THAW, FREEZE & FRESH SNOWFALL

Ice after the rains

Fresh snowfall by mid morning

Ice, Coire an Lochain

Good fun and great for axe and crampons today

More

Old snow with depth in places

Crampons needed too

Brilliant conditions here

Alladins Couloir, fresh snow

Fresh snow quickly building

Flock of at least 20 Snow Buntings

Much of the Highlands received over 24 hours of heavy rain at all levels yesterday. After a rapid thaw on Tuesday it was good to see ice still hanging on in the Northern Corries this morning. The temperatures had lowered again with summits around minus 2 C. I took a wander into Coire an Lochain. By mid morning it started snowing steadily to quite low altitudes. Not a breath of wind. Whatever was left of the old snow had frozen nicely and it was great fun with axe and crampons climbing out of the corrie and onto the plateau. There are some nice steep sections to the west of the main climbing area in the coire. A great spot I regularly guide folk on my winter courses. It was great to front point and feel the calf muscles working again for the start of another winter season. By mid day there was a covering of a few cm's of fresh snow on the plateau along with poor visibility. Didn't see a single person on the hills today. Forecast for a substantial fall of snow over the next 24 hours, along with strong winds.