Al Halewood was working for me today and sends this report, plus some pictures on his blog at the above link. Thanks Al.

With a poor west coast forecast we went a little east to the East Ridge of Beinn A Chaorainn. which paid off nicely as we had good visibility on the walk in (and the snow was not too deep underfoot). There was plenty of fresh snow on the ridge and Dimitri led Lorenzo up offering advice, choosing the line to take and making nice big steps for him. There was a fair bit of rime above 900m and some windslab on the lee side of the ridge but the air was moist on the summit plateau. The guys navigated a neat dogleg around the bend in the plateau in a whiteout as we dropped off ahead of increasing wind and rain.

And from Robert Kincaid

Hi Alan
I guess a lot of people have been saying its a good start to the winter in that it lasted out a good duration until its collapse today. I have been up on Beinn Udlaidh several times on these short days and the climbing has been excellent at that level with a good ice build up. I went up with Fiona and were planning a grade 3 but it was so busy we ended up taking another harder line on super ice but perhaps a bit to steep for a first route of the winter and Fiona struggled a little but made it with a smile. Today it was quiet and hovering about freezing until pm. Captain Hook looked in good shape and proved good with some excellent ice only a little thin on the top pitch and Dave Ritchie managed a tick in his guidebook which he had hoped to do for sometime. Andy Ravenhill was also out with another MRT member and got a few good pitches in. The afternoon saw a down turn with rain working in and ticked off a 3 and called it a day. We will have to be patient for the next cold spell but it has been a good appetiser.

It is an age since I have been up in FW but no doubt will get in that direction as winter moves on.

Take care and have a great Christmas
Robert