Winter - All You Need To Know!

What with winter arriving with a vengeance, we thought we'd pull together some of the more useful, wintry articles on the site to help you survive the snow. And don't forget, we run a regular weekend mountain weather forecast summary every Friday morning to help you prepare for the weekend.

Winter Buyers' Guides

	Buyers' Guide - Insulated Clothing When the going gets gnarly, the gnarly get insulated, but should you be going for down or synthetic fillings and what other features should you be looking at come buying time?
	Buyers' Guide - Gloves The long and the short of it, mitts or glove, sticky or leather, suede or fleece - we take a look at what you need to know about keeping your hands warm and functional.
	Buyers' Guide - Shell Pants Salopettes, bibs, high-waisted pants or just simple waterproof overtrousers - we unravel the mysteries of the weather-proof world of legwear just in time for winter as well...
	Buyers' Guide - Crampons Everything you need to know about spiky metal things for your feet in our latest OUTDOORSmagic Buyers' Guide. From compatibilty to portability, we've got it covered.
	Buyers' Guide - Ice Axes The latest in our series of Buyers' Guides takes a timely look at ice axes and everything you need to know to select your winter weaponry.
	Buyers' Guide - Fleece Snuggle down in a cosy corner with a nice warm fleece thanks to our buyers' guide to fleece jackets. Everything you need to know and some stuff that you don't...
	Buyers' Guide - Mountain Shell Jackets Thinking of buying a new waterproof, breathable mountain jacket? Here's what you need to know to make the right choice.

Winter Health and Fitness

	Have A Happy, Healthy Outdoors Christmas! It doesn't have to be all chocolate, booze and puddin' - the Butcher's Dog gives you some tips to make the festivities a tad healthier, plus what to do if it all goes wrong...
	Colds And How To Sort Them Out A snotty but topical blast from the past as our expert with a cold wet nose tells you how to avoid catching a cold in the first place and what to do once you've got one...
	Dehydration - It's For Winter Too... 'Don't you go where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow' - the Butcher's Dog on why fluid loss is an insidious winter enemy
	Winter Fitness The Woofing Way Winter mountains make more demands on your body and your fitness, here's our advice on how to make sure you're up for it -
	Coping With Cold Frostbite, hypothermia, wind chill, none of them matter if you're the Butcher's Dog with a shaggy coat, but what about you? More tips from the canny canine

General Winter