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

Cold and sunny

Coire an Lochain

Cornices and suface instabilities a NW aspect at 525m

Deep banks of snow in Allt Mor Burn

Calm and sunny

Generally good cover on the plateau.  A very hard base of snow-ice with a thin covering of soft snow.  Lee slopes, and hollows hold soft snow, some snowpack weakness in the surface layers, and at depth in the older storm snow.

Windy col and Mess of potage with large overhanging cornices and some  surface instabilities.

Beinn Mheadhoin in the distance with an interesting build up of snow on the North-West slope.

Very cold and clear with light winds

Much lighter winds today with occasional snow flurries.  Still very cold with temperatures as low as minus 9 degrees C on the summit of Cairngorm.  Very quiet in the Northern Corries, not a sole to be seen on any of the crags.  Slopes below buttresses are generally covered in windslab.   There are some limited useful wind scoured patches on some of the slopes;   Snowpack weaknesses are persisting within the cold snowpack.   Widespread sugar like facetted layers exist within recent windslab deposits and at depth beneath the old hard storm snow.   Good route finding and spacing necessary on approach. 

Mess of Potage

Alladins Buttress

Fluted Buttress and the Goat Track

Fiaccaill Buttress

Cold with Sunny Spells

Slab cracking underfoot on W aspect 1100m - a snowpack weakness sign

Coire Lochain

Fairly snow laden in the Northern Corries on W-N aspects elsewhere a great deal of scouring has taken place, Plateau mainly consists of snow ice  elswhere many rock and bare areas.

Wind Scoured slopes, Good Weather

Looking North into Coire Chais and Loch Morlich

Mess of Potage - note Large cornices

Prty on Moraines in Coire an t Sneachda

Poor visibility in snowshowers but also some good sunny spells - weather looks good for the next few days -

Where's all the Snow Gone ?

A glimpse into snow laden Coire an t Sneachda from the Plateau

The platea is wind scoured and completely bare - and consists mainly of snow-ice - some accumulations of softer snow are in areas protected from the wind. Some rock hard, huge sastrugi, provides nimble negotiation techniques on ski and a trip hazard in poor viz !!

Improvement in Weather

A glimpse of the hills at Last

A lot of  scouring has taken place and areas of sculpted sastrugi make for interesting travel !

Winds have eased to a steady 60mph

The link road covered in hard windslab at 580m.

Large banks of snow and cornices at 500 metres

Interesting sculptures of eroded windslab

Vast amounts of snow

Very deep accumulations of weakly bonded snow on lee slopes,  this was at 500m;

The cause of these amazing conditions... 100mph winds over the tops snowfall and very cold temperatures.

Wild conditions

Very wild conditions,...gust of 110mph over the tops, these photos were taken on the link road at 530m. 

Strong Winds, Severe Drifting

A snow laden Coire an Lochain

 Severe drifting continues depositing deep unstable windslab on many aspect but especially on SW to NW aspects above 500 m

Rheindeer - a bit of sheltered grazing above All Mor glen

Driving on road toward cairngorm mountain car park at 550 m

Cold and Stormy, Weak Windslab.

Looking back into a stormy Coire an t Sneachda

Conditions at 1000 m on the Fiachail of Coire Chais around midday. Widespread poorly bonded windslab is located on many slopes - pretty spooky conditions - very good, safe route choice required.

Bitterly cold, Blizzards.

Whiteout at 1000 metres

Deep drifts, unstable snowpack and challenging conditions at the moment.

Blizzards, Whiteout, Strong winds

Snow cracking underfoot - unstable snowpack sign at 750m NW aspect

Blizzards - whiteout and very strong Easterly  winds are presenting very challenging conditions at the moment, heavy drifting and weak windslab in many places where the snow has accumulated. Full on winter conditions are set to continue !

Snow showers

     Poor visibility for most of the day, winds were not too strong but there was some drifting at higher altitudes.

South winds with drifting

Wind exposed slopes are becoming eroded.

Raised footprints on the Cas ridge

Snow showers with drifting

Good snow cover however not quite good enough for care free off piste skiing.  A few centimetres of snow overlie some very sharp rocks, but with careful route choice the large old snowfields are out there somewhere giving excellent sport.

Bright spells with heavy snow showers

Cold temperatures with snow showers have led to new accumulations of soft weakly bonded snow.  This was on a SE aspect at 1100m.

New snow on all aspects firm underfoot; superb winter conditions