 So far, this winter has been full of promise. We have not had the devastating thaws that have characterised the last four winters. Instead, a cold and mostly dry December gave us some beautiful days ideal for running around ridges and some mixed climbing as the ground dissipated its heat from the summer. The airflow has often been from the east which means that we get much less precipitation here in the west. At the start of the winter this is good news because we want the ground to cool down and freeze properly before the insulating layer of snow starts to build up. The Cairngorms received much more snow and many more visitors as a result. But we have sharp ridges and pointy mountains which are always fantastic for exploring and for getting you fit ready for the rest of the winter.  Over Christmas it got even colder but it remained dry. Short, dark days were made sparkly and bright by hoar frost that coated everything in the glens while the tops of the mountains were hardly any colder but were bathed in sunshine. Finally the snow started to arrive in early January giving us one memorably stingy Tuesday, a reminder of how fierce winter weather can be on the face. Very cold conditions froze low level streams into cascade ice and we got our first taste of ice climbing of the winter. On the tops the snow built up and rime grew on the rocks, covering everything with a thick white coat. Mixed climbing became laborious but still without any thaw-freeze cycles there was no transformation of the snow and no snow-ice to climb in the classic gullies.  The last couple of weeks have given us some gentle thaw freeze cycles that have locked snow in place and started to build a proper snowpack for the next few months. The freezing level has hovered between the summits and half way down the mountains, just as it should to transform the snow without melting it all away. It's a slow process and we need to be patient. But the signs are good, the basis of what could be an ice filled winter of climbing is in place. We already have good ice climbing at Creag Meagaidh and I think it will not be long before we have some classic ice climbing on Ben Nevis as well. Let's weather the January storms, battling through to February and March when it all starts to come good and we are rewarded with an armor plating of soft snow-ice all over the North Face of Ben Nevis and we can enjoy those mega-classic routes again. Fingers crossed!! 
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