Lochaber Blog & Mountain Info

There was a very slight dusting of snow looking up at the Orion face.

The view into Coire an Ciste. Notice the sheep grazing on the left, never a good sign for winter conditions. The lack of snow and ice is also not a great sign. 

Looking back to Carn Dearg buttress with Coire na Ciste on the left.

Looking up Observatory Gully.

A couple of figures head across the Zero Gully snowpacth, their plan was to climb Observatory Ridge. In the top right of the shot is the Point Five gully snowpatch. In years gone by this patch would regularly survive the summer to be incorporated into the following year’s snow pack. However, I don’t think this has happened since about 2015. 

In summer the stream that runs down Point Five Gully melts the snow from below. This allows the air to get in and blow through the tunnel which melts and enlarges it.  Although the inside of the snow tunnels tends to be loose and dank,  you get lovely light filtering through the roof.

If it has been a big snow winter, then these tunnels can get very large, note the person in the centre of the shot for scale. However, I doubt there will be anything similar to the image above happening this year due to the overall lack of snow. 

Finally the tunnels sometimes become an arch. This shot was taken in late October 2015 when the temperature was below freezing, and there had been a dusting of fresh snow. Although it turned mild a day or two late, much of this arch did survived and was buried by fresh snowfall in November and December of that year.