Today, I was out with Nick, Andy and Allan, who I've been out with a number of times over the years. We decided that Western Rib on the west face of Aonach Mor would give us a good mountaineering day out. It also gave us a good deal of trail breaking to get round there! Fortunately, the snow was quite firm for the final 100m of ascent up to the base of the route.

The route is quite snowy at the moment and in good condition. There was very little bare rock visible for much of the route and some sharp crests of snow on some of the upper sections, all adding to the atmosphere.

The day started off quite clear, with great views across to Carn Mor Dearg and into Glen Nevis. By the time we topped out, the winds had picked up and the clouds had descended, so we didn't hang around on the summit. We were all pretty pleased to descend into the ski area to find plenty of skiers about and more importantly, the gondola still running!

Today started off very clear and crisp, with great views right up to the summits. There was a hint of red in the sky, adding to the ambience, but you know what they say… 'red sky in the morning, winter climbers' warning'.

Peter and I planned to be on our way out by the time the freezing level rose and the rains arrived, so we decided to go for the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder. Plenty of other teams attacking various other routes on the Douglas Boulder, but only Mat and Esther ahead of us on the SW Ridge.

The snow is starting to take axes in places and this current thaw-freeze cycle will help.

The great thing about the SW Ridge is that it involves a bit of everything, including an abseil descent down into the Douglas Gap, from where we walked down the East Gully, which is full of snow.

As expected, the winds picked up on our descent and the rain started. These mini-thaws are hugely helpful in consolidating the snow and forming the ice on Ben Nevis.

Not many other teams about, but The Curtain was climbed and looked to be in good nick.

With such a good forecast, I was expecting the north face of Ben Nevis to be a bit busier than it was and didn't expect to be breaking trail up Tower Ridge.

I was out with Ant today, who had Tower Ridge on his bucket list. For fear of too much up-hill swimming up the snow-filled East Gully of the Douglas Boulder, we traversed in from slightly further up Observatory Gully.

The snow on the route was largely unhelpful, although there was a bit of useful ice and consolidated snow here and there. The Little Tower is getting quite buried, but the Leaning Block Chimney is still a chimney, just.

Ant did well to keep going, particularly from beyond the gap, where the snow was much harder packed, making the final stretch hard work. The exit gully, by comparison, was good, firm snow-ice and a joy to climb! We popped over to the summit, and now Ant can tick Ben Nevis via Tower Ridge off his bucket list.

It was a brilliant day to be out, with some excellent vistas from the summit. Teams on Castle Ridge, Ledge Route, around Pigotts (Anubis?!), Tower Face of the Comb and a team retreating from a very snowy Comb Gully.

The ice is proving to be reluctant to form this season… There are substantial streaks around Compression Crack, Boomer's Requiem, Gemini/Waterfall Gully, the Curtain (complete but possibly a bit thin) and licks on the lower pitches of Diana/Tramp. The lower pitches of Point Five look good, but I suspect the upper pitches will be full of unconsolidated snow. No ice worthy of note on Indicator Wall, Observatory Buttress, Hadrians, Orion or Minus Faces and only a little on Smiths. We should see some useful thaw/freeze cycles over the next week. Fingers crossed!

After a brilliant day working on rope management, belays and abseils on the Zig-Zags in Glencoe yesterday, Oliver M, Ollie, Simon and myself went to Stob Ban in Glen Nevis, where we climbed the East Ridge of the North Buttress. for Ollie and Simon, this bumped up the technical challenge a notch and gave them their first taste of using two technical axes. Ollie M also had the pair belaying one another both from above and below, allowing them the opportunity to get a feeling for what alternate leading as a pair would feel like.

Ahead of us were Hannah and Rob, who made the most of the tracks we put in on the approach, before jumping ahead on the route, but not without thanking us first for our efforts!

We have a space on our 5 Day Introduction to Winter Climbing Course running 11-15 March, so get in touch if you would like more info: http://51.38.64.114/…/winter-climbi…/

You couldn't have asked for two more contrasting days this weekend. Yesterday, it was raining well above the summits and much of the snow had been washed away. Today, deep drifts of fresh snow and cold temperatures.

I first met Callum in the Indian Himalayas back in 2001, where we climbed Stok Kangri together. We lost touch, but he contacted West Coast Mountain Guides, unaware that I was now running it, so 18 years later, we found ourselves back in the mountains together.

With windy and wet weather yesterday, we climbed Curved Ridge and Crowberry Tower, which felt like a good option. It certainly wasn't a day for hanging about!

Today, I was expecting strong winds first thing, but it felt remarkably settled, so we took the climber's gondola up at Aonach Mor and waded through plenty of fresh snow round to the West Face of Aonach Mor, where we climbed Western Rib. The overnight northwesterly winds had done a great job at refreezing the ground and riming up the rocks. On the upper ridge, we also encountered quite a bit of wind-blown snow on the leeward side.

It was great to spend a couple of days with Callum, and hopefully not another 18 years until we climb again together!