Snowy start to new Scottish avalanche season
- Published

Lochnagar in the Southern Cairngorms on Saturday morning
The Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) kick off its latest forecasting season with a snowy start last Friday.
Every winter, its teams assess avalanche hazards in six areas.
They are Lochaber, Glen Coe, Creag Meagaidh, Southern Cairngorms, Northern Cairngorms and Torridon.

A scene in Lochaber, one of the six mountain areas SAIS assesses

Sunlight strikes Coire a Chriocharein in SAIS Creag Meagaidh's beat

Walkers in deep snow in the Northern Cairngorms

A wintry scene in the Southern Cairngorms
SAIS provides daily information via a website and a free app on the stability of snowpack on the mountains from December until mid-April.
The start of the latest season saw teams encounter deep snow.
Over the weekend, higher temperatures triggered a thaw, before freezing again, in most of the areas covered by the service.
Four avalanches have been recorded so far this season.
A total of 90 were recorded by last season, SAIS' lowest number of recorded avalanches in almost 10 years.

The main corrie of Lochnagar on Saturday

SAIS forecasters will provide daily updates on potential avalanche hazards until about mid-April

A snowy Glen Coe

The south Torridon mountains on Friday
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