Meteorological Spring
1st March 2021
(Above) Looking west towards (peaks on the skyline, left to right): Puist Coire Ardair, Sron a Ghoire, top of the Post Face with Creag Meagaidh summit behind it, and Stob Poite Coire Ardair, then Coire Chriochariein with snow just coming into shot. Best snow cover above 800m in most places.
(Above) Looking west along Loch Laggan this morning. The Grey Corries et al illuminated by sunshine and wreathed in early cloud.
(Above) The ‘money shot’ of the Post Face of Coire Ardair with associated crags, buttresses and gullies. Snow line down to about 700m in the principal gully lines like Easy Gully, seen here slanting diagonally down in front of the Post Face.
(Above) Coire nan Gamhna, a small cirque carved out of the rump of Sron a Ghoire and hanging above Coire Ardair. Quite low snow surface temperature measured at -2.4 degrees C. here in the shade at midday whilst the air temperature was at about +1 degrees C. The slight anomaly due to the snow losing heat directly to the clear skies through long wave radiation. Hard or very crusty underfoot in the shade though moister and softer after a few hours in places where the sun was given a chance to do its work.
(Above) The view out from Coire nan Gamhna towards the Post Face, The Window and the Inner Coire of Coire Ardair. Overnight frost at all levels above 600m which allowed the development of a very thin skin of newly formed ice on Lochan a Choire. Old cornice debris litters the base of many crag aprons and gullies. Some residual old cornices remain in place mainly over very steep N to E-facing aspects.
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