Creag Meagaidh Blog & Mountain Info

Beinn a’Chaorainn (1052m) and its east facing coires. Outwith the coires,  the recent fresh snow has mostly disappeared.

There was snow on the North facing path above 750 metres, although some of this had disappeared on the return leg. In quite a few places the fresh snow was hiding the ice underneath so care was required.

At around 900 metres some ankle deep deposits were encountered, with the trail breaker just visible on the skyline.

Looking across to the summit of Beinn a’Chlachair (1087m) with the summit plateau area holding relatively little snow. Plenty of rime of the north facing side of today’s cairn.

The North facing slopes on Ben Alder. Lancet Edge is the well defined ridge in the centre of the photograph.

Coire Cheap on the North-East side of one of the Geal Charn (1132m) summits in the vicinity. Cheap doesn’t seem to do this coire justice, given its setting in the heart of the mountains. One definition of cheap is given as “of little worth because achieved in a discreditable way requiring little effort”. It would require a lot of effort to get here and although a night in a tent would be cheap, arguably it would be of significant worth.

Another Geal Chart (1049m) with a distinctive snow line at around 900 metres on its South-West side. The biggest deposit of snow encountered today is evidence that there has been some drifting of the recent snow on the Northerly winds at this location.

Creag Meagaidh summit and some thin lines of ice in the back of Coire Choille-rais. The dry crags of Binnein Shuas are in the foreground and there were folk heading here today. The sun didn’t make too much of an appearance this morning which was good for preserving the fresh snow at higher elevations, but not so good for the rock climbers.