After the storm
1st February 2015
The Post Face of Coire Ardair today.
Much quieter day today, thankfully. A few periods of bright sunshine (with just a little warmth in it, too) but cold in the shade and at higher altitudes. Peak period of instability was overnight and into the early hours. During the day those south-facing slopes soaked up just enough solar radiation to bring a little consolidation to the surface layers of the deep windslab – most pronounced below 750m. Â Instability still present in deeper layers, though. Lots of evidence today of heavy scouring and cross-loading (on the same aspects, often side by side) from yesterday’s stormy weather.
Hard going if you’re on foot. Several walkers, and a couple sporting snowshoes, broke trail up the Coire Ardair ‘path’ today, though their track deviated into the deep snowy heather and drainage ditches at times. Not easy finding the actual path given the amount and depth of snow we have in most places. Skis definitely the travel mode of choice at the moment.
Wind-etched snow (sastrugi).
Comments on this post
Got something to say? Leave a comment
Grant Duff
1st February 2015 7:41 pm
“sastrugi” a fantastic word !
Kate Gilliver
2nd February 2015 11:39 am
Cracking photos from yesterday! Love the snow contrast on the drumlin-y things!
meagaidhadmin
2nd February 2015 5:03 pm
Contrary to the impression you might form from our blog photos, it’s not always sunny at ‘Meggie! Capturing those fleeting moments, when the light is just right, often entails mad fumbling to get the camera out of the rucsac….and quite often the moment is missed.
Many thanks for your kind comment.