Deep drifts developing

    Snow showers during the morning but these became more prolonged during the afternoon with     heavy drifting and white out conditions

A brief thaw followed by new snow with drifting

Avalanche debris from yesterday with an impressive crown wall on a North  aspect at 1095 metres.

Moody conditions with brief glimpses of winter sunshine and snow showers

Deep drifts in lee areas

Unsettled weather continues.

      Views into the Northern Corries.

     Extensive windslab on N to E aspects

    Deep drifts on lee slopes, scoured in wind exposed areas.

Windy and Mild

Northern Corries from Loch Morlich

A wind cowl hangs over the plateau indicating very strong winds !

Windy with Sparse Snow Cover

Coire an lochain

Sparse snow cover but with accumulations (which are poor to moderately well bonded) mainly confined to wind sheltered places such as coire rims, hollows, gully tops and pockets below crags as clearly seen in the photo, all these areas are easily avoided.

Wind Blasted Landscape !

Less windy than previous days but still 60 gusting occasional 70 mph - wintry and cold with snow but blasted bare !

Looking toward the Northern Corries from the flanks of Cairngorm.

The Faichail ridge of Sneachda with corrie floor below

Very windy with snowfall

    Knee deep drifts on this North aspect at 825m

     Drifting snow turning damp and sticky as the freezing level rises

     The Cairngorms with localised deposits of windslab in lee areas.

A wild day with sleet and very strong winds

 Southerly winds of up to 114mph with heavy rain and wet snow above 1000 metres.  This is looking towards the Cas Headwall.

                                                    Bracing conditions at 990 metres

Mild wet and windy

                        Patches of old stable snow.  This was on the South-East side of Cairngorm

Warm and Windy

Norther Corries form Loch Morlich -

If you look carefully odd snow patches can be seen

Snow and sleet over the tops.

Mild conditions at present with a forecast for cooler temperatures and more snow down to 600 metres during the early part of next week.   The main event at present is the potential for the Great Slab in Coire an Lochain to release.  Note the large crevasse  developing below the buttresses.

Mild with a spring snowpack

Looking down Coire Raibert with Ben Macdui in the distance

Coire an t-Sneachda still holding on to some large snow fields and snow filled gullies.

Coronation wall and the Cas Head Wall

Warm, Sunny but Very Windy

Looking into Coire an t Sneachda 

Recent avalanche debris due to cornice collapse below cliffs

diminishing snowpack

The pictures do not tell the whole story of course - in this case the winds on the plateau were storm force South-Westerly and up to 80mph - The snowpack is very soft due to warm temperatures, mainly surface instabilities on steeper slopes, progressively getting worse as the temperatures rose during the day. Still very good snowcover on the plateau.

Very windy - becoming milder.

Heading toward the saddle - a frozen Loch Avon below.

A lone skier heading toward Cairngorm Summit on the South side

Coire an t Sneachda with large cornices overhanging slopes

Generally a very good snow cover but winds getting increasing stronger made progress quite difficult later in the day.

Winter still hanging on!

A glimpse of the Cairn at Summit of Fiachail a Choire Chais

New snow on all aspects above 950 metres, thinly covering many rocky areas though. Very little wind, quite muggy !. Could not see enough to get an idea of cover on the plateau, but would expect it to be quite good. Very soft snow, some surface releases on steep slopes.

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.