I did a tour of the snowpatches on Ben Macdui yesterday and the extent of the snowpatches is very impressive, many of the patches are larger than I have seen them even in August and there are a couple of patches I haven't seen before. Some of these patches are also only visible at fairly close range and can't be seen from the summit of Cairn Gorm. I've put the full set of photos on the Snow patches in Scotland Facebook group.
I also got a good view of the snowpatches in Garbh Choire Mòr, again they are more extensive than I have ever seen in August, and there are a couple of other patches in Coire an Lochain Uaine and Coire Bhrochain. Photo of Garbh Choire Mòr taken yesterday from the summit of Ben Macdui below.
I think it's a good bet that most of these snowpatches will survive till lasting snow this year.
I also got a distant view of the snowpatch in Coire nan Gall near Creag Meagaidh, it's still holding on!
I wonder if this year will beat 1994 in terms of survivals? it must be a contender. The extent of the snowpatches in Garbh Choire Mòr is very similar to the photo that was taken on 5 October 1993 that appears in a Weather article by John Pottie from 1995 (see photo at [
www.edwardboyle.com]) and the photo taken by Andrew Nisbet on 1 October 1984 that appears in the book Scotland's Winter Mountains by Martin Moran (see photo at [
www.edwardboyle.com]). When I saw these photos I thought I would never see such an extent so late in the year and that this was something that belonged to history - I was wrong, and I saw it yesterday!
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