Bluebird
17th February 2026
Today has been a bluebird day with sunshine from the start of the day with mainly light North-Easterly winds. Very cold with light snowfall over night down to around 150 metres, fresh accumulations at all elevations on the mountains mostly in wind sheltered locations. The existing snowpack that has any depth is firm and stable, at lower elevations with little base a thin crust was breaking through under foot making going hard work. Whilst it felt fairly warm moving up and down the hill with the sunshine, the summit temperature in the shade was -4.5 Celsius, in the sun -0.4 Celsius.
Above 800 metres accumulations of unstable windslab are present mostly on North-East to South-East aspects with less extensive instabilities on North and South aspects also. Overnight a change in wind direction will begin a redistribution of windslab, though with the strongest winds not until dawn and during the day existing instabilities will remain on Easterly aspects initially and new instabilities forming on Westerly aspects through the day.
Early light over Beinn Eighe constrasting a gloomy back drop out to the west.
The North-Easterly corie rim of Fionn Bheinn.
Not something commonly seen, here blocks of the corniced edge have been blown back onto the coire rim by upward back drafts.
Looking into the coire there is obvious debris from mainly cornice collapse and snow coming off rocky ground, no obvious avalanche fracture lines.
Summit views from Fionn Bheinn over towards Torridon.
And North across to the Fannichs.
Around the middle of the day, looking into Coire an Laoigh, Beinn Eighe.
Spidean a Choire Leith, Liathach.
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