UKC

Hi.

Anyone been on the Five Sisters or South Ridge this weekend or even more recent? What's the snow like? Height of snow line and depth.

Ta

In reply to Flinticus:

Going to rain heavily for the next 36 hours - will likely be only very patchy cover left after that.

In reply to Mark Bull:

Thanks.

Wondering if any of that will fall as snow higher up. Any webcams in the region?

In reply to Flinticus:

Not until the front clears through and the rain turns to showers on Wed.

Ladhar Bheinn and Beinn Sgritheall visible on this webcam: http://www.blaven.com/webcamarchive.aspx?webcam=01

In reply to Flinticus:

Was up there on Easter weekend. Snow where it was was very slushy and confined mostly to the corries. Was on Beinn Fhada and the axe and crampons were unneccesary weight. Paths were just slush at the corrie headwall and clear otherwise. Was on the far eastern group (out to Sail Chaorrain), was on the paths and dodged on snow patch as it was rather steep and slushy and we were aware that it might slide off the hill as the water was running out the bottom of it. Easy on the ridge with the snow disapparearing as we watched. We retraced the route to stay high as it was so nice and the snow had receded appreciably over the day. We had a team on Forcan Ridge and the snow was an issue due to the slushy nature and banking on the narrow sections. Another team were on A' Ghlas-bheinn; again nothing more than local patches easily avoided. Another team done the Brothers, again the ironmongery wasn't used. Views over to the sisters suggested it was the same.

In reply to Flinticus:

Fresh snow over the weekend combined with cold temperatures mean it is 100% ice axe and crampon territory at the moment. Particularly parts above freezing level and NE/NNE aspects

In reply to Flinticus:

I did the 'Brothers' Ridge on Easter Sunday. As the previous poster said, the snow was very soft/slushy and thawing rapidly, so axe and crampons weren't needed. It made for tricky walking in a few places though due to its instability.

There was however absolutely shedloads of snow, both in the east and west-facing corries and on the higher sections of the ridge itself, where it had banked up to quite a depth to form narrow aretes. It looked much the same on the Five Sisters.

I don't know whether the thaw would have continued during the week, but with the depth that was still there at Easter, I'd be very surprised if it had all gone so quickly.

Looks like there is still quite a covering of snow on the webcams, but not sure how much of this is fresh.

In reply to Flinticus:

Driving through on Friday, the snow looked to be limited to the north facing slopes/corries, though there was a little more of it there than in either Torridon or Glen Coe (I took a long detour from Ullapool!). What snow we found on our week in Assynt was soft and sugary.

I would imagine that snow fell over the weekend, as it did in Fife and on the M74.

Not sure if that helps or not! I think you have to assume there may be more than enough to warrant winter gear.

In reply to Flinticus:

There was quite a lot of fresh snow in the week after Easter, in the southern/central Highlands at least. I was on Munros on Easter Sunday and the following Saturday, and while the first of these felt like proper spring the second was a different matter entirely and was much more back to late winter. Goodness knows what it's been doing these past couple of days...

In reply to Flinticus:

Cheers all. Whereever I go I will be bringing crampons & axe. The waivering comes from whether I will be overnight backpacking as well.

I don't like snowy ridges with a heavy, full backpack: I feel it tires me out, reduces agility / mobility, throws off my centre of gravity and just gets in the way!!

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Beinn Dubhchraig certainly had a wintry feel on Saturday. Very strong winds rattling in frequent snow and hail showers with the old snow fields refrozen into solid neve. Loch Oss was a sheet of ice. Just a few days before I enjoyed some warm sunshine cragging at Dunkeld. Best advice when heading into the Scottish hills in the Spring is "Dib Dib, be prepared"

In reply to Dave Hewitt:


Wet! 34mm of rain on Skye since yesterday afternoon.

In reply to Joak:


I was on Ben Challum that day with a pal - we went up the back glen, across the river (he waded barefoot, I had new boots!) then up the west shoulder of the South Top. Until about 900m there was just a breeze - we commented on it being less strong than expected - but at 990m we were having to crawl to the South Top cairn. Got pinned down for a while, no real hope of getting to the main top, and in due course we retreated (more crawling and getting-stuck-ness) down the southern shoulder. Mad squally showers with good views between, then heavy snow on the lower descent - we got completely caked in the stuff from about 500m down to 300m. Character-building!

By the way, I was on your favourite hill the previous weekend (Easter Sunday) from Edinample. Very lovely - wore Mudclaws and just carried an axe which stayed on the sack. Even saw a butterfly at 800m. A week is a long time in the Scottish hills, though.