On the conditions side, we’ve been experiencing a thaw for the last week and many of the buttresses on the East are black for the first time in months. Considering that in previous winters this has been a two-weekly event and the current thaw is the first of this winter I think we’ve been incredibly lucky. There is still plenty of snow and plenty of climbing to be done. Gully lines up to grade III will be largely unaffected as they have been so full of snow and by all accounts the classic ice lines high on Ben Nevis are superb and being climbed a lot. The winter is not over yet.

I’m working in the Cairngorms with a military group this week so I’ll post conditions updates when I get a chance.

The Clachaig Inn, Glencoe (Tuesday evenings)

The Mountain Cafe, Aviemore (Wednesday evenings)

The Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team Base (Thursday evenings)

The focus of the lectures is to entertain and educate on winter mountain safety. In order to deliver this, an inspiring array of speakers has been chosen who are guaranteed to provide an entertaining night out! All the speakers have spent many years in the mountains and will draw upon their own experiences to illustrate hard lessons learnt. Each presentation will last approx 45 minutes and there will be opportunity at the end of each evening for any questions. Whether you are a hardened climber, or up in the Highlands for your first winter experience, you can ensure a good night out and learn something new.

The MCofS Winter Lecture Series is free of charge and open to all. http://www.mcofs.org.uk/winterlectureseries.asp

• Andy Kirkpatrick hosts the Extreme Night.
• Paul Diffley from Hot Aches screening Single Handed plus The Asgard Project on the Adventure Night.
• Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner celebrate Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith’s incredible first ascents on Ben Nevis 50 years on with Jimmy Marshall himself.
• Best of Banff World Tour.

More details at http://www.mountainfestival.co.uk/

Play the sequence on snow-forecast.com and see the temperatures come down. (Height of Ben Nevis: 1343m Height of Cairngorm: 1245m).

We struggled with the boggy ground and endless tussocks on day 1 which caused us to move a lot slower than anticipated and, with an hour and a half left, forced us to give up visiting any more checkpoints, drop off the high ground and run for the finish to avoid any penalties. Day 2 was focused in a more southerly part of the Elan Valley and went a lot smoother. The ground was slightly better underfoot and we actually finished almost an hour early having got into a situation where we couldn’t get any more points without risking being late and cancelling out the extra efforts. Overall, we finished about halfway down our category which is not bad considering this was our first OMM. (We did start last years but it was quickly halted due to extremely poor weather). Have to think about tactics for next year now…