Mild and Wet II

12th March 2016

More of the same today. Me and the snowpack had a common feature – wet through! Patchy snowpack, but large expanses of snow persisting at higher levels. Some summits and ridges bare of snow.

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Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich. Patchy snow. Rain on the lens, not snow!

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Tension release cracks in the wet snowpack. NE aspect at 600m, 40 degree incline on a convexity. There are small rocky outcrops beneath the snow, creating a localised steepening.

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Ptarmigan changing plumage due to the increasing daylight hours. The male is changing faster. The female is practising her snowcraft skills – ‘heeling down’.

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Snowpit. The thin darker lines in the white ‘newer’ snow are icy crusts. Older snow below the darkest crust layer. The icy crusts present a barrier which slows water percolating down through the snowpack. This can create a saturated weaker layer directly above the crust.

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The south aspects of the Beinn Dearg hills.

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