Dreary end to a dreary season
13th April 2024
No podium finish or looking good for the camera on the final lap, Creag Meagaidh metaphorically fell on its face into a puddle in front of the grandstand on the last day of the winter season.
(Above) The Post Face of Coire Ardair is there somewhere in the mist and rain.
(Above) Slightly clearer conditions over at Beinn a Chaorainn with a line of cornices still lingering around the top of its steep E-facing coire.
It’s been a pretty awful season snow-wise. And snow aside, not particularly cold either.
Hope springs eternal though, so fingers crossed for a properly snowy and cold 2024/25 winter.
Until December, then!
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Keith Horner
13th April 2024 5:39 pm
As you say, a disappointing end to to a very disappointing, topsy turvy, roller coaster of a winter characterised by a dearth of snowfall (interesting to see how this season compares in terms of snowfall quantity with other winters and is there a downward trend developing?) coupled with an almost continuous sequence of significant thaws which prevented any depth developing to the snowpack. I imagine the classic ice routes in Coire Ardair saw few if any ascents as they never really seemed to come into condition for any sustained period of time.
Many thanks to you and your colleagues for venturing out in often challenging underfoot and overhead conditions this season to prepare the daily forecasts – much appreciated.
Thankfully other related and unrelated avalanche events were incorporated into your blogs to retain interest when there was little to report snowpack wise – high altitude moles, mistaking Carn Liath for Olympus Mons (or was it vice versa?), the recent outbreak of ‘sodfallitis’ and an enterprising primate who decided to go walkabout in downtown Strathspey – no doubt all part of the rich tapestry of daily life for an avalanche forecaster….
Enjoy your season off – here’s hoping for a ‘real’ winter in 204/25.
meagaidhadmin
13th April 2024 6:06 pm
Thanks, Keith. Always a pleasure reading your comments, too.
Many thanks for your support throughout the season.
Patrick
13th April 2024 8:44 pm
As ever massive thanks for the huge commitment and stirling work you guys do…I remember the days pre SAIS… we’d be lost without you now!
meagaidhadmin
13th April 2024 9:44 pm
Things have come on a lot, Patrick, haven’t they? One thing for us that has changed dramatically since the start of the SAIS (or Scottish Avalanche Project as it was first called) is the amount of data we have access to to help us in our forecasting. The Met Office’s evolving input has been really quite remarkable in this regard and has been one of the driving forces in improving the quality (accuracy) of our daily output. Quite a contrast to the early days of the SAP when the only weather forecast we had access to was the one printed in one of the broadsheet newspapers! Printed yesterday, with a generic regional weather forecast at least 12 hours old, to be used to generate an avalanche forecast for tomorrow!
Things ain’t what they used to be…thank God!
Many thanks for your comment.
Patrick
14th April 2024 3:43 am
Certainly have changed a lot and makes planning hill days so much easier with our busy lives…but a small bit of me misses the days of hitching out of Edinburgh up the A9 with no real idea what the weather gods would throw at us..
Can remember how modern I felt when I used to carry the small orange card in my wallet with the Scottish mountain forecast regional numbers on… finding a payphone to get an update was never guaranteed!