Localised Unstable Deposits.
17th December 2025
It is starting to feel a little more wintery on the high tops at the moment. Further snowfall last night meant the hill was looking quite white this morning. The mild temperature and rain through the day then removed many of the shallower deposits, and so the hills did look a bit less white by late afternoon. However, the temperature is dropping again and there has not been much snow loss in the deeper locations.
Some of these fresh deposits were quite unstable this morning. At some point last night or early morning there had been a reasonably sized avalanche in Easy Gully on Aonach Mor. However, as you will see from the photos below there are other areas parts of the the top of the Coire which are holding very little snow.
The freezing level is expected to drop overnight. This will cause the existing snowpack to consolidate. However, snow showers overnight will start the process again. The precipitation combined with the varying freezing level will start building winter conditions on the higher crags. Hopefully will get some view tomorrow to get a better view of today avalanche(s), and see how white the crags are looking.
Walking up through the ski area this morning. Much of the shallow deposits in the foreground will be gone by now, but the deeper deposits at, for example, the back of the Goose Gully will not be significantly depleted by today’s milder conditions.
The top of Easy Gully. Hard to make out but the crown wall from a recent avalanche can just above be made out running from the rocks on the right diagonally up and left towards the cornice. It then runs along the cornice (it may well have been cornice triggered) to above the rocks on the far side of the gully. The darker snow on the far side of the gully is caused by the fresh white surface layers of the snowpack being removed as part of the avalanche reveling the old, hard grey snowpack underneath.
Easy Gully from the other side, the crown wall (again hard to see) runs up and left towards the cornice.
The area around the top of the twins in quite loaded with a cornice starting to build.
However, look the other way (and this photo was taken in rough the same place to the previous one) and there are areas where you could top out of Coire an Lochan hardly touching snow.
Coire Dudh, not a great deal of snow in the Coire.
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