Avalanche Observations.
25th February 2022
Today was a rare day of good visibility. This was a good opportunity to what had occurred avalanche wise over the past few days. There had been some substantial slides. Firstly there had been a big avalanche from Cnap Coire na Spreidhe down into Strath Nethy. This looked wet, and the debris was partially covered in fresh snow. It is thought this slid in the milder conditions on Wednesday. Another avalanche on the Feith Buidhe slab was also partially covered in fresh snow, and also probably occurred on Wednesday. There was also a large avalanche in the area to the left of Hell’s Lum. The debris looked drier, and was not covered in fresh snow, so most likely occurred some time yesterday afternoon or last night. It ran a long way down and stopped not far off level with the Shelterstone (and I mean the stone, not the crag).
It is very likely there have been other avalanches over the past few days. With plenty of people out and about on ski and on foot today, other people may have spotted other avalanches. If this is you, and you did observe something, then it is greatly appreciated it you can report them on the SAIS website. Thanks to everybody who has recorded things so far this season.
A ski tourer heading down towards Coire Raibert. The snow on Easterly aspects was quite nice, but on exposed Westerly aspects it was very scoured and icy. You can see the sun glinting of the icy surface on the slopes behind the skier in this shot.Â
There was a large avalanche from just to the left of Hell’s Lum. It continued a long way out of shot. This is the biggest avalanche in this location for a good number of years.Â
A view of the release area. The side wall can be seen on the left, with the crown wall running along the cornice line. Another smaller avalanche can be seen further left. This one would have occurred earlier, the crown wall is just about filled in and some of the debris buried by fresh snow.Â
Looking down at the debris from the Hell’s Lum avalanche. It has a dry snow look about it, and is not covered by fresh snow indicating it occurred quite within the previous 24 hours.
Some substantial cornices exist like this one above the route Hell’s Lum.Â
Nice views down to Loch Avon.Â
Looking down at the Cnap Coire na Spreidhe avalanche. This has a wetter look about it, and the debris is partially covered by snow indicating that it occurred a few days ago, most likely during the milder conditions on Wednesday.Â
Comments on this post
Got something to say? Leave a comment
Mark Hallam
27th February 2022 9:10 pm
Hello,
Lovely set of images from a superb day! I’m especially interested in your ‘Nice views of Loch Avon’ photo not least in that it features Beinn Mheadhoin, which I climbed on Friday after a wild night at Hutchinson’s, accompanied by friend + my dog. We summited at about 9.45am – I’m curious to know what time you took your photo, since we might even be visible if your photo was enlarged. Could I possibly ask if you could send me a full size copy of your photo? I’m thinking of making a movie of our escapades to post on vimeo – would you kindly let me use your image? Duly acknowledged of course. A full sized original would be ideal but failing that I’d use as large as possible, a screen shot.
Kind regards, Mark Hallam