbers head up to Mess of Potage.  Large cornices overhang the corries

Carn Etchachan and the Shelter stone looking very wintry

Avalanche debris below this bulging NW slope on Beinn Mheadhoin

Cloud cleared during the morning

 Looking West across the plateau to Coire an t-Sneachda

Overcast and Wintry

Skiing down the North Ridge of Cairngorm - Strath Nethy and Abernethy Forest beyond

Clear, Sunny and relatively warmer on the tops !

Coire an t Sneachda from Lochain summit

Fiachaill buttress in background

Large cornices overhanging central gullies and Runnel areas Coire an t Sneachda

Coire an Lochain