Indecisive weather
8th April 2022
(Above) Looking west across Blargie Farmhouse towards Sron a Ghoire, the Post Face of Coire Ardair, and the outlying coires of the Carn Liath massif. A tour of the rim of Coire Dubh via Stob Coire Dubh today to check out some SE aspects and get an idea of snow cover on the Carn Liath plateau. (Coire Dubh is the steep snowy coire up and slightly left of the farmhouse.)
(Above) Looking across towards the narrow band of new windslab blown in overnight and during the early morning. (Gnarly old and slumped cornices near the summit of Stob Coire Dubh in the foreground). Note the point releases from under the not-quite-fully formed cornice line. The weather couldn’t make its mind up today: full winter rig to start then jacket and gloves off when the sun came out on the upward leg. Cold wind on the summits though.
(Above) Looking west from Stob Coire Dubh towards Carn Liath summit (obscured), Loch Laggan to the left. The Carn Liath plateau (900m+) looking deceptively white. The rolling white slope in the middle distance faces east and does have reasonable and complete cover, but at least 50% of this particular plateau looks like the foreground. Those weighing up the potential for a ski touring outing take note! The effective snow line is very high too, at around 850m, so you’d be foot soldiering up quite some distance with your skis on your rucksack.
(Above) The remains of the old cornice line above Coire Dubh. Some new minor cornice development noted today, mainly above SE to S aspects.
(Above) A distance glimpse into the upper reaches of Coire Ardair, the Post Face, the Inner Coire, and The Window. To the left is Sron a Ghoire which is carrying a thin cover of fresh snow above 850m.
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Lee
8th April 2022 8:02 pm
Thanks for the ski touring beta
meagaidhadmin
8th April 2022 8:12 pm
Here’s a bonus photo looking in the same direction as photo #3 taken from the summit of Stob Coire Dubh:
We’re due a little snow overnight and during the day so the cover may improve a little, but not by much.