Challenging Conditions…
26th December 2020
Covid -19
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It was a day to get the clothing & equipment sorted early on and to adopt the ‘wide & low’ method of making progress, trying to stay well planted at all times – The wind speed was serious with the gusts pure evil – Not a day to be operating on the plateaus. Heading into The Stuic gave some protection from the wind but goggles and ‘all skin covered’ was still obligatory. A thaw overnight saw all the superficial snow cover disappear with surface layers just starting to refreeze above 900 metres this afternoon. Precipitation falling as snow above 850 metres became heavier from mid-afternoon and drifting was occurring at the tops of gullies and around corrie rims. The winds are forecast to decrease overnight and it should be dry from mid-morning onwards.
Not a great day for photography so just a couple of poor shots today.
A thaw overnight stripped out the superficial snow cover. Lochan na Feadaige, The Stuic.
Buttresses and gullies at The Stuic. Snowline is effectively 900 to 950m now.
Uniform for the day included goggles and face covering: Icy shards in savage winds were a bit painful…
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Colin
26th December 2020 7:01 pm
Impressed that you got out to get any kind of forecast/pictures. Hope you’ve now thawed and dried out. Keep up the superb work.
roger
26th December 2020 10:08 pm
Thanks for being out there for us! Hopefully conditions will improve – surely can’t get much worse? – for your sakes and to give some hope for the winter.