Fresh snow fall blocked the A82 and A9 on Sunday with about 20cm snow and more being blown across the road. As the storm moved east the roads reopened after just an hour or so. Another cold night and cold day on Monday preceded a big rise in the temperature yesterday. We had about 50cm snow blown in to many gullies and bowls down to low levels and the highest gullies had a lot more than this. The snow came with strong westerly winds so a lot of it was transported off the tops and into the gullies and coires.
Yesterday it rained all day and the freezing level went well above the tops. Lots of snow melted and washed away into the sea. However, looking up from near the CIC Hut today, it's clear that lots of snow still remains and ice was forming in the cold conditions at the weekend. The major gullies are full and the coires are reasonably well covered with snow down to 900m. Number Two Gully avalanched in the thaw yesterday and the debris ran all the way to the base of Coire na Ciste. Smaller patches of snow remain at lower elevations but the main ridges are mostly clear of snow again.
There is quite a bit of ice left on the crags, not enough to climb probably but an encouraging sight even so. The Cascade has a good smear on it, Number Three Gully Buttress does as well and there is ice left on The Shroud. Hadrian's Wall Direct and Point Five Gully both hold wee dribbles too which is a good sign that the rocks have cooled down enough. We have colder conditions forecast over the next few days so these snow patches will freeze solid. They are full of water now so the snow will be dense and good to freeze into neve. This coming weekend is likely to be very windy but you will certainly be able to climb an easy gully or two. The Pony Track also has snow on it so please make sure you take ice axes and crampons with you if you go into the hills.
For pictures of Ben Nevis today and further reports during the week have a look here -
http://www.abacusmountainguides.com/blog
https://www.facebook.com/AbacusMountainGuides
Happy climbing and here's to five months of great winter climbing to come!
Mike Pescod
Abacus Mountain Guides
