The Pest from the West
10th March 2026
Interesting that some weather events get named, the beast from the East in 2018, or storm Bram back in December. Today, I don’t think will get an official name, but if it did, my suggestion would be the Pest from the West. As the name suggests the weather today was not terrible, nor could it be described as good, it was just a bit mild and damp.
Overnight it was a bit colder with the summit temperatures breezily dropping to -3C. This froze the existing snowpack. During the day the freezing level rose above the summits, with some drizzle. The firm snowpack was slowly softening.However, the medium term outlook is for periods of much colder conditions. The presence of snow with thaw freeze cycles is what builds good climbing and mountaineering conditions. So perhaps every pest does have a silver lining!
Looking up the ski area at about 800 metres. Not looking too wintry. However, there is more snow cover in the higher coires than you might think based on this view.
An layer of icy rime on the pillars supporting the summit hut that had formed early this morning. You often get clear icy rime when the atmosphere is very humid and the temperature just below freezing. The fact the temperature is just below freezing means that the water remains liquid long enough for trapped air to escape, leaving pure water to freeze into a layer of translucent ice. In colder conditions the supercooled water droplets freeze rapidly entraining a lot of air which produces a softer and more opaque/whiter type of rime ice.
It feels a lot more wintry at 1200 metres. The top of Coire an Lochan
Some substantial cornices remain, but with signs of cracking, slumping and general instability in the mild conditions
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