With a trip north for work on Sunday night, it seemed rude not to take a minor detour and visit some hardy MPS souls in the Lake District. I knew they were planning a full weekend of walking, camping at Sprinkling Tarn on Great End, and so I set off from home on Saturday afternoon with the intention of getting up early to meet them on Sunday morning. As the topology of the Lake District slowly revived itself in my memory, the setting sun across Derwent Water gave a lovely start to the trip.

Sunset over Derwent Water. © Haydn Williams 2013

Bon Jovi jetty. © Haydn williams 2013

Sunset over Derwent Water. © Haydn Williams 2013

After a night at the Borrowdale Youth Hostel (bringing back memories of at least one Ramsoc trip from a worryingly long time ago), I set off to Seathwaite nice and early to try and catch everyone at Sprinkling Tarn before they struck camp.

Moon over Seathwaite Fell. © Haydn Williams 2013

I ran up Grains Gill, hitting the first of the snow not long after the little stone bridge. There was no sign of MPS at Sprinkling Tarn, but a chap who was there suggested that he'd seen some lights at Styhead Tarn the previous evening. A quick blast down to the col revealed nothing, so I abandoned any hope of finding them and instead climbed Great Gable.

Great End and Scafell Pike from Great Gable. © Haydn Williams 2013

The descent to Styhead via Windy Gap necessitated the use of axe and crampons, and then I climbed back up to Sprinkling Tarn and Great End. Having seen all the snow on the Scafell range from the summit of Great Gable, I gave in and went for a play on the steep snow up to the bottom of the routes proper. I kept the crampons on for a bit, enjoying the seemingly disproportionate levels of extra security and speed they imparted on the return down Grains Gill.

After a bit of food I snuck in a quick nap in the car whilst I gave MPS a chance to return to their bus. Fortunately they arrived back from what sounded like a very fun overnight trip shortly before I got bored, and we retired to Ben's cottage for tea and cake. Well done the Lake District.

The plan for last week was to spend seven days winter climbing in Fort William. An appalling run of weather meant that wasn't possible, but plenty of other stuff got done instead.

Day one saw a forecast for 60 mph winds and constant snow, so Phil, Gary and I went for a walk up a couple of Munros. Mullach nan Coirean was first, and after despatching that in good time despite strong cross-winds near the top, we decided to carry on to Stob Bân.

Braving the weather on Stob Bân. © Haydn Williams 2012

The forecast proved to be not entirely accurate, and we actually had quite a pleasant day out and about. There was a fair amount of accumulated snow in places, but it certainly wasn't blanket cover or enough to impede progress, and the wind actually died back on what should have been the more exposed part of the walk.

Descending Stob Bân to Glen Nevis. © Haydn Williams 2012

The forecast for the following day included the phrase "any mobility tortuous", and so we (me, Phil, Gary, Robby and Chris) retreated to the safety of the indoor ice climbing centre at Kinchleven. It turned out to be great fun, with the longer routes requiring a nice amount of finesse and thought to complete. I finished the first couple of routes incredibly pumped, but once I got my footwork sorted the rest of them were a lot more comfortable.

Making shapes at the Ice Factor. © Haydn Williams 2012

A pub lunch soon revitalised us after our exertions, and the subsequent return journey along Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe was particularly scenic in the afternoon light (albeit with waves of rain still blowing through).

Evening light over Loch Linnhe. © Haydn Williams 2012

Smiling faces in the camper van. © Haydn Williams 2012

After an abortive attempt at riding my bike the next day (thwarted by mechanical problems), I joined Phil, Ben and John for a late-afternoon departure on a speed tour of the historical sights of Fort William.

John stood on the wall of the fort. © Haydn Williams 2012

We blitzed the fort first of all (built 1654; few visible remains now but did include half a bottle of Lambrini next to a cannon), before moving on to Inverlochy Castle.

Inverlochy Castle, built in the 13th Century. © Haydn Williams 2012

With the information boards read and digested (built 13th century; site of two decent battles), we sped on to our final stop: Neptune's Staircase. This series of locks on the Caledonian Canal was built in the 1800s, and we managed to get there just in time to see it before it became obscured by darkness and pouring rain. After some dinner we de-camped to town to sample a variety of pubs in which to celebrate Hogmanay.

