



Some photos from the last month!









Hopefully the answer to the catchy title above is now a resounding yes. Snow covered garden and road this morning for the first time this year are suggestive of winter being more present than it has been in the last few weeks and months.





The season this far has been one of ups and downs, both in temperature and levels of excitement (often linked). Connor and I had a day out on Aonach Mor on Christmas eve which was one of the nicest days out of the year and we found conditions to be excellent. We were rewarded with stunning views of the North Face of #BenNevis and the surrounding peaks once we reached the summit, however only a few days later we were back to almost fully black crags and mountains.









Looking across to Ben Nevis from the summit of Aonach Mor.

More recently we had two days across in the Northern Coires of the #Cairngorms, the first day myself and Lou climbed Hidden Chimney direct which gave a great pitch of fairly stiff early season mixed climbing and then we joined Connor and Rach on the top pitches of Hidden Chimney.









Lou on pitch 1 of Hidden Chimney direct.





Connor topping out on the final pitch of Hidden Chimney

After a good day out we decided to head back across the next morning with an even more promising forecast, the weather certainly did not disappoint. Brodie and I decided that rather than queue for routes or climb something we had done before, we would solo up "The Couloir" and spend some time taking pictures of other people out climbing in the coire.









Brodie arriving at the top of "The Couloir". Spot the climber in the background





The master at work





Team on "Ventriloquist" taken whilst borrowing Brodies lense.

The fickle nature of Scottish winter was perfectly demonstrated that evening as all the rime dropped off the crags and it returned to almost summer conditions. Now a couple of weeks later it is finally looking as if the snow is here to stay. I have enjoyed my first few bits of winter work for the season, some winter skills and some winter climbing.





Now looking forward to a few days off with my sister visiting, then back to almost a month of solid work before time off in March. Hopefully the ice will be here by then!