Yesterday I got back from a brilliant trip to Skye with Jane and James. We had this scheduled for last year but the weather at the time was terrible. This time it worked out very well. We had a warm up and shake down on Pinnacle Ridge of Sgurr nan Gillean. This is a great taster (or tester) for the full traverse. There is plenty of exposed scrambling on a rope and an intimidating and awkward abseil too. We got to Sgurr nan Gillean and went across to Am Basteir as well before going down the snow on the coire and getting ready for our traverse.

Tuesday was a perfect day to be in The Cuillin. The air was cool, the rock was dry and the sun was shining. James, Jane and I took full advantage of the great conditions and went along from Sgurr nan Eag to our bivi at The Three Teeth in good time. Several teams were out enjoying the day and it was nice to share the traverse with them. We did not get held up at The Inaccessible Pinnacle and the sunset was superb from the bivi spot.

The sunrise was quite spectacular as well but it did not last. Clouds were soon growing on the slopes and there was a cool breeze to keep us moving. The cloud turned to drizzle by late morning and when we got to Bruach na Frithe it was really quite windy and wet. So, having bagged the last two on Monday, we made our way down the snow again and straight back to Sligachan. Jane and James did a fantastic job on this traverse and kept me very well fed with home made goodies (always a good thing to feed your guide as you go along!). I'm sure not many grandmothers have traversed the Cuillin Ridge!

Conditions on the ridge are very good. There are one or two snow patches in gullies off to the sides of the ridge and quite a lot left in Coire a'Basteir which does need to be crossed. We did not take an ice axe but we knew the snow would be soft enough. In colder conditions, an ice axe would be a very good thing to have with you.

Today was the first of many Ben Nevis walks I have planned this year in 'summer' conditions. Paul can be very satisfied with a top performance, his first munro and back down in five and a half hours. This despite the continuous snow on the ground from 1100m, rain, sleet and poor visibility.

Thankfully the snow has melted away from the Red Burn crossing. A few blocks of rock have fallen from the trail but what is left seems to be quite stable. Corner number 4 is causing some head scratching as there is an obvious trail in the snow straight on into the Red Burn area and the usual trail is mostly covered by snow. If you stick to the trail you get to the main cover of snow at corner number 6, 1100m. It is then nearly all on soft, wet snow from there to the top. The snow is about 1.5m deep on the summit and the cornice walls are about 3m high and gently overhanging. There is an impressive block of snow sticking out into Gardyloo Gully too.

It's nice to see some flowers out in the sunshine on the descent. There's lots of violets and some lousewort flowering and many other plants on their way up. Strange to see the deer on the path, not batting an eyelid at us down at 300m above sea level.

Cold air swept down over Scotland on Wednesday night so we woke up to a dusting of fresh snow above 700m yesterday morning. Kev, Carl, Ian and I stuck with the plan of going up the Zig-Zags and along Gearr Aonach to Stob Coire nan Lochan, Bidean nam Bian and back down the Lost Valley but we made sure we had ice axes with us. The fresh snow started at the foot of the NE Ridge of Stob Coire nan Lochan and there were patches of old snow on the way up. There was lots of old snow on the N Ridge of Bidean which is still in a very impressive crest for quite a long way. In the colder air this snow had firmed up and plenty of kicking and cutting was required to get up!

Dropping down into the Lost Valley always involves a steep slope at the col but with so much spring snow we were very glad to have the rope again. Another stomper belay and a lower got us all down for another great glissade down to the excellent path in The Lost Valley. This was a brilliant day again, classic Glen Coe mountaineering. It will be cold for a few days so make sure you have your ice axe and crampons with you.