Coire an Lochain
23rd February 2024
Today’s weather was enjoyably benign. A dry and sometimes sunny morning with light West-South-West winds in the corries and clear on the tops. Snow showers did sweep up the glen around mid afternoon which will add to the very superficial covering of snow on the hill. Although conditions look lean, a wind slab problem is present above 1000m on North to East aspects, gully tops, corrie rims and steep rollovers are, particularly affected.
Tracks and burn crossings were pretty lethal where the snow has been trampled by feet, thawed and then refrozen.
Windslab problems are present on North to East aspects above 1000m. Here on the Twin Burns in Coire an Lochain the windslab overlays old hard neve. The weakness however is within the windslab itself where a hard layer overlays a softer layer.
This photo looking across the East aspect of the Lochain/Lurchers Ridge and the main buttresses in Coire an Lochain show the extent of the windslab problem.
Westerly aspects are pretty scoured. Looking across from Coire an Lochain past Fiachaill Coire an’t Sneachda towards the summit of Cairngorm. The foreground is very representative of the superficial cover elsewhere.
Photo below looking down at the Lochain in Coire an Lochain. Unfrozen where the burn joins it and the brown remains on the RHS of historical avalanche debris.
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