Went for a walk that turned into a climb that became a walk again today.
Headed up towards Sron na Lairig for a look, thought it might be OK, but once on the route it became clear that any freeze last night was minimal, and the freezing level was well higher than the optimistic Met Office forecast had suggested it would be. Ankle deep slush puppy on granular base made for pretty off putting ground.
Up the initial gull, I came across a couple of foot wide, full depth glide lines showing wet grass below 3-4ft of wet snow, so a quick exit to something more rocky was made.
Snow stayed poor up to the first platform, and increasing roller ball activity helped the "exit stage right" decision for me. Though this was not without it's merits - what was a pristine slope down towards Eilde Canyon became a rollerball frenzy as I made a hasty retreat. Terrain trap central....
Some big dirty wet slides off the ridge between Sron na Lairig and point 778. Also a full length cornice line - if you're planning on coming down this way anytime soon you'll need to head towards point 778 and descend roughly north off its summit to avoid them.
Decided to take the bag for a walk round the two Lairigs after this. Some further big dirty slides off Buachaille Etive Mor in various places along the ridge. Saw a buzzard flying away from one of the debris fans, so looks like deer may have been involved in one of them!!
It is worth noting the cornices along the NW side of BEM. Some are huge. Really huge. There's one hanging over much of N slopes/buttress of Stob Coire Altruim that is scary big (30ft?). Photos here don't do it justice, and although you can see it from the road, you're not getting a "side view" of it so doesn't look overly impressive. But it is!!
In general, it looks like the thaw has lifted the effective snow line back up to 700m (N facing aspects) - everything below this has really shrunk back over the last week or so. Snow is very wet still, with plenty of hidden holes ready to take you by surprise (entertaining times were had trying to get out a waist deep leg swallower by myself, gaining feck all purchase in the surrounding slush puppy sugar snow).
Didn't see signs of ice anywhere. Turf below the snow line is dripping wet. Rocks were drying fast in the light winds and sunshine.
Photo's here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152222615050865.1073741868.7386...
Cheers,
Gordon
Post edited at 16:50
