Not much snow, some sheep.
2nd January 2017
I had a wander up to just below the Douglas Boulder on Ben Nevis today. It was quite a pleasant day with light winds and a freezing level of around 700 meters. As you will see in the pictures there is not a great deal of snow and ice on the Ben at the moment. There were also a number of sheep wandering around at an altitude of about 750 meters, never a great sign of great winter conditions!
Carn Dearg Buttress. A little old hard snow in the gullies and some streaks of water ice forming
Very little ice on the Orion Face/Point Five Gully side of the North Face.
A bit more snow at the back of Coire na Ciste. Looks like Number 3 and Number 4 gullies are complete.
At an altitude of about 800 metres I found the top 15cm or so of the snowpack to be frozen solid. Under this it was still quite soft and damp. A snow saw was an essential tool in getting through the surface layers.
Sheep at 800 meters. Not a good sign for winter conditions!Â
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Coleen
3rd January 2017 8:53 pm
An attractive pair of sheep.
Ginny
5th January 2017 8:48 pm
Love the photos especially the sheep.
Long walk they had for bit of rough grazing !
lochaberadmin
8th January 2017 1:58 pm
Glad you enjoyed the sheep pictures. I have seen them in that area a few times this winter, I suspect they will be “in-situ” until the weather turns a bit more wintry.