Unexpected Visibility
12th February 2026
With unexpected visibility today, the images will do the talking! A picture does after all paint a thousand words…
What is difficult to see in the images is evidence of avalanche activity, which most likely occurred overnight. Subsequent drifting has covered the crown walls close to the coire rim, making them hard to distinguish. What was obvious was the amount of windslab deposited in the last 24 to 48 hours.
Much of this is loaded into large convex bulges either close to the coire rims, or mid slope due to the high winds of late. Structurally these are often weak points on a slope, as the bulges of deeper snow are effectively unsupported by the downslope snowpack. History tells us that these are frequently places where it is relatively easy to trigger avalanches.
This was very obvious today at the arrival of the top of the West facing slopes at ‘Windy Col’ The slopes here can be a good ski, but with a high index of suspicion given new loading, it was best not to descend here and we went along to Pt.1141 where the descent was much safer.
From here a ski down the Fiacaill a’ Choire Chais allowed a more circuitous route into the coire floor, but one with a much greater safety margin. With cold snowpack temperatures there will be little change tomorrow, the avalanche hazard will be Considerable.
Sgoran Dubh Mor which lies to the west of Glen Einich.
The staff at Cairngorm Mountain working hard today to clear the lifts of rime ice ahead on the weekend.
Skinning above the Ptarmigan. Note the drifts around the building and consistency of cover on the upper slopes. A good cover of snow was present down to around 600 metres.
An atmospheric morning with the cloud unexpectedly breaking up over the plateau. In the foreground is the long broad ridge of Beinn Mheadhoin, with it’s conspicuous granite tors.
A view into Coire an t-Sneachda from Coire Raibert. Loaded with Snow on these north and north-west aspects. Note the plume of spindrift at the coire rim – a tell tale sign of drift and windslab development.
Fiacaill Buttress – a popular location for climbers today.
The Mess of Pottage in Coire an t-Sneachda. This was flanked by avalanche debris on both the left and right (near Jacob’s Ladder) today. These avalanches were most likely triggered naturally by cornice fall or overloading during snowfall overnight. The crown walls were difficult to distinguish, having been buried by further deposits.
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