This year, January has been incredibly mild and wet. This meant that a lot of the lower snow has been stripped by rain on a weekly basis. However, in higher sheltered areas there has been the usual amount of snow. Just need to know where to look.
In the last week it has started to become much colder and all the snow has consolidated well. This is the right snow for doing all the skills like kicking steps, cutting steps and wearing crampons. It’s also perfect for ice axe arresting and other skills. We also had to do some real poor visibility navigation on Cairn Gorm summit. The snow that is available now will stay in good condition till at least till early April.
