Strong Winds in the Morning

A threesome inch their way up a windy Fiacaill a Choire Chais

A very windy day at first although the wind lessened later, quite a lot of drifting snow, but still many areas scoured and boiler plate snow-ice covers most of the landscape.

Still Windy !

Carn Etchachan and Shelterstone with large conices !

Above Hells Lum

Coire an Lochain note debris from cornice collapse

Good snow on North to Easterly aspects, boiler plate snow-ice on all others !!

Windy with Visibilty !

Northern Corries from Glenmore in the afternoon light

Looking toward the Spey Valley from Fiacaill of Choire Chais

Windy Col and cornices hanging over Coire an t Snreachda

Aladdins buttress

Very Windy - Poor viz Again!

Climbers cramponing toward Aladdins Buttress

Back to gales again - snowpack is refrozen in most places - some windslab but in higher areas

Re-frozen snowpack - Some Sun !!

Loch Morlich and the Spey Valley from Coire an Lochain

 Snowpack has re-frozen and is generally very stable, soft and crusty low down, bullet hard and many areas of blue ice on plateau

Many tons of Rime Ice on Cairngorm summit station tower

Shelterstone Crag and Carn Etchachan appear out of the gloom

Ice from the loch which has been forced out by avalanche impact on Coire an Lochain. Note 'crevasse' below crags 

Low level rain, high level snow in Lochain

Lots of rain at low levels today but yet more snow at higher levels.

 The Couloir on the left and the area around Y Gully. The cornices are huge...as well as fragile.

 A couple of Size 1 avalanches in the corrie today as well as bits of cornice flying around.

 Looking down to Loch Morlich. The heavy rain of the morning turned to wet snow around 900 metres around midday.

Still great snow from car park level for ski touring. Nice to meet up with an Austrian who we first met on skiing Lochnagar a few years ago. Apparently the touring is sometimes better here!

Bright and Very Breezy

Northern Corries and Cairngorm from Loch Morlich

Very good snow cover above 600 metres- a very windy day though. Snowpack is has refrozen and is mostly snow ice, softer below 800m, Slabby and some poorly bonded snow on mainly NE and E aspects.

Coire an t Sneachda and Coire an Lochain from Glenmore - note drifting on ridges

Aladdins Buttress, Coire an t Sneachda - good firm conditions with windslab patches.

Very windy, drifting above 600m

The 50mph head wind made walking a little arduous; however the refrozen snow pack was easy to travel on.  This is looking up towards the Fiacaill Coire an t-Sneachda, new windslab has built on the Easterly side.

Much easier with the tail wind.

Rain cleared, strong winds.

Very strong Westerly winds made life difficult for everyone.  Here Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team brace themselves against another gust.

Several wet snow avalanches below the crags in Coire and t-Sneachda after recent heavy rain.  

Much less windy at 550 metres

Blue sky day

The mist cleared to leave a lovely blue sky day.  The snowpack surface now has a widespread crust after yesterdays mild damp conditions. 

These cleaver ptarmigan head up to wind.

Drifting at 900m

Clouds hung over the summits

Some old avalanche debris to the right of mess of potage.

Skiing is the most efficient way to travel

Flat light, Plenty of Snow

A snow laden Coire an t Sneachda

Poor visibility on the tops but an improving snowpack!

Sunshine and drifting

A stunning day to be out in the hills, now a good depth of snow in most areas

Coire an t- Sneachda - large cornices overhang the crags in here and Lochain

Drifting at all levels, this was at 900m on a NE aspect, here the snowpack was poorly bonded within new accumulations

Driving up the ski road

Poor visibility

Fantastic snow cover.  A glimpse between snow showers, poor visibility today.   This is looking down towards the Ciste from the top of the An t- Aonach

A day of lighter winds

Breakable crust underfoot, but travel on skis is excellent. Heading into Coire an t-Sneachda

The Fiacaill ridge plastered in snow!

Looking across to Coire an Lochain; very good cover above 600 metres. 

Snowfall for most of the day

Looking up the Ciste Gully - deep drifts forming up the burn

Heavy drifting at 600 metres.  This was after 15 minutes of hanging around!

Storm Force Winds, Blizzards

Strong winds 60 mph at 600m, severe drifting later in the day as more snow arrived. High Avalanche hazard today and forecasted for tomorrow.

Strong Winds - Severe drifting

Drifting snow forming windslab on NE aspects - a party inch their way up the Fiacaill of Sneachda

leaning into the wind

A cold day some very icy and firm areas requiring crampons but also many areas of soft slab especially above 900 metres, this was building quickly and was poorly bonded.

A fair day, Good Snow cover

Avalanche Headwall of Coire Cas - probable release on Saturday 8th ran nearly 300m - 1m crownwall 

Coire an t Sneachda

Fiachal Ridge  with folk on Invernookie

Clear spells and snow showers

Excellent snow cover above 600m.  

An unsettled day with snow showers on moderate to strong winds. 

Looking up towards Alladins  Buttress.  Now a great depth of snow on approach slopes with hardly any rocks visible which potentially means that avalanche run out zones could easily reach corrie floors.

Quite a lot of old debris already has!