This weekend I'm working for Glenmore Lodge. With a terrible forecast of gale force winds from the south and a freezing level way above the summits this was always going to be a challenging Winter Skills course for the MCoS. However things improved far more than forecasted and we were able to get up into Coire na Ciste to look at winter navigation, avalanche avoidance and emergency shelters.The snow pack was well saturated with the warm temperatures and there was a high possibility of wet snow avalanches. There were reports of a reasonable slide in the gully of the Alt Creag an Leth-Choin just above the tree line at 550m which also contained some layers of windslab. At around 500m we found a heavy but stable snowpack with a definite icy layer well buried which didn't cause us any concern. Further up the coire things looked a lot more unstable and despite the wet snowpack there was plenty of snow still being moved around by the wind further loading the slopes with a west through north aspect.
Despite the huge amount of snow that has fallen in the past month there is a surprising amount of heather showing through the wind scoured slopes and on the ridges. The snow pack is starting to consolidate and freezing conditions will produce a very stable snow pack.
