An early season spell of very enjoyable and fairly extensive high level touring conditions on the Plateau rather got curtailed by 100mph plus South Easterlies last Thursday.

While the Plateau area was heavily stripped of snow and milder conditions followed for a few days, the snow wasn't so much obliterated as relocated and a lot of it went into Coire na Ciste.

As can be seen from the photo there is a complete line to around the level of the former boardwalk, just one area of burn here still not quite filled in. But with No 2 Gully having good coverage and fairly wide snow cover further up on the East Wall, this is a very promising early season base to have in Coire na Ciste before mid December.

Similarly in Coire Cas the severe winds blasted snow into the Cas Gunbarrel burn and much of the White Lady burn course too. This is now rock hard after thaw / freeze cycles, but the forecast for the weekend is pretty awful, with high winds and mild temperatures.

So the big question is how much damage does the weekend do. Unlike much of the autumn, the heaviest precipitation this time will be in the West and NW Highlands.

If most of these burn courses remain covered when temperatures drop back next week then the difficult work has been done and snow can and will accumulate nicely in the natural snowfields.