Scottish Porridge

We went skiing today at Mt Charles. A widespread avalanche cycle had moved through the area in the last 24 hours. One very large avalanche had started in the alpine and ran all the way below tree line, snapping trees on its way. This, combined with difficult travel in the deep wet snow, made us really consider our exposure to overhead hazard and ultimately changed our objectives. With smaller avalanches running on many steep or convex slopes we stuck to low angle terrain for our tour. We got soaked in the heavy sleet and blowing winds. Up high these winds were moving a lot of snow and its likely fresh windslabs have developed in the alpine. These conditions will continue to keep the hazard high or the next few days. On our way back we also noted it was raining below 1100m. While it was interesting to see the cycle play out, today was definitely a day for stepping back.