Scorchio: rinse, repeat.
17th March 2016
(Above) A wee ski tour today up Sron a Ghoire. Can confirm, without fear of contradiction, that the stuff I wrote on yesterday’s blog posting about carrying your skis a long distance is true! However once you hit the snow, travel becomes less sweaty irksome.
(Above) Bealach a Ghoire at 850m on Sron a Ghoire. Abrupt transition from snow to grass to snow is fairly typical of some areas. The grass and heather is now quite dry and almost crunchy underfoot. Carn Liath plateau in the distance distinctly mottled and holds less snow than Sron a Ghoire and the Creag Meagaidh massif.
(Above) Reverse vista to the previous photo. Where there is snow there’s quite wide expanses of it. Looking towards Meall Buidhe (863m) and the Adverikie ‘Forest’. Most snow is lying on any aspect with East on it, ie. E, NE, SE etc..
(Above) Stunning visibility again. Looking East towards the Cairngorms, with the Glen Feshie hills just beneath them. Loch Laggan beach bottom of the shot.
(Above) ‘Muirburn’. Loch Laggan in the foreground. The smoke you see is from controlled fires lit by local ‘sporting’ estates to burn back rank heather to encourage new growth for grouse to feed on. Seen quite a few plumes of smoke locally and in Strathspey.
(Above) These partially collapsed depressions are quite common at, or close to the snow line. There’s usually a burn, or spring, underneath which encourages speedier local melting beneath the snow leading to these minor collapses. The one above is about 5m x 10m, though they can be much larger.
(Above) An old friend! Glide cracks widening on Sron a Ghoire at the site of some large full depth avalanches last year. Noticeably wider than when viewed yesterday.
(Above) A small meltwater ‘issue’ or spring appearing from underneath the peat and running on top of the bedrock. Not surprisingly there’s a lot of melting going on at the moment, although the patches of heather you see there are bone dry.
(Above)Â 1.2 degrees C. Water from the spring is cold!
(Above)Â “…every man must do his duty.“
(Above) Coire Dubh. Sections of cornice continue to trundle down during the heat of the day.
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Callum
17th March 2016 7:35 pm
Nice turns, nice tracks. You can’t beat it. You seem to be enjoying the payback!
meagaidhadmin
17th March 2016 8:55 pm
Thanks, Callum.
Memory is a funny thing: a day like today makes all the post-holing, drenched to the skin, flayed by graupel etc. days magically fade away!
Grant Duff
17th March 2016 9:17 pm
Wonderful photos as usual ……but hey the weather helps. Today looks like a decent office day!