Disclaimer: Snowing as I left and continues as I write down in Aviemore, however it it blows off this is what you'll find underneath. (a copy and paste!)
Had a walk into Sneachda early this morning for a recce and see what had survived the thaw of the last to days. Woke up to a dusting of snow down in Aviemore with a little more at the ski centre, temp at 07:30 this morning was -3.5 and most of the old compacted snow underfoot was now neve. Light NW wind and sunny breaks was the reward for those who got to the corrie early and onto the climbs before the snow arrived just before mid day and saw the temp rise to -1 at the car park. The old snow pack has been completely saturated to a considerable depth and all the way through where shallow. Deeper build up such as the gullys are now solid neve especial near the tops, shallower areas are still soft no doubt from underneath, but are still firming up! All the major gullies are still full with Alladins so full its as easy as the goat track and very easy for a grade I. The Old cornices above the gullys left of Flutted Butress are for the most part still there, they've sagged a lot though and some are now overhanging, I'd want to give them another cold night to firm up before I thought about digging. Mess of Pottage and the lower part of Alladin's looks like they've lost a lot of covering, but its not so bad as on closer inspection there's a lot of new ice in the backs of the main cracks. Higher on Fluted and Fiacaill looked well rimed but didn't get a close look. A glance over the back to Carn Etchachan looks good. More snow falling as I walked out on a westerly so will change the tops and cornices but at least you know what's underneath!
Photo's you'll find here!
https://www.facebook.com/Pass-and-Peak-197397280277028/