Bare Bones
9th February 2024
Following yesterdays ‘Winter Wonderland’ in the Northern Fannaichs, I was quite surprised how little snow the Glen Torridon ‘Giants’ were holding. The storm force Easterly winds sure had taken their toll and stripped the mountains almost bare. The new snow from 36 hours ago wasn’t extensive but it had provided a wintery feel to the hills. Much of this has literally just ‘disappeared’ through a process called ‘sublimation’ (transition of a substance directly from the solid to a gas state, without passing through a liquid state). Or as forecasters sometimes refer to as ‘blasted into oblivion’. What was left was a desolate feeling of ‘bare bones’.
Looking up towards the Eastern end of Beinn Eighe.
Dribbles of ice at an altitude of around 800m on the South side of Liathach.
Looking up into the South facing corrie below Spidean a Choire Leith on Liathach. Photo taken around 400m, illustrating just how little snow is present on the higher ground.
Looking across Glen Torridon from Liathach across to Beinn Damph in the background.
Looking up to the Western end of Liathach (Mullach an Rathain) from near Torridon Village. This is a West/South-West facing aspect and highlights how little of the new wind transported snow survived on its ‘journey’ in the Storm Force Easterlies.
A similar picture in the Northern Fannaichs. A wind blasted winter landscape on Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich. There was the occasional snow flurry confined to the summits in the NE of the Torridon forecast area, presenting blizzard conditions at times in the storm force Easterly winds.
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