STARTING THE SEARCH
Snow expert Iain Cameron provides key dos and don’t’s in perfecting the art of tracking down summer snow.
DO...
...get live information. Webcams can be a handy tool to check what’s happening. There’s one at Loch Morlich for the Cairngorms; one at Torlundy for Ben Nevis and the Aonachs; and the Ben More webcam for the Southern Highlands. England and Wales are less well served but there is a camera on Raise in the Lake District that points at the ski run (snowpatch) and tow run by the Lake District Ski Club.
...check online. Another useful tool is the Sentinel satellite feed sentinel.
esa.int. The satellite does regular imaging sweeps over the UK, providing images down to 10m resolution – sufficient to see what has survived and what has thawed.
...allow lots of time for your approach. Snowpatches tend to be well off the beaten track and the rough, steep ground you’ll more than likely encounter along the way will slow your pace.
...think about viewing points. Some snowpatches are in risky locations and are more safely observed from afar. Plan accordingly.
...suss out the area. Track down corries and depressions with cold and sheltered aspects.
...carry an ice axe. If for some reason you need to cross snowpatches an axe is essential for step cutting and fall arrest.
DON’T...
...get too close to snowpatches at the foot of crags or within gullies, they are usually overhung by unstable cornices and are also frequently swept by salvos of freeze/thawreleased stone fall.
...enter tunnels or bergschrunds (gaps between snow and side walls). These are a common feature of summer snowpatches and are enticing to enter, but I never venture into them unless I’ve done a risk assessment and am happy with their stability. The safest option is to view them from outside the entrance.
...disturb any flora. The micro-environment around snowpatches often supports rare plants and flowers.
FOLLOW IAIN
Iain Cameron’s Facebook page (‘Snow patches in Scotland’) and Twitter (@theiaincameron) are regularly updated with current status reports and images, giving you helpful data for locating surviving patches as the summer progresses.