Over the past few days, I've been out with Blair, Seb and Nigel, who have been on our Winter Mountaineering Course. We've had to work hard to get up to the snow, with one day on Ledge Route, a day on 0.5 Gully in the Cairngorms, No.3 Gully on Ben Nevis yesterday, and finally, to wrap things up, we enjoyed a brilliant day in Observatory and Tower Gully on Ben Nevis today.

It's actually easier to get to the snow in Observatory Gully than No.3 Gully at the moment, and we started pitching alongside Tower Scoop. Two pitches of steep, firm snow (grade II), brought us to the big traverse across to Tower Gully, before two further pitches brought us onto the summit plateau.

The surface snow has fully refrozen and is great for front-pointing on. That said, a slip wouldn't be good at all! The highest crags on Ben Nevis are well rimed, but with plenty of verglas in the cracks. Point 5 Gully is complete, but it will be a while before it's climbable. It's also worth noting that the snow/ice on the summit plateau and for a fair way down the mountain path is rock hard, and crampons are essential.

Some stormy weather in the pipeline, which is exactly what we need right now.

After a rather awkward approach into Coire na Ciste on Ben Nevis today, Renee and I found great conditions on No. 3 Gully Buttress. The first pitch sported some good and some not so good ice, but enough solid stuff for it to feel secure. Thereafter, there was plenty of névé, which is particularly helpful when climbing the crux on the third pitch. We then continued directly up to the plateau. For Renee, it was her first time on Ben Nevis, so we continued over to the summit, before descending the mountain path.

The ice is building well above 1000m, but things are a little lean below that, and we could really do with some snowfall to cover up the scree and boulders, as well as to feed the drainage lines.

Very quiet on Ben Nevis today, but one team did make a quick ascent of Gargoyle Wall.

It's that time of year where winter is with us one minute and gone the next, but this is very typical for this time of year.

Today, I was out on Skye with Sophie and Stefan. They're on holiday on Skye, and were keen for a day of any-season mountaineering, and so with a rather windy day on the cards, we sought shelter in Coir' a' Mhadiadh, where we climbed The Spur on Sgurr an Fheadain. This is one of the longest scrambles on Skye (and the UK), and gives an excellent and fairly direct journey to the summit of Sgurr an Fheadain. It's also fantastically sheltered from the prevailing winds. As you can see from the photos, the weather did nothing to dampen Sophie and Stefan's spirits!

Rolling back to last weekend, when it was much more wintry, Guy was out guiding Oli up Deep Throat in Coire an Lochain in the Cairngorms. Oli is one of these super keen winter climbers, that is more than happy to make the drive from London for a single route. This sort of dedication has enabled him to climb plenty of brilliant winter routes over the years despite living down south.

Whilst Guy and Oli were climbing last weekend, I was down in Buxton, attending a workshop focusing on trekking and mountaineering at high altitude. It was run by the charismatic Dr Jon Dallimore, as part of the British Association of International Mountain Leaders' AGM. The photo, taken by Gary Hodgson, is of myself in a Portable Altitude Chamber, which due to the pressure, reduces the altitude inside the bag by at least 1000m. That said, that's the only time I hope to ever be in one of those things!

British Association of International Mountain Leaders

Harry and I decided that a trip over east would be worthwhile to squeeze in a day of climbing before the weather changes this weekend. For this time of year, the crags are well rimed up, and in reasonable climbing condition. Don't expect much in the way of névé though!

We decided to head up to the Mess of Pottage, where we climbed the lesser-travelled Shark's Fin Soup, which takes a fairly direct line, firstly into a short chimney, bound on the right by the shark's fin. The route then follows a series of grooves/mini corners and features a number of awkward steps, often with hard to reach footholds. Fortunately, the gear is pretty good throughout, but solid axe placements were less abundant and took a bit of work to find. The route really is just the one pitch, so we continued up the final pitch of The Messenger, which was also great fun.

Another team was on Melting Pot, and Rich and James looked like they were having fun on Mixed Message.

A great day to be out, and a nice (and early) start to the winter climbing season.

Winter has arrived early this year, and Candice, Aileen and myself were on Ledge Route on Ben Nevis, making the most of the snow and sunshine.
Candice and Aileen have come over from Singapore, so the cold temperatures came as a bit of shock for them, however, they were expecting wet and windy conditions whilst visiting Scotland, so they can't really complain!

The snow is down to about 500m, but with it being soft and unconsolidated, there was no need for an axe or crampons for our ascent of Ledge Route today. There is a surprising amount of ice forming down the drainage lines, which is quite amazing to see for this time of year. The crags are well rimed, but with this being the first cold snap, there will still be plenty of loose rock about.

We made good progress up the snow-covered crest of Ledge Route, and were soon joining the mountain path, which has become quite slippery and even icy in places as the snow has been compressed with the passing of many walkers. We wandered over to the summit before descending the mountain path.

With the cold conditions set to continue, we could see some ice climbing in November, but I won't be counting my chickens just yet.