Coire Ardair

Will there be any snow there? M’s response to this, my most recent suggestion of a different walk to do on a Sunday morning.
“Ah, there’s a point, yes there might be some right enough. It’s quite high”
“Is there any steep bits to climb then?”
“Not that I can remember, pretty gentle all the way”
I put further subjective magnitude to it by explaining it was slightly further than Lochan na h-Earba.
We set off for the heart of Coire Ardair and the wee lochan stuck right in at the base if the icy cliffs of Creag Meagaidh. This is all SNH terrain and the approach is on a very civilised and well-engineered path. My recollection was slightly in error. There is a sharp but easy ascent at the start then it is pretty gentle there after. Further on we encountered some hefty banks of snow and by the time we reached the loch the coverage was almost blanket in nature. There was snow and sleet being driven in strong gusts and it was difficult to turn the camera, even briefly towards this without the lens being sprayed with droplets. The deliberate and more protracted arrangement of tripod mounting the device for a shot would have exacerbated the snow problem. So, despite carrying the weighty contraption all the way up here in the rucksack that is precisely where it remained. I haven’t chosen the shot yet but I explain this in advance should there be the tell-tale signs of water on the lens.
We met one walker on his way down as we ascended but after that we had the place to ourselves. This is a wild unforgiving corrie and the traverses of deep snow were quite tiring. On several locations the snow filled flush side streams feeding the main river and we both had occurrences of feet going down much further than expected.
Caley thought it was great and seemed to relish charging about in the snow with his ball. He is not a stranger to the area and came down this way, with Bruce too, after climbing his first two Munros.

Lost in the mist today there is a famous notch in the sky line above the lochan called "The Window". It separates neighbouring Munros , Creag Meagaidh and Stob Poite Coire Ardair and is supposed to be one of the many routes taken by a fugitive Bonny Prince Charlie after Culloden.

On the way back we had a wee laugh about doing a customer feed back survey on today’s choice of walk.
On a scale to 1 to 10 where 1 is not at all and 10 is most certainly, how likely are you to recommend this walk to a friend? I think it passed.

By the way Creag Meagaidh: "Craig Meggy"
Coire Ardair: "Corrie a dare"