Filtered sunlight.
28th March 2018
(Above) Pinnacle Buttress and the Post Face of Coire Ardair illuminated by cloud-filtered sunshine late this morning.
(Above) The Great Buttress of the Post Face. Two climbers just approaching the finishing groove of Staghorn Gully – visible towards the top right of the buttress. Was fairly quiet today. Noticed only two pairs of climbers: here on Staghorn and round the corner on The Pumpkin in the Inner Coire.
(Above) The North East-facing crags of the Inner Coire with the right angled iced-up corner of ‘The Pumpkin’ prominent left of centre. Note the large cornice line looming over the entrance to ‘Cinderella’ on the far right of the shot.
(Above) Detailed shot of ‘Cinderella’s’ cornice line. Yeah…that’s a big one. These huge cantilevers of snow are mightily unpredictable and their strength (or weakness) is difficult to determine. They can collapse quite suddenly especially when temperatures rise. Well worth giving a wide berth from both above and below for the time being. Many of our very steep NE to SE aspects are plagued by large cornices at the moment.
(Above) Looking ESE from the Inner Coire. Great snow cover! Really good at this end of Coire Ardair above about 650m. Tiring moist crust up to about 900m though today.
(Above) Bellevue & Pinnacle Buttress, with Easy Gully (to the right) hard against the Post Face. The cloud cover broke up a little in the early afternoon. Stayed pretty cold in the shaded areas but a little warmth from the sun helped bond up new wind-blown snow on some E and SE aspects at most altitudes. Interesting shears in relatively thin new snow in persistently shaded areas above 900m where instability tended to be localised.
(Above) A peek into Easy Gully. Easy Gully is actually a NNE aspect and runs diagonally down across the East-facing Post Face. There’s a localised accumulation of colder windslab in the shaded part right at the top of Easy Gully which is simple to turn on the left (looking up). Note the sun on the Post Face itself.
(Above) Looking back across the iced up and snow covered Lochan a Choire whilst en route back to Aberarder this afternoon.
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Stan Wygladala
28th March 2018 10:21 pm
Truly great photos!
Had a moment of terror looking at the cornices above Cinderella as I thought I was standing just below.
Felt great relief microseconds later when realising it was only a failing of my old brain.
Risked another look and seemed to hear a loud â crumptâ.
Decided I was definitely in need of psychological help and sought relief by watching âEverestâ which I had recorded.
P.S. Great time to ski down Easy Gully
meagaidhadmin
28th March 2018 11:14 pm
As ever, thanks for your comment, Stan.