Northern Cairngorms Blog & Mountain Info » Slab Avalanche in Ciste Mhearad

Slab Avalanche in Ciste Mhearad

31st December 2025

A change is afoot. The settled high pressure weather which has dominated for the last week or so has come to an end. Overnight there was another ‘micro’ dusting of fresh snow down as low as 700m, this soon started to melt as the freezing level rose towards 900m by the afternoon. Fresh North-Westerly winds soon increased with gusts on the summit into the 90’s by early afternoon. The tops remained stubbornly in cloud limiting photographic opportunities today.

There seems to be some ambiguity around how much snow will arrive into the Northern Cairngorms region over the next 24 hours. Anywhere between 5 and 20cm, falling to glen level. Storm force North-Westerly winds expected, so we will certainly see the development of a windslab problem on East to South aspects down to quite low levels.

The photos below give a flavour of conditions today and a surprise (albeit small) avalanche was noted in Ciste Mheard on the NE aspect of Cairngorm.

Looking across to the summit of Meall a Bhuachaille (810m) a micro dusting of fresh on the NE aspect.

A general view taken c1100m on the East aspect of Cairngorm. I was searching for any evidence of windslab on this leeward aspect. I found none.

Plenty of rime ice growing into the prevailing NW wind.

This photo of a small slab avalanche was sent in by a 3rd party and I assume taken yesterday on the 30th? The crown wall was ‘jagged’ and approx 3m across on the convexity of the corrie rim in Ciste Mhearad on a NE aspect. Subsidiary crown walls can be seen on the left and right of the slab. Total run out approx 10m with the blocks stopping in the boulders just above the burn. The surface of the snow pack on this day was so hard I was unable to penetrate with a metal shovel to do a snow profile. The likelihood is this was human triggered with a considerable amount of effort and the slab failed on facets beneath, which have developed over the past few very cold days. If anyone know anymore, we would appreciate the info.