from SAIS Lochaber
Aonach Beag. Coire an Lochan. It was a clear cold day. The snowpack, which got damp in the mild wet conditions yesterday, has now frozen solid, meaning the the avalanche hazard is currently low.
published: 4 months ago
|
downloaded: 4 months ago
|
16 views
from SAIS Lochaber
It was quite wild with poor visibility during showers. Fresh snow drifing behind rocks on a rather icy Aonach Mor Plateau. From what we could see there was a fair bit of fresh being deposited on high Easterly aspects.
published: 4 months ago
|
downloaded: 4 months ago
|
28 views
from SAIS Lochaber
Finally there was a break in the high winds which seem to have been battering Scotland over the past few weeks. I took the oppertunity to get up on to the summit of Aonach Mor. From the plateau I saw evidence of a large slab avalanche in Coire an Lochain. In this picture I have marked the crown wall (or what I could see) in the picture above in red. I estimated this to be over 200 metres long. There was plenty of debris right down to the loch. This avalanche probabley released sometime on Wednesday during
published: 4 months ago
|
downloaded: 4 months ago
|
28 views
from SAIS Lochaber
Two optimistic folk heading up towards Observatory Gully in some less that perfect conditions today. Looking up towards Carn Dearg Buttress in some not very pleasant conditions. If you look carefully you can see the streams being blown back up over the band rock in the middle of the picture. As predicted there was plenty of precipitation today. Unfortunately it was not as cold as expected, and a fair bit of that precipitation fell as rain rather than snow. After a mild night, it did snow down to about 700
published: 4 months ago
|
downloaded: 4 months ago
|
20 views
from SAIS Lochaber
Some pictures of Aonach Mor and the Ben at lunchtime today. Still plenty of snow left after the thaw! Looking across the crags on Aonach Mor Looking towards the Ben
published: 4 months ago
|
downloaded: 4 months ago
|
18 views
from SAIS Lochaber
The pictures above show that is was not a very Christmasy scene on Ben Nevis today. Heavy rain, strong winds (gusts of 114mph were recorded on nearby Aonach Mor) and a freezing level of nearly 3000 metres meant that the snow and ice was melting pretty quickly. Most of the ice which had been observed a week of so ago is now gone, with only the main gully lines complete. With more of the same forecast tomorrow it is turing out to be more like A Nightmare before (after) Christmas than a Christmas Carol this
published: 4 months ago
|
downloaded: 4 months ago
|
22 views
from SAIS Lochaber
Over the past few days there has been a fair bit more snow on the hills of Lochaber. Yesterday (Monday) was quite a mild day with rain at lower levels and lots of heavy wet snow higher up. Today was colder with snow showers through the day. The picture shows conditions at the snowpit site (a South-Easterly aspect at an altitude of 1130m). By probing from the bottom of the snowpit, I discovered that there is more than 4 metre of snow on this slope.
published: 5 months ago
|
downloaded: 5 months ago
|
33 views
from SAIS Lochaber
Looking South along the East face of Aonach Mor today. The routes Left Twin and Morwand finish up the snowcrest catching the sunshine the in the middle distance. It started off a lovely day today. We were up on Aonach Mor and, for me a least, it was the first day up there this season with good visibility. I took this opportunity to have a good look around. For this time of year there is loads of snow about, most of which has been blown in on a Westerly wind. As you would expect there is some pretty ...
published: 5 months ago
|
downloaded: 5 months ago
|
26 views
from SAIS Lochaber
Today we were up on Ben Nevis for a wee look about. In general there is lots of snow, and winter climbing conditions are looking good, and there were very few people about. There has been a large avalanche from below the Orion face. The crown wall ran all the way from below the first platform of North East Buttress to below Observatory Ridge. In the photo I have marked the most obvious bit of the crown wall in red. The height of this crown wall was quite variable, and in some sections it was quite shallow
published: 5 months ago
|
downloaded: 5 months ago
|
21 views
from SAIS Lochaber
Climbing conditions are building quite nicely on the Ben at the moment. Here you can see a fair bit of ice about on the Trident Buttresses, with Mega Route X already looking in better nick that it did throughout last winter. A fair bit of snow in Coire ne Ciste. By the time this picture was taken (Friday) it had consolidated due to some milder conditions on Thursday. However, there has also been some avalanche activity earlier in the week , with evidence of slides from below Glovers Chimney, below Green
published: 5 months ago
|
downloaded: 5 months ago
|
30 views
