A pleasant winter day
26th January 2025
Some good visibility, blue skies, winds becoming light and plenty of snow gave a pleasant day in the Torridon area. I used the good weather to get to the summit of Creag Dhubh at the Eastern end of Beinn Eighe which is a good location to look at snow on lots of different aspects.
Observant readers of the avalanche forecast may have noticed that the forecast issued yesterday was for Considerable hazard but the observed hazard today was only Moderate. The reason for this is that while the depth and distribution of the snow were pretty much as expected, the snowpack stability was better than expected. Some consolidation had occurred in the existing snow since yesterday and last nights fresh snow was reasonably well bonded to the older snow.
Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe and Creag Dhubh. Early in the day was the sunniest but also the windiest part of the day. If you look closely you can see snow being blown from the ridge to the right of the picture.
A fairly white Creag Dhubh. Note the surprisingly scoured area to the right of the summit. There’s a close up of it in the next picture.
A close up shot of the unexpectedly scoured North-East aspect near Creag Dhubh summit. Although this area would have been sheltered from the direct wind during the recent storm I suspect that an eddy formed in this area and stripped any loose snow.
Plenty of snow on a North-East aspect here.
Plenty of snow on this South-East aspect on Beinn Eighe.
Beinn Eighe has many tops. The 2 that are classed as Munros are in this photo. Spidean Coire nan Clach (left) and Ruadh-stac Mor (right).
Ruadh-stac Beag (left) and Meall a’Ghuibhais (right) with Loch Maree visible behind.
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