GREAT SNOW COVER, HEAVY GOING

Great snow cover now

A deserted Fiacaill Coire Sneachda

Not so good views today

Wind slab and cornices

Big drifts at low altitude

Nice sunset

Snow building nicely

Looking good

Looking down into Sneachda

The last few days we've had snow falling on the Cairngorm mountains along with some high winds. All good news to get the hills back into winter condition. The temperatures have been below freezing high up so all of this isn't great for stable snow conditions. Lots of fresh windslab every day and cornices getting bigger by the hour. Ridges and buttresses are always the best option in periods like this. They are, of course,  great places to be when the weather is superb too in summer or winter. The Cairngorms aren't renown for ridges of any great length of character. The Fiacaill coire Sneachda is only a very short ridge but it's brilliant and a great route for a short day. I didn't set off until noon letting the winds die down a bit from this morning. It was lovely blue skies and sunshine in Aviemore but the Northern Cairngorms had a big bubble of cloud hanging on them all day long and this didn't budge much despite the 30-40mph winds on the tops. Hard going at low altitudes with much soft snow and drifts. The paths into the corries where well blown over and not much evidence of traffic by the time I set off. I only saw a handful of folk and a few people were turning back from the ridge, just before the exciting steeper section. So I had the place to myself. Spindrift and cloud, rime ice and soft drifts, brilliant. A good cover of snow on the ridge now. The plateau has good cover and some bare sections. Cornices growing and looking uninviting. A great wee 4 hour blast. The North West Highlands are the place to be over the next few days. With the big Continental High bringing any cloud over to the Eastern Highlands. Lucky that I am working over on An Teallach on Friday then, just by chance :)