Nav Assessment As The Snow Falls

Buachaille Etive Mor - what a difference a day makes - see the first photo from yesterdays blog, then there was no snow on the mountain.

The snow level is down to about 700m, so we decided to go to some lower hills with the Uni First Years for their navigation assessment today. We drove past Buachaille Etive Mor, and I couldn't resist taking the photo above to compare to yesterdays shot, when there was no snow. Today the winds didn't turn out to be as strong as the forecast suggested, but there were plenty of wintry showers - hail, snow and plenty of rain. A good day to test your waterproofs.

The Buachaille from the King's House

Glencoe Mountain Resort on the Left Hand Side, Sron na Creise on the RHS

I was with Andrew, Andy, Sean, Lynsey and Micheal today. Sean has mostly recovered from his torn ACL in his knee (previously he climbed Stob Coire Nan Lochan, before he had it diagnosed as being torn!), and Lynsey has partly recovered from her cracked ribs. After a few easier legs, we got off the paths and headed for the hills and started to test their nav a little more.

Navigation in a little winter weather

Lynsey, Sean and Micheal. Snow at 650m on Meall Bhalach, with Blackwater Reservoir behind.

Sean

Sean still on his nav leg. The Buachaille in the background on the left

Lynsey. The Buachaille on the RHS

Unfortunately the visibility remained good for the entire assesssment, but the team has shown good navigation today and on previous days of the module - it was an easy pass for the whole team.

The ground is saturated, soft and never close to being frozen (we only got to 700m today). There was evidence on the hills of how bad the ground had flooded recently, but the water levels had returned to normal now. The snow line will move up tomorrow towards 900m with a higher freezing level, but then at the end of the weekend onto the new week, the freezing level drops again, helping to freeze the turf on the higher hills.