It was a mixture of sunshine and heavy snow showers today. The showers became more continuous in the later part of the day.

Note the fractured Cornice

Machines trying hard to dig our buried ski lifts, the strong wind did not help filling in their work

heavy snow and fresh SW winds on a skier!

Eastern end of Glencoe today during a clearer spell

Buachaille Etive Mor Stob Dearg East face

Buachaille Etive Mor Stob Dearg North Face

Meall a Bhuiridh (left) and Sron na Creise (right) showing high volumes of snow still present on higher slopes.

Stob Coire nan Lochan

Variable visability  with a few guided groups working in the Coire.

A breif respite this morning, but high winds and more snow coming!

Larger cornices are still an issue!

Coire na Tulaich today

Stob Coire nan Lochan

When I was on Stob Coire nan Lochan it was misty but as I walked back across the basin of 

Coire nan Lochan there were a couple of brief views to the crags, with debris from several avalanches visible. These probably released overnight (22-23 Feb) during heavy rain.

A wet night and morning.

Lots of water flowing out of Coire nan Lochan.

Stob Coire Altruim (Buachaille Etive Mor). 

Dirty debris can be seen from 2 avalanches; one low down directly below the summit buttress and the other running diagonally down to the glen. Both probably released overnight during heavy rain at all levels.  

Ski Tourers

The lifts in the Glen Coe ski area did not run today due to the strong winds. However, there were plenty of ski tourers out taking advantage of the superb cover found above about 650 metres.  A slight drop in temperature had frozen the surface of the snowpack above about 900 metres. Below that level conditions were quite good if a bit wet and sticky in some places. All change tomorrow though with another spell of heavy rain to summit level.   

Coire na Tulaich Avalanche

The pictures below are of a large avalanche that occurred in Coire na Tulaich on Buachaille Etive Mor. It probably released during the early hours of Thursday morning when the freezing level rose above the summit and heavy rain fell.  It would have released from the top of the Coire at an altitude of 880 metres, and ran down to about 450 metres. The gorge at the bottom of the Coire is completely full of debris, probably up to 15 metres (if not more) deep in places. It will be a while before that lot melts. 

A blustery day in the Coe!

Lots of water waiting for a good freeze!

 Our flag in shreds!

 After skiining up in strong winds, the reward was a rainbow!

Variable visibility in Glen Coe.

Gearr Aonach, Coire nan Lochan and Aonach Dubh as I drove up the glen this morning.

Coire nan Lochan,

Cornice issues in Coire nan Lochan

Large cornices above Coire nan Lochan cliffs

Crownwall and debris from slab avalanche in Coire nan Lochan. Probably triggered by falling cornice debris. Estimated time - overnight Sun. 16th February.

Grey day in Glencoe

Buachaille Etive Mor - poor visability today

The Three Sisters lurk in the gloom

Blue skies in Glencoe

West Face of Aonach Dubh

Buachaille Etive Mor - still plenty of snow

Lots of snow in Glen Coe.

Amazing amounts of snow at higher levels in Glen Coe at the moment. The ski area are having some problems with tows and huts getting buried as the photos hopefully show. With the unusual conditions,  we are starting to see avalanche activity in unusual locations. Today I saw debris from a recent size 3 avalanche on Buachaille Etive Mor, and a size 2 on Buachaille Etive Beag. Both occurred in locations that I have not observed avalanches on before. 

 Buachaille Etive Mor this morning. Visibility was soon lost. 

Staff at the ski area digging out the bull wheel at the top of the Wall T-bar. 

 The ski patrol hut looking pretty snowy on the 25th of January (when there was already a lot of snow about)

The same view today. The hut does still exist under the snow, I did go and check. Access is via the hole in the snow by the blue pole. 

Windy day.

 Buachaille Etive Mor this morning. 

 Conditions at 680 metres were pretty wild in snow showers. 

 A bit of sunshine on a snowy Rannoch Moor. 

The cloud trying to clear from Buachaille Etive Beag early afternoon.

A day of two halfs

It was quite a nice morning, but with a sort of grey watery sky. It felt like there was some weather incoming, and about midday it suddenly hit with strong winds and heavy snowfall.  We observed a couple of avalanches what probably occurred last night. I suspect there would have been a few more during the afternoon, but by that time visibility was lost. 

 Buachaille Etive Mor looking pretty snowy this morning. 

 Heading up Buachaille Etive Beag. We decided that skis would easiest way to travel. It is quite unusual for Glen Coe to be able to ski to/from the carpark. 

 Heading back down. Conditions changed very suddenly. About half an hour before this picture was taken I had been relaxing on the summit eating my sandwiches in light winds. 

Back down at the A82 conditions were pretty wild. A fair bit of digging was required to get the car back onto the road, and then a jackknifed lorry round the corner provided an interesting obstacle.  

A few bright spells but mainly cloud and snow.

As I drove up the glen this morning there was a strange sight for me this winter - blue sky!!  

It didn't last!!

West Face of Aonach Dubh.

Aonach Eagach.

Stob Dearg, Buachaille Etive Mor. 

Avalanche debris can be seen below the base of Great Gully. 

Avalanche debris from Great Gully across the approach path (photo courtesy of Konrad Doyle). 

This released during Sunday - Monday night (09-10 Feb) or early Monday morning.

Ski Glencoe!

Fantastic snow cover and some good skiing to be had with the best ever hospitality! Piste basher drivers working hard to clear snow to open more tows!

Snow plastered against the ski lift pylons gives one an indiction of the earlier wind direction. It was a fine morning but mist came in a bit and winds increased later.