Patchy cover.
10th March 2026
Very patchy cover on our northern border up by the Corrieyairick Pass. Poor visibility hampered observations but the snow cover here is much less than over on the south side of Glen Spean, with Creag Meagaidh’s being somewhere in between, cover-wise.
There’s some persistent snow in the forecast falling down to about 800m overnight and during the day. Expecting new weak windslab development on N to E aspects above 900m with some new cornice development over and above it.
(Above) Looking south from near to the Corrieyaick Pass towards the Creag Meagaidh and Carn Liath massif. Wore a dense cloud cap + a cloak of mist at lower levels all day.
(Above) The head of the Corrieyairick Pass. Only a few isolated snow patches here.
(Above) Rill soon to be gully erosion on General Wade’s Military road WNW of Melgarve in the Upper Spey. I passed this way on Boxing Day 2025 and the road was nothing like the state I found it in today. Listed by Historic Scotland as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, it’s going to need quite a lot of restoration work very soon to arrest this sudden deterioration brought on no doubt by a series of heavy rainfall events.
(Above) Some of the sediment from the washed out section trapped by a water bar a little lower down the road. (The ‘road’ is officially closed to vehicle traffic save for the occasional farm or estate vehicles).
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KEITH HORNER
10th March 2026 7:22 pm
Despite the legal dubiety (and ethical appropriateness) of driving a 4×4 over the pass, it clearly happens, so you wonder whether any damage to the surface caused by the passing of these has then been exacerbated by the increase in heavy rainfall events to cause the extent of erosion now present?
meagaidhadmin
10th March 2026 11:09 pm
Difficult to give a definitive answer, Keith. The road is securely gated at either end so road vehicle/off-road traffic levels on it must be minimal nowadays. My guess is that the road was in a fairly delicate condition, which may not have been immediately obvious to my untrained eye, and a couple of very heavy rainfall events were enough to create damage out of all proportion to their size.
Access some years ago was a bit of a free for all. In the ’80s & ’90s the local 4×4 club would have their annual ‘jolly’ over the pass. That’s a thing of history now and the club long since extinct. The only vehicles using it now would be driven by a limited number of gate keyholders with, presumably, legitimate reasons for vehicle access.
When the large new pylons were put in over the Corrieyairick Pass as part of the Beauly to Denny transmission network upgrade by S.P.E.N., a nice gesture would have been some pro bono sensitive restoration work on the ancient road (literally) beneath the pylons. Given the huge fuss at the time over new pylons it was a PR opportunity missed, I think.