Friday 7 March 2008

ENOUGH OF THE ALPINE STUFF

It was back to full on winter conditions today on Tarmachan. I was in the Eastern corrie below Tarmachans' summit area and was looking at a possible gully, but with the avalanche potential increasing with the continuous heavy snowfall I decided on a nice route on the steep slopes that climb to the NE ridge. Great mixture of windslab on top of old hard snow, frozen turf and icy wind scoured ridges today. The visability was poor with cloud down to 600m and snowing most of the day to 400m. No one parked at the visitor centre and saw no one, only a ptarmigan on the hills today. Just stepped through the door and the sun popped out.

Snow showers and strong winds forecast for the weekend. Good to check: www.sais.gov.uk for up to date avalanche conditions. And it goes with out saying, ice axe and crampons essential!

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