My pictures today are a bit misty from the condensation inside my camera left over from yesterday. This is a shame because it was a very nice dry, calm day; a wonderful respite from the wind and rain/snow. December was the wettest ever recorded in Scotland apparently. As mentioned previously, there is a lot of snow on Ben Nevis and some of it avalanched quite dramatically last night.

Huge trails of debris were left under Observatory Gully and Number Five Gully this morning. Thankfully in the cooler conditions by daybreak the snow was more stable by the time Andreas and I went round to climb Tower Ridge. As we got higher we could see the very impressive crown wall from the avalanche in Observatory Gully. It started in Tower Gully and went under Gardyloo Buttress, Observatory Buttress and all the way down the gully. The slopes under Point Five Gully and Orion Face did not release though.

Right from the start Tower Ridge is buried in snow. I was so glad there was a team in front that made great progress breaking a deep trail on the best route. There were a couple of other teams in Coire na Ciste but I did not see where they went to climb. The crags are well rimed up though and the cracks are choked with ice.

The snow from the Great Tower to the top has not thawed out much at all. There is little ice in it and it was just a bit crusty, not very useful at all. However the ice in Point Five Gully, Hadrians Wall and Smiths Route had a blue tinge to it so there is hope that it is turning into good quality ice. If this snow ever settles down we might get to climb it some time. More storms for a couple of days to come though.

It was a challenging day to be in the hills today! Heavy rain started just before I met up with Fiona and Gordon who were packing up after a night in their new tent. Despite strong gusts of wind over night the tent survived and we quickly set off up the Allt a'Mhuilinn before our resolve ran out.

We needed a good deal of resolve to keep going but we finally got to the foot of Coire na Ciste searching for a sheltered slope to look at some basic winter walking skills. Unfortunately we could not find anywhere at all sheltered. The wind was swirling around the coire in 90mph gusts.

We retreated to the shelter of the CIC Hut for a piece and to sort our layers before heading straight back down the path to the cafe! It was a good day to work out how best to look after yourself in heavy rain and wet snow with wind that will take you off your feet, probably the most challenging conditions you can face. I'm delighted with my new Jottnar gear; it's super comfortable and kept me dry in the conditions we had today. It's not my clothing that will limit what I can do in the hills.

There is of course a very deep cover of snow just about everywhere and getting anywhere is very tough going. The crags are choked with snow and ice and when the storms finally give way we'll have some great climbing conditions. After a nice day tomorrow we'll have a few days of warm, wet windy weather to enjoy but the hint of colder weather in mid-January. Here's hoping.

Heavy rain and strong SE winds turned Scott and Andrew back from the start of Curved Ridge this morning. It was thawing to the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor and the guys were already wet through so the suffering/reward balance tipped too far the wrong way and they headed back home. Had they stuck with it (for several hours) they would have had a pleasant walk back down from the summit in clearing weather and colder temperatures.

After two slightly warmer days it cooled again slightly during today to stabilise the old snow quite well. The back coires of Nevis Range would not have been fun to ski as the SE wind blew the fresh snow off the old crusty snow. The best skiing I had was on the Nid Ridge which had already filled in with quite a bit of fresh snow.

It was a rare glimpse of sunshine - it looks like we'll be back to stormy weather again for another wee while but there might well be the chance of some good climbing if you are in the right place at the right time. The crags are certainly very snowy and icy.

Happy New Year!