FULL WINTER CONDITIONS ON CREAG MEAGAIDH

Catherine & Rhys heading up beside Coire Ardair in great winter conditions

Chris enjoying the neve higher up

The face of winter mountaineering !

Calm conditions at Coire Ardair

Descending from the Window with the Inner Corrie crags just visible

Recent avalanche activity in a few places on Creag Meagaidh

Its always good when you have a group who can be flexible with the days (and their guide) when it comes to weather/conditions in winter. Yesterday was a very wet, windy and mild day over in Glencoe so rather than getting a good soaking the team and I changed our second day of winter fun to Thursday. Weather forecasts were hinting at lower wind speeds and drier conditions further east. The freezing level had also come down over night so it looked very much more like a winter day today. We headed over to Creag Meagaidh in the hope of even some sunny intervals. We did get a few breaks in the cloud right at the start of the day but by 11am the snow showers started and they just became more and more frequent as the day wore on. It was continuous snow fall down at all levels by early afternoon. The winds were gusty and strong as we headed up to the noth on Creag Meagaidh's plateau known as  'The Window'. The team were all enjoying the full on winter experience which included axe, crampons and goggles. The snow was scoured up toward the window area with some fresh wind slab over toward the Inner Corrie but all these fresh deposits were easily avoided. There had been recent avalanche activity here (probably from Wednesday) with some sizable chunks of cornice fallen down. A great day out and fantastic to see the winter back in action after Wednesdays heatwave! Another great couple of days with Chris, Catherine & Rhys.