Misty and Murky.
5th February 2026
It was another cloudy day on Creag Meagaidh. The cloud level was around seven or eight hundred metres. Due to the cloud and shape of the hills it does not look very wintry when looking up from the carpark. However, above about 800 metres if feels very wintry with full snow cover. This combined with the thick cloud and rounded summits made for some tricky navigation. The freezing level briefly rose to around 1000 metres last night, before dropping again during the day. This has helped to stabilise the shallow patches of unstable windslab which were observed yesterday. 
The view towards Coire Ardair at around the highest altitude (about 700m) that I was able to get a view. Above this level it was very misty and murky. The poor visibility combined with the extensive snow cover on the tops and the rounded and featureless nature of the tops made for some navigational challenges.
The summit cairn of Carn Liath (1006m) plastered in rime. There is loads of rime on exposed objects at higher levels. This is not unexpected given the tops have been generally below freezing and in has been cloudy and windy for weeks now.
On the way down the flank of Sron a Ghoire was catching a wee bit of sunshine while the top of the hill remains in the cloud. The main Coire Ardair path is visible in the bottom of the shot. I didn’t actually see anyone during my time on the hill. However, based on the number of cars in the carpark and the number of climbing routes being logged on the website ukclimbing.com of late, I suspect there would have been lots of people out climbing in Coire Ardair at the moment. Good to see that Creag Meagaigh is still a popular choice when the routes start coming into condition.
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