Fantastic end to the winter courses

Patience with this unusual winter finally paid off with a fantastic week in the Cairngorms to finish off this season's courses. With a major thaw before last week and a return to colder temperatures, the conditions were far better, combined with blue skies and sunshine we enjoyed some of the best days out this season. There were surprisingly few teams out, adding a remote feeling to the 'alpine' atmosphere which was certainly appreciated by both Grahams, Tracey, Mauro, and Terry, and culminated with a spectacular day in the winter mountains for me to end the season on a high.

Coire an-t Sneachda, only 40 mins from the car park, but a world away in atmosphere.














Perfect snow conditions after the thaw and re-freeze














With the sun setting on a perfect day

Wild winter

The continuing stormy weather has given some pretty challenging conditions for the start of this seasons winter courses, either with too much snow in the Cairngorms or too little snow in Snowdonia. The crags are buried in masses of snow in the Cairngorms with attendant high avalanche risk and limited climbing  options, but it has been a good opportunity to practice some of the skills - especially with the use of transceivers. Snowdonia has been a been a big disappointment after last year's fantastic conditions and although there has been some recent snowfalls, it has been  too warm for climbing conditions to develop, however, with any luck the nearly established snowpack will improve with just a few degrees drop in temperature, fingers crossed as I've got quite a few courses lined up.