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firefly


Posts: 2149
Joined: May 2006
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 21.22hrs on Sat 2 May 15
Myself and moffatross went on a very fine circuit of Blackhope today in the Borders. Blackhope is a cracking, short(ish) glen which drains into the much more benign Moffat Dale. It has the air of a Highland glen, with steep glaciated slopes, drumlins and hanging valleys. At the head of the glen lies the high hill of Hart Fell (2,650 ft). Our route (shown in the attachment below) took in the hills to the east, which afforded a great view over to the summit of Hart Fell. From these summits we could see that there was a lot of snow below the summit cone, on an easterly aspect. However, because there was a fair bit of new snow around it was difficult to know exactly which was old and which was new. Closer inspection would be required!



After circumventing the summit and attaining the north side of the hill (to check for the wreath that was present in 2014. Alas, not there!) we back-tracked to the summit area and then into the unnamed corrie east of the summit (here). To our surprise, there was a very substantial amount of old snow, masked to some degree by the new stuff.

Hart Fell snow by iainjamescameron, on Flickr

Still a good 3-4 metres of depth here, and I think it'll last well into May, especially given the cool forecast for the coming week.

Another fascinating aspect of today's trip was coming across avalanche debris from a new and old slide, both in the same place.

New avalanche debris
Avalanche debris by iainjamescameron, on Flickr

Old avalanche debirs
Hart Fell avalanche by iainjamescameron, on Flickr

Having now visited Hart Fell and Broad Law, and seeing the aspects that snow appears to be deepest, it seems to me that most of the snow that fell in the Borders came from the west and north west. That being the case, I suspect that the hills which represent the best chance of June survival are Broad Law, Cramalt Craig, Dollar Law and Hart Fell (in that order).

More visits to the Borders are required! Volunteers apply within!

My pictures of today are here: [www.flickr.com]
moffatross's (much better) pictures are here: [www.flickr.com]



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.23hrs Sat 2 May 15 by firefly.

Attachments: Hart Fell route - 02.05.2015.JPG (155kB)  
runnermdj


Posts: 20
Joined: May 2013
Last Visited: 15:25
24th Jul 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 17.38hrs on Mon 4 May 15
I headed up the Ochils today to see what may be left of the snow patches (if anything!). Visited the most likely areas largely based on firefly's findings from 22nd/23rd April. Headed first to the Ben Buck Burn which often holds snow late but alas there was nothing there. So continued up and over to the north flank of Ben Cleuch. Was surprised to see some fresh snow remaining high up from yesterday's deluge, some of which may last a day or two.

Located the first old patch (patch 1) at around 580m. Was surprised how large it was, see pictures (bumbag for scale). May still last a while and well sheltered. Contoured south eastwards towards Andrew Gannel and came across two more substantial patches (patch 2 & 3) on Ben Cleuch's north flank. These last two patches can be seen clearly from Andrew Gannel.

I continued on to Kingseat and cut round to the north flank. I found three main patches remaining on the hill, traversing from west to east. The first (patch 1) was in a very steep gully and looked to be at least 1m deep and 20m or so long. The second patch (patch 2) was in a grass gully, much longer, but thinner and less deep. The third patch (patch 3) is on the open hillside and of the six significant patches found, I'd say this will be the first to go. The other 5 should last at least into the weekend and possibly beyond. Enjoyed visiting some locations off the beaten track!






Edited 1 times. Last edit at 17.44hrs Mon 4 May 15 by runnermdj.

Attachments: Ben_cleuch_patch1a_040515.jpg (336kB)   Ben_cleuch_patch1b_040515.jpg (364kB)  
runnermdj


Posts: 20
Joined: May 2013
Last Visited: 15:25
24th Jul 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 17.41hrs on Mon 4 May 15
runnermdj


Posts: 20
Joined: May 2013
Last Visited: 15:25
24th Jul 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 17.42hrs on Mon 4 May 15
h11lly


Posts: 2150
Joined: Dec 2002
Last Visited: 18:38
2nd Sep 2019
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 19.57hrs on Mon 4 May 15
Had a look at Ciste Mhearad today.


Comparing with last year, the two boulders above my ski poles did not make an appearance until 26th July !

Mind you the snow there last year was exceptional !

Helen

firefly


Posts: 2149
Joined: May 2006
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 09.52hrs on Tue 5 May 15
Excellent work, Mark. Saved me a trip!

The first patch on Ben Cleuch is the largest on that hill. It’s actually not changed a massive amount since I visited almost a couple of weeks ago. I suspect it’ll be good for another couple of weeks if the weather stays like this (i.e. rubbish).

