Sunny Carn Mor Dearg.
14th February 2026
It was another lovely calm and sunny morning in Lochaber. Good to see plenty of people out on the hills enjoying the conditions. The snowpack is not changing a great deal in the cold settled conditions. Much of it remains firm, although some patches of slab remain. The distribution of this slab is quite variable, there looks to be more of it on the West face of Aonach Mor than there does on Carn Mor Dearg where I was today. The one difference I did see today was some areas of surface hoar. Although small and not particularly widespread, there is some of it around which, if it survives, could form a bit of weak layer when it gets covered by fresh snowfall.
During the afternoon the ski clouded over and the wind started to increase, the first signs of the weather front that is expected to reach the area later this evening. Although the freezing level is going up a bit, temperature will remain subzero on the summits. A fair bit of precipitation is expected. Although staying wintry, I suspect it will be quite a different wintry feeling than it was today.
Heading up Carn Mor Dearg. Lots of people out on the hill enjoying the lovely weather today. Winds were light this morning as indicated by the fog over Loch Eil in the background. During the afternoon the wind started to blow and the sky went hazy then cloudy, the first sign of some weather coming in.
Ben Nevis with a slight cloud cap over Carn Mor Dearg this morning.
Surface hoar. Although not extensive, I did find some surface hoar on the hill today. This could potentially form a weak layer if it gets buried by future snowfall. However, it might well be destroyed by wind which is expected to increase significantly this evening before it gets buried.
Ben Nevis from the summit of Carn Dearg Meadhonach.
The West face of Aonach Mor.
The view along the ridge to the summit of Carn Mor Dearg.
The view down the bowl between Carn Dearg Meadhonach and Carn Mor Dearg. Looks reasonably well filled in at the moment, but with various lumps of cornice and old avalanche debris.
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