cremrow Wrote:
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> small patch visible on Aonach Mor from above Roy
> Bridge on 12th Oct

Really? This is good news. When you say small, do you mean tiny, or small?! Sorry for the daft question, but potentially important. Also, did it sit tight against the cliffs, clearly visible from Roy Bridge?

Are you able to get a photograph?





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 11.58hrs Mon 13 Oct 08 by firefly.

It was a hazy day on Sunday. If it was a snow patch and not sun glinting off rocks It was situated south of what looked like the highest point and was not far below the plateau. I dont know if this is a regular site of long lying snow. As this was visible from the vicinity of Roy Bridge it would have been a fair size ? 50 meters across. I suppose we need someone else to see this and more accurately work out it's position or take a photograph

Cannot see this being old snow given the last photographed remains and the mild and wet weather of late.

The Eastern ranges caught most of the fresh snow that fell recently.

I'll head up the Ben in the nx wk or so for some measurements.

Yes, on 2nd thoughts this may have been the remains of the recent snowfall

Good to hear GCM patches surviving and topped up - all 4 patches or not?
Also rooting for GUB!
Do you know what day D&J were out?

I believe all 4 patches of GCM were topped up, but I'm waiting to hear for sure. D&J were out on Saturday.

Photographs kindly provided by K. Miller of his recent trip to Garbh Choire Mhor (8th October 2008).

Looks like 3 patches remaining (though the 4th smaller one may have been buried), and the old snow easy to make out amid the "new". This one's the Sphinx patch (Scotland's most prolific patch):



A few more can be found here: [www.flickr.com]



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 17.36hrs Thu 16 Oct 08 by firefly.

Not much left in GUB now only a couple of very small Patches now

Attachments: DSC00823 (Large).JPG (125kB)   DSC00825 (Large).JPG (193kB)  

This is the same patch again with the photo taken 6 weeks ago



Attachments: DSC00789 (Large).JPG (158kB)  

RJ,

Thanks very much: most useful. When were these pictures taken?

Hi Firefly

They were taken today

Quite a reduction since my last visit I was expecting them to be bigger, don't think they'll last much longer.

I'll try and get up again next week

Here's another couple of pics from the start of Sept and today



Attachments: DSC00782 (Large).JPG (128kB)   DSC00824 (Large).JPG (164kB)  

Thanks again.

Can you give a rough idea of the sizes of the patches (in metres)?

Took a trip up Aonach Mor and Aonach Beag yesterday to have a look at what was left. Reports had come through that Aonach Mor had gone (that is, not visible from below). Also, it had been a few weeks since anyone had reported on Aonach Beag.

Firstly, Aonach Mor has almost gone! Still a tiny patch remaining at Pro Talus (see here: [www.flickr.com] click on the "All Sizes" tag at the top of the photograph to get a larger version, by-the-way). The tiny patch of new snow in this photograph is visible to the right of the old snow.

I estimate the size of this tiny patch to be around 2m long, so there's very little chance it will survive, unless we get a dump in the next couple of days. This patch sits in the Pro Talus hollow, so is invisible from below. Very glad that I ventured up there, as it gives a more accurate melt date.

No sign at all of the two patches from last year: [www.flickr.com]

Aonach Beag, however, is a certainty to survive. Given all the melting that happened in July and August I was fearful for its survival. No fear now! The patch seems to have shrunk little in the last month. Comparing it to snowpatch95's picture from 22nd September [forum.winterhighland.info], it has lost little of its length and width: [www.flickr.com]

Depth in the middle somwhere around the 3m mark, with a nice 2m+ bergschrund at the side: [www.flickr.com]

A few more photos on my Flickr account can be viewed here: [www.flickr.com]

A very interesting thing happened when I was photographing the patch on Aonach Beag, and may go a way to explaining why this spot gathers so much snow. Just as I was taking the last snap, it started snowing quite heavily. It seemed to be getting whipped down from above the cliff-face. This was unusual as the temperature was too high at this patch for snow (around 6 celcius). It was as if the snow was being forced down from above so quickly that it didn't have time to melt. Perhaps this happens to a much greater extent in winter, explaining the volumes of snow that accumulate there?




Edited 2 times. Last edit at 07.03hrs Sun 19 Oct 08 by firefly.

Thanks for all your reports on the snow patches. After such a wet summer, it's staggering that anything has survived at all. The last snow patches in the hills around Moffat melted away in June !

As for the snow you saw yesterday, I think it was warm air being whipped up from below made the temperature where you were 6 degrees. Mile high (850 hPa) temperatures yesterday were about freezing so snow was likely and on a still day would likely have settled.

Good effort again Firefly - nice photos. A.Beag a truly impressive survival! Judging by the cloud levels in your photos, I assume you didn't get a glimpse of the Ob.gully patch?