Dry and Cool on the Tops

Good dry conditions underfoot but misty and generally poor visibility on the tops with a brisk wind. Slivers of snow remain but these are largely avoidable, sometimes they bar descent and the snow can be pretty firm, here an ice axe and crampons would be gratefully used !

From the lochans in sneachda

A male Ptarmigan on the Cairngorm Plateau

Looking toward Carn Etchachan from Coire Domhain

Lokking into Coire Lochain from the Plateau

Warm and overcast

Looking down the SE side of Cairngorm towards Glen Avon, still enough snow  here for a ski run if your keen and willing to make the effort

Carn Etchachan and the Shelter Stone are beginning to look quite dry.

Windy and dry.

The Lairig Ghru and Cairn Toul

Looking over to Braeriach

Twin Burns and the Lochain buttresses

Sunny and Clear

A frozen Loch Coire an Lochain Braeriach

     

Remaining snow is firm and solid

 

Sgoran Dubh Mor from Braeriach

 

Coire Domhain looking very alpine

Evidence of creeping cracks at the top of Hell's Lum 

The shelter stone and Etchachan 

Coire Raibert and beyond

Ice smears forming on rock slabs

Looking up into Fiacaill Couloir

Cold temperatures today,  smears of ice are beginning to form.  

Coire an t-Sneachda.  A few teams were climbing fingers ridge.

A male Ptarmigan wearing his transition plume 

Cooler temperatures

Patches of snow mainly on E aspects.  Some accumulations are a few metres in depth at plateau level.

A female Ptarmigan wears her winter plume

Cool , Dry and Windy

Looking across the Northern Corries and the fiacaills of Chais, Coire an t Sneachda and Lochain

Sunny and Warm

East side of Cairngorm looking towards the saddle and Beinn Mheadhoin

Very Spring like !

Coire an t Sneachda with snow remains near the Fiacaill Buttress

Mild and windy

Although its mild the remaining snowpack is quite firm

Coire an Lochain

Mild with drizzle

NE facing slope at Ciste Mhearad

Although the snowpack is limited, greatest depths are on NE to SE aspects above 1000m with over 4 metres in places.

Wet patches of windslab from the previous days snowfall and drifting are visible on the old snowpack.

Coire an Lochain

Storm Force Winds

Coire Lochain crags with localised accumulations of new windslab

ferocious winds as indicated by the clouds; with a party battling the wind whilst heading to the fiacaill of Lochain summit 

Cairngorm summit with the ridges of; Chais and Sneachda, blown bare by the strong westerly winds

Vicious Wintry Squalls

Vicious squalls at summit levels provide a stark reminder of how rapidly winter conditions can arrive in moments.

Not a great deal of new snow but the heavy showers keep building it up - the old snowpack is bullet hard.

Cold and Clear with a Snow Dusting

Coire Lochain

Graupel grains which currently are on the  surface were originally  crystals that circulated in the clouds and have become more and more rimed, eventually falling as these pellet like grains.  They often produce weak layers

Great light on Sron a Lairig 

Fiacaill of Coire Lochain and the twin burns

Calm cold conditions

Looking South down the Lairig Ghru and Pools of Dee

MRT trains around Twin Burns

Lochain Buttresses

New snow

Coire an t-Sneachda and Lochain

The Cairngorms are looking a bit more wintry after this mornings snowfall.  More snow expected over the next 24 hours.

Cooler temperatures

A dusting of new snow above 1000m.  The Cas Ridge and Headwall 

                                       Making the most of current conditions

Coire an t-Sneachda with a tinge of green but the outlook is for a return to wintry conditions from tomorrow.

Cooler but with Rain on the tops

looking into Coire Lochain

Glide cracks in Coire Raibert

Glide cracks are tension failures in the snowpack created as the force of gravity downhill stresses the slope  and causes failure at a weak-point in the slope, in this instance at the convexity.  We are witnessing a very slow motion avalanche, however the snowpack may disappear before the slope fails and moves though !
In terms of avalanche hazard, we are mostly concerned with the triggering possibility due to our activity on a slope causing a layer to fail, which would be most unlikely here. It is very difficult to predict an avalanche in this situation, in much the same way as trying to predict an ice cliff collapse on a glacier, you never really know. However, I would not  recommend pitching a tent at its base !

Less Windy, Cool, Clear

Climbers on Stag Rocks above Loch Avon

Hells Lum and the Feith Bhuidhe

Climbers on Fingers Ridge - Coire an t Sneachda

Ptarmigan still wearing it's winter gear !

Dry and Mild

Looking toward Ben Macdui from the SE slopes of Cairngorm.

Coire Raibert and the plateau in the fore ground with the dark cliffs of Carn Etchachan in the centre.

Mild, Windy, Firm Snow!

Coire an Lochain - looking toward twin burns area and the cliffs

Looking at Cairngorm and the Northern Cairngorms from Glenmore

Another mild day with strong winds, snow remains on mainly East aspects, and is hard and compact.