I think the last to go in the Ochils will be the Kings Seat Hill ‘2’ patch, which is long and actually deeper than you reckon. Unfortunately I am away from Thursday until a week on Saturday, so cannot visit. If you or another hardy soul are up there next week then that’d be very useful!


firefly


Posts: 2149
Joined: May 2006
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 09.53hrs on Tue 5 May 15
Brilliant snap, Helen. Still a good depth there, but clearly nothing like last year. Amazing that it didn't survive last year, as it did in 2000. We may have to get the shovels out this year to heap it into a large pile! I'd love to see it survive.

runnermdj


Posts: 20
Joined: May 2013
Last Visited: 15:25
24th Jul 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 14.25hrs on Sat 9 May 15
Had another trip up the Ochils today, covering roughly the same route as Monday.

Ben Cleuch patch 1 was much diminished (see photo 1). Its depth is not great so wouldn't give it more than a couple of days perhaps. There was no sign of patch 2 traversing the hill, though it was rather exposed and relatively shallow on Monday. Took a picture of what I thought was patch 3 but on checking the route I took on the gps plot, it's a different patch lower down (photo - BC patch 4). And looking back from Andrew Gannel you could still see patch 3 so it might rival patch 1 for last patch on Ben Cleuch.

Onto Kingseat, I thought I'd missed a patch on Monday to the west (having rechecked fireflys photos) and managed to find it today (KS patch 4 photo). Not got much time left in it though, likely gone by tomorrow. Patch 1 from Monday I think is now certain to be the longest lasting patch in the Ochils. Possibly still 60 - 70cm deep and reasonable length in the steep gully. Would be surprised if it lasts until next weekend though. Patch 2 is now only two small patches with only a day or so left perhaps (see photo). Didn't check patch 3 as based on how it looked on Monday, and the melting of the other patches, virtually no chance of it still being there.

Photos (with friend Marco for scale!)...



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 14.27hrs Sat 9 May 15 by runnermdj.

Attachments: Ben_Cleuch_patch1_090515.jpg (295kB)   Ben_cleuch_patch4_090515.jpg (299kB)   Kingseat_patch4_090515.jpg (316kB)  
runnermdj


Posts: 20
Joined: May 2013
Last Visited: 15:25
24th Jul 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 14.27hrs on Sat 9 May 15
Mike_w


Posts: 1061
Joined: Jan 2004
Last Visited: 06:19
12th Aug 2019
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 17.01hrs on Sat 9 May 15
From the pentlands today there was still snow visible in the southern uplands. No camera and not entirely certain what hill it was. I'd have a guess it was Broad Law.

Mike in Edinburgh
Assorted scottish pics - www.prog99.com

Rmw


Posts: 3
Joined: May 2015
Last Visited: 08:13
21st Jun 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 18.25hrs on Sat 9 May 15
From the harbourside in Irvine tonight patches visible on Arran and one on Corserine on the Rhinns of Kells.

Robert Watson
Irvine,Ayrshire

AlanJ


Posts: 61
Joined: Jul 2009
Last Visited: 22:39
15th Aug 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 14.33hrs on Tue 12 May 15
There were still a couple of patches visible in the hollow north-west of the summit of Lowther Hill last Friday (8th) although one was tiny and probably only good for a day or two. There was a long wreath on the north-east facing side of Green Lowther well into April as well (visible from the road to the Dalveen Pass), so there may still be some there.

On the same day, there were also 4 patches on the Gairy of Cairnsmore (east side) of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (a Corbett), one of them a fair-sized remnant of a large cornice/wreath I visited in March. Also, one patch on the east side of Blackcraig Hill (700m.) in Glen Afton. I have a couple of (not particularly good) zoom lens photos of these.



Edited 2 times. Last edit at 14.35hrs Tue 12 May 15 by AlanJ.

pinhead27


Posts: 74
Joined: Feb 2010
Last Visited: 10:03
22nd Apr 2021
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 18.18hrs on Wed 13 May 15
I could only see two patches (NW plus small satellites and SE) on Kings Seat today. The photos were taken from Whitewisp Hill.

Attachments: KSpanw.jpg (155kB)   NW.jpg (195kB)   SE.jpg (154kB)  
runnermdj


Posts: 20
Joined: May 2013
Last Visited: 15:25
24th Jul 2015
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 19.45hrs on Wed 13 May 15
Kingseat NW patch definitely patch 1 in the photos above, though now broken up. Interesting there was more snow to the SE. Touch & go whether either will make the weekend. Hopefully will make it up there on Saturday for a look.

Peter Woolverton


Posts: 39
Joined: Nov 2004
Last Visited: 23:16
12th Mar 2018
Re: 2015 Scottish snow patch season
Date Posted: 11.11hrs on Thu 14 May 15
Still snow on Broad Law above Polmood Burn and on Polmood Craig, some as low as 700m, and visible, to the trained eye, from the A702 between Edinburgh and Nine Mile Burn.

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