Not the End of the Season in Lochaber!
5th April 2026
It was a very wintry day on the hills of Lochaber today, as wintry as any day this season with low temperatures, strong winds and lots of fresh snow which would make things very hard going on foot. A contrast to conditions at this time last year. I had hoped to retake some of the shots from the blog post of the 5th of April last year to highlight the contrast, but the poor visibility meant that this didn’t happen. I tried to have a look, but there was no visibility into Coire an Lochan either. I suspect there would be significant cornices and avalanche debris. Looks like it’ll be a bit more settled tomorrow then turning milder on Tuesday.
Originally the 5th of April had been pencilled in as the last day of the forecasting season. You can seen from the shots from the 5th of April last year how summery it can be at this time of year. However, that is very much not the case this year. Given the wintry conditions and the amount of snow on the ground at higher levels here in Lochaber we will keep forecasting for another week, and possibly beyond that depending on what the weather does.
Looking out West over Loch Eil. This was about as good as the view got. Most of the hills you can see which were almost snowless a few days ago, are looking very white now.
Two local ptarmigan on the home run. Over the past few weeks I have seen this pair (assuming it is the same pair) a number of times around these fences. Yesterday, there was grass poking through the snow most of the area between the fences. Today, not a blade of grass visible between the fences. Again gives an indicator of how much snow has fallen since yesterday morning.
The so called Cuckoo shed at the top of the summit lift. When I arrived there was a fair bit of drifting snow, but it was still possible to see the hills in the distance. This was about as good as visibility got while I was on top.
A similar view to the previous photo during the snow shower. Lots of drifting snow now! This (or worse) was what it was like most of the time I was up there.
The hut by the base of the summit tow looking rather frosted and wintery.
For comparison purposes. A couple of photos taken from the blog post for the 5th of April 2025. Fair to say conditions were a little different at this time last year.
Another shot from the 5th of April 2025. What a contrast to today! Hopefully at some point over the next few weeks we will get some nice settled spring days, but with the good snow cover we have at the moment.
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