Sunshine on Ben Nevis
12th February 2026
For the first time in what feels like a long time, the summits were clear and there was even some nice spells of sunshine. I had a wander up the Ben to see how it was looking there. Found a few wee patches of windslab, but not a great deal. More slab could be seen on the other side of the Allt a’ Mhullin on the slopes of Carn Mor Dearg. Looked to be enough to keep the hazard at moderate, but it does feel to be at the bottom end of the moderate hazard band. Little change expected tomorrow.
The other side of Ben Nevis. A view of the South side of Ben Nevis from my colleague in Glen Coe.
Carn Dearg Buttress. Perhaps a little less ice than before the milder conditions last Sunday and Monday, but not too much difference.
Approaching the CIC hut.
The East side of Tower Ridge. The thin gully in the middle of the shot is Vanishing Gully. Tucked out of sight up and right is Italian Route. Both routes looked to have teams on them today.
The West face of Carn Mor Dearg. The CIC hut is visible in the bottom left of the photo. The large bay near the top of the slope above the hut looked to be holding a fair bit of slab. You can just above make out the lighter shades of the windslab and the slightly greyer shades of the old hard snow-ice.
Coire na Ciste. A lone pair of climbers can be seen directly below Number 3 Gully. The Coire was surprisingly quiet with just two pairs visible in the Coire, having just spoken to my colleague from Creag Meagaidh it sounds like everyone went there today.
Looking up towards the Trident Buttresses.
Percentage of days that the wind has been from various directions this season as measured by the Aonach Mor summit met station. According to this the most common wind direction has been from the South. Surprisingly it has been from the South-West almost double the number of days it has been from the South-East. However, I suspect that this is partly due to the location of the tower – it is actually about half way down the summit run and is slightly sheltered from East, and thus under-reads the Easterly component of the wind. However, there are few places in the mountains that the wind will not be affected by the local topography to some extent.
The percentage of wind directions for the season 2007/08 to 2024/25. As you would expect the most common wind direction is from the South-West with the two other most common wind directions being the South and the West. Not surprising then that the overall the most hazardous aspects tend to be North to East.
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