Sunset at Neptune's Staircase. © Haydn Williams 2012

On New Year's Day John and I drove around to the Nevis Range for the Aonach Mor Uphill race. Starting from the Nevis Range car park, the race climbs to the top gondola station 4km away and 610m higher. We arrived in plenty of time to register and for John to gulp down two or three espressos in the cafe. A well-organised start saw 86 runners heading off up the hill, and as the ground quickly steepened I tried to find the best mix of running vs. walking to conserve energy. I quickly settled into a steady pace, albeit right at the top end of what I could manage. As we broke out of the trees the route somehow got even steeper for a while, before the gondola station finally crept into view. Having passed someone I had been following for a while, I pushed hard to stay ahead and create a gap for some breathing room. Within about 300m of the finish I heard footsteps close behind. Unable to work out how this person could magically have caught me up again, I turned to see John coming up behind like a steam train! The espresso had obviously done the trick, as he thundered past me to cross the line in fine style before we both then collapsed in the snow for a few minutes to recover.

Runners at the end of the Aonach Mor Uphill. © Haydn Williams 2013

We both came in under the 30 minute mark, with John in 18th place and me 21 seconds behind in 20th. Recovery took the form of a retreat to the restaurant for soup, and to admire the views from the height we'd fought so hard to gain. While I normally get some retrospective satisfaction a couple of hours after races, this was almost instantaneous for some reason – perhaps because it was so continually hard all the way up? I have no idea if I'll be near Aonach Mor in future years, but I'd definitely do the race again (assuming my heart can handle another 25 minutes at 180bpm!).

View from the end of the race. © Haydn Williams 2013

With another damp and blustery forecast for the final day, Gary, John, Ben and I drove east to 'bag' a couple of Munros that Ben still needed. We set off in fair conditions, and quickly entered the cloud base. Rain higher up was blowing cold and hard into our sides as we traversed the summit ridge of Beinn a Chaorainn, but conditions eased again as we descended to a col.

Start of the day, below Beinn a Chaorainn. © Haydn williams 2013

The ascent of the first hill had dragged a bit, being relentless in gradient and devoid of interesting features. The 300m of climb to Beinn Teallach went the same way, until a change in gradient provided a glimmer of hope that we might be reaching the top. Alas, Ben's prediction that it would be "the final climb before the final climb before the first false summit" proved almost entirely accurate, but we did eventually get to the summit after some excellent work by John breaking trail through very deep snow.

Wet and windy along the summit ridge. © Haydn Williams 2013

Rapidly melting snow cover meant that the river we encountered on the descent was in spate and provided an entertaining crossing to finish the day off.

John contemplating the river crossing on the descent from Beinn Teallach. © Haydn Williams 2013

With all gear saturated, and an uninspiring forecast for the final day, we cut our losses and decided to make the journey south a day early. So the ice tools got an outing (albeit indoors) and my running muscles certainly got stretched at Aonach Mor. I was reminded how much fun walking can be when the company's good, and how uncomfortable Munro bagging can be when the weather's bad. It wasn't winter climbing, but it turns out that's not such a bad thing after all.

Conscious of the forthcoming OMM, I snuck in a run with Greg at the weekend. We met on Saturday at Ben's Bunkhouse under a rainy Nant Peris sky, but it soon eased off as we climbed relentlessly through the slate quarries towards the summit of Elidir Fach.

This was actually as steep as it looks. © Haydn Williams 2012

As we fought for height, we could eventually see the first snow of the year on the top of Snowdon. I know it's still early, but here's hoping for a good winter season! With Elidir Fach ticked – a new one for me as well as Greg – we headed up to Elidir Fawr and Mynydd Perfedd before taking an out-and-back detour to Carnedd y Filiast.

First summit of the day, and I already look like a berk. Elidir Fach. © Haydn Williams 2012

Yes, the photo's wonky. I was running. Mynydd Perfedd. © Haydn Williams 2012

The horror of the Foel Goch zig-zags hadn't diminished since I'd last done them, but we were soon on the final slog up to Y Garn.

Still no rain! Carnedd y Filiast. © Haydn Williams 2012

A breezy summit snack was devoured, before we performed another U-turn and re-traced our steps towards Bwlch y Cywion. All downhill from there, we made it back to Nant Peris in half an hour from the summit of Y Garn. We still took the slightly winding route into Cwm Dudodyn towards the end, so I'd love to see how quick it is to just head straight down the hillside from summit to village.

Last one of the day – on the summit of Y Garn. © Haydn Williams 2012

All told, we covered eleven miles in three and a half hours, with around 1,400m of ascent. A proper OMM day will obviously be much longer, but this was good for the confidence if nothing else!

A leisurely afternoon of shopping was followed by the return of the rest of the MPS crew, who had been variously over Crib Goch and on the Glyders. I then retreated to Beddgelert for a nice relaxed dinner in the pub with Dad who'd come through on his bike, although I'll confess the day's exersions did have me rudely falling asleep by 10PM.

Some indecision with my plans in the morning eventually saw me heading up Moel Siabod, but without my camera I'm afraid!