This week I’ve been working for Talisman Mountaineering providing a challenging winter mountaineering week to a group from the Royal Navy. As well as covering the necessary core skills to operate safely in the winter hills, the group had a particular emphasis on developing previous navigation skills with the week culminated in an expedition camping in the Lairig Ghru. The weather has been pretty mild and claggy which has been great for navigation training but less good for assessing the climbing conditions. The few views I caught have shown largely black buttresses but the climbing in the gullies is still good and unaffected. Although the snow cover in the Cairngorms has been reduced, it is still very good with complete cover on the plateau and the piste skiing is good down to the Ciste car park.

The weather forecasts show we are about to have another could snap with freezing levels across Scotland down to 400-500m tomorrow. Longer range forecasts show that this is due to last which is excellent news for the climbing conditions. The black buttresses will quickly return to white and the high ice routes will build. If you don’t believe me have a look at theweatheroutlook and scroll through the UK 0c isotherm for the next sixteen days – it looks cold for the duration. I’m climbing on Ben Nevis tomorrow so will post an update when I get down.