Ice Ice Baby

Winter is by far the bestest season ever. I mean summer's great with the long days and occasional sunshine, but it doesn't have the allure of winter.

So there's the downsides of winter. The days are short and everybody gets all crabby as a result. There's christmas, which is good because I get to see my family and take a bit of a break, but all of that comes at the expense of being bombarded with shite xmas music, ugly decorations and fearsome consumerism. And there's the flu and all that, which loves to take advantage of my pathetic immune system to make me sound like a terrorist on the phone for the best part of the season.

BUT...

There's those great days where there isnt a cloud in the sky, the ground is frosty, and the brass monkeys become eunuchs. Although rare, there's nothing like the incredible feeling the first rays of sunshine you've seen in weeks give you. And there's usually an ace skiddin run somewhere set up by excited schoolkids, oblivious to their granny-breaking potential.

And there's snow.

I'm told sometimes I act rather childlike when I'm happy. When I'm in the snow, I fully digress to being about 9 years old. Except now I'm old enough to go sledging at midnight, when the snow on Arthur's Seat is at its best. It's impossible to describe the sheer joy that something as simple as a few ice crystals on the ground brings me, but if you ever see me frolicking like a fool through the snow then you'll understand.

But the very best thing about winter involves what I've mentioned above, mixed with one of my other most favourite things: Mountains.

Mountains in the winter just look right. Whilst Scotland's hills are dramatic at every time of the year, once they become snow-topped they take on a whole new type of beauty. They seem so much more severe, more foreboding. And in the late afternoon sun they look like they glow from within.

Walking up a mountian in Scotland in the winter is also infinitely more fun than in summer. No midges for a start. But as well as the amazing views, you get the fun of strapping crampons to your feet and weilding a quite frankly menacing ice axe. Just to go for a walk. There's also amazing ice-structures and winter wildlife to be seen. I rarely go hillwalking anymore, but in winter I can barely resist.

Even better than that though is winter climbing. Winter climbing in Scoltand is at once the most and least fun thing a mountaineer can do. There's standing at a belay for hours hopping from foot to foot as you're showered with powder snow and ice. There's being buffeted with ice-filed winds as you teeter gently on your crampon points, several meters above your last protection. There's hot aches in your fingers, burning in your calves and icicles hanging from your nose. There's hypothermia (which is even less fun than it sounds). But none of it matters when you sink your axe into a perfect piece of ice or frozen turf. Or when you're near the top of the route slamming your front-points into perfect neve snow. Or when you get to the top and slip into your down jacket, instantly becoming impervious to the freezing temperatures and brutal winds.

Yeah. Winter's magic. Bring it on.