A snowy landscape
30th January 2025
The Northern Cairngorms is looking like winter again. The existing snow cover, topped up overnight with 5-10cm of fresh down to 600m. There was a also a dusting down to glen level. At first sight, with this amount of snow cover it looks as though the avalanche hazard should be higher than a Moderate. However, its not necessarily about ‘how much snow there is’, but whether there are any weaknesses within the snow pack. The snow at mid mountain height (600-800m) is generally loose, dry snow overlying bare ground. Above 800m, the snow pack is more wind affected. There is a icy crust present in many places and on leeward aspects there is a build up of windslab. Some of these windslab deposits are deep (in excess of 1 meter), however, there is a shallow temperature gradient and test results show only ‘stubborn’ fails. The avalanche hazard for tomorrow is moderate and we are expecting some re-distribution of the existing snowpack on strong overnight Southerly winds onto Northern aspects. See main report for further information.
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A view looking into Coire an’t Sneachda taken around 900m. The Northern aspects are heavily rimed, with a breakable crust in places. Some very minor pockets of windslab present and easily avoidable.
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Fiachaill Buttress area. Note the number of ‘black dots’ (people). This photo is taken from part way up the Goat Track which was a mixture of riming, weight bearing crust, non-weight bearing crust and very isolated pockets of fresh windslab.
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Looking down into Coire an’t Sneachda from the Goat Track. Note the whiter windslab accumulations on the S/SE aspect of the moraines which very much reflected conditions higher up.
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Looking across Coire Domhain towards Derry Cairngorm. Fabulous snow cover, but tortuous to walk across. (see below)
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Underfoot conditions on the plateau were variable. But there was a lot of this! Non weight bearing crust with a softer layer beneath.
The freezing level is rising and the winds are easing during the day tomorrow, so expect some consolidation of the snowpack. Storm force Southerlies forecast for Saturday with freezing levels above the summits.
And finally: There was a successful ascent of the Aladdin’s Couloir today by a sausage dog. Last seen crossing Coire Domhain heading towards Ben Macdhui.
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