Misty outlook from The Window.
28th February 2024
(Above) The approach to The Window in the Inner Coire of Coire Ardair. A goodly amount of (fairly recent) chunky cornice debris litters the N-facing crag apron here. The one in the shot is immediately W of the mouth of ‘Cinderella’…which also had a quite impressive cornice debris tip of its own. Very difficult to photograph anything today due to the claustrophobia-inducing mist and flat light. Both photos have had the contrast turned up to the max post production to get at least some degree of definition. Bumped into a small RAF group from Grantown-on-Spey who didn’t let the poor overhead conditions dampen their enthusiasm for their day in the mountains, at least up to the point when I met them! Their combined effort, together with a jolly couple from Lincolnshire, produced some excellent ‘pigeon holes’ in the snow up towards the The Window summit for me to follow. Kudos, you people!
(Above) More cornice debris below the Pipes Direct, and a couple of saplings I’d not noticed before amongst the chaos of the wet-snow covered boulders thereabouts. Hardwood species, I think? Doing as well as can be expected at 800m.
Thursday.
We’ve got much colder and wintry weather in prospect at Creag Meagaidh. The Met Office are giving us 12.5cm of snowfall over the course of the forecast period which is quite a lot and about 50% more than forecast for any of the other SAIS areas. Freezing level will be down to 600m and winds will be strong SW 40mph, gusting 50. The old snowpack everywhere will refreeze and become stable… but on top of which we’re expecting weak windslab to form. Stabilty will become progressively less good as the day unfolds and be at it’s poorest later in the afternoon, giving Considerable hazard.
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Richard Limmer
28th February 2024 7:31 pm
Great to catch up with you, thanks for the words of advice and encouragement! We ended up doing the horseshoe route, nothing really frozen over the summits and very wet and windy! Definitely a little hillier than the shire!!
meagaidhadmin
28th February 2024 7:48 pm
Well met, Richard. Glad you made something of the day.
Many thanks for your comment.