It is always interesting trying to remember what snow fall came and when it fell in previous Autumns. I remember warm dry Novembers, bitter cold Decembers, winter climbing in early October, no snow to speak of at all until February. It is always very variable but we still try to make predictions about the winter from what happens now. These pictures are from last Autumn. The one above and one below are from November 18th or so and the picture of Number Four Gully at the bottom is from December. Do they show any hint of the stunning volume of snow that fell in the winter? 

Today we had a decent bit of snow falling on the hills above 900m and tomorrow will be cold again. Temperatures on the hills will be below freezing for a couple of days to come in fact. Will the ground cool down enough before the snow comes? Will the snow insulate the ground before it has frozen properly? Will there be enough water in the drainage lines to form ice? These are some of the factors that go towards the making of a good winter along with the weather we get during the winter. Winter climbing is a great guessing game but don't waste too much time trying to work it out. Give it your best guess and get stuck in! You'll always have an adventure.

To finish the Summer Mountain Training Course we went for an over night walking expedition to a great couple of hills near Inverlair. The focus of the two days was navigation but we also explored many aspects of leadership, the environment and camp craft. With very strong winds forecast we stayed next to the bothy at Lairig Leacach in case the tents were blown down. This also gave us a great venue for practicing night navigation.

The autumn colours were vivid - whole hillsides of vibrant orange with details of rich red under the boots. It's a wonderful time to be exploring the mountains of Scotland with reed deer stags bellowing and mountain hares sprinting away. This team of trainees on the Adventure Tourism Degree course was particularly strong having had lots of input to their navigation, leadership, "Leave No Trace" and Scottish Outdoor Access Code awareness. I have every faith they will go on to be really strong mountain leaders and it's great to give them a wee step up in that direction this week.

Lairig Eilde in Glen Coe was a noisy place today with several stags bellowing at each other across the glen. They were making no effort to hide themselves as they competed with each other for the hinds. The path to the lairig crosses the main stream twice so it is a good place to go to consider water hazards, stream crossings and dealing with emergencies on the Summer ML Training Course.

It was slightly warmer and a little wet but nothing like as warm and wet it will be over the weekend. Lucky for us to be going on a two day camping trip to wrap up the course. Next week though it looks like the wind will turn to the North and bring snow to the hills down to low levels. Have you sharpened your ice axes yet?