Winterskills is the cousin twice removed of Hillwalking, which was released in 2003 as a companion to the Summer Mountain Leader Award. (The cousin once removed was 'Rockclimbing'). Given the similarity between the three volumes - after all, why change a winning formula? - there are no prizes for guessing that Winterskills is the Winter Mountain Leader equivalent.
It's been on the market since last spring, but after a not-so-great summer and a not-so-great early winter season, we've finally dusted off our ice axes and taken another peep at its pages.
The first thing that struck us - once again - was just how easy the information is to access. Take a cross between a geography text book, a wall chart, and a well-written article, with a smattering of your favourite cartoons and a few aspirational photos thrown in for good measure, and you get the picture.
All the pages are clearly broken up into well-spaced, subtitled paragraphs, so you can find the tip you're looking for at a glance, and there are special info boxes for instructors too. And if you aren't a wordy person, there are clear diagrams accompanying every knot, crampon-head, ice axe placement, and belaying technique, so a visual imagination isn't really necessary. All that, without being at all condescending. Not bad, eh? And no, we aren't taking commission:-)
As for the content, it starts on general winter territory - such as comparisons of winter boots and techniques for ice axe arrest - and gradually gets gnarlier, steeper and scarier as it progresses … which means it's a good read whether you fancy a wander up a snow-sprinkled Cadair Idris or a tussle up a grade four ice climb.
Some of the abseiling tips also come in handy on rock, and steep hillsides too, just in case the latest round of Scottish weather doesn't oblige you with any snow…
It won't come as a surprise by this point that we highly recommend it (although the daft and highly enticing idea of venturing out into the snow is of course undertaken at your own risk etc. etc.)
So, how do you find it? Well, it's ably written by Andy Cunningham and Allen Fyffe, who have jealousy-inducing amounts of winter experience between them, and published by Mountain Leader Training UK.
And one quick hint if you're looking for it in the shops... the cover of the 'Hillwalking' volume is a nice hilly colour of green, so what colour might the ice equivalent be? Answers at the top of the page:-)
As Easter's in the winter season this year - well, touch wood - you've got approximately three days to make a purchase and peruse its contents. Otherwise, it's none too soon read up for that long-awaited summer trip to the Alps.
Just one thing to bear in mind: the Winter Mountain Leader Award is a British scheme and so this book concentrates mostly on techniques for British winter mountaineering. If you find yourself in a gully on Nevis then that's great but if you find yourself down a crevasse, you've probably wandered off the edge of its pages.
Other than that, pour yourself a nice wintry cup of hot chocolate and get reading. Enjoy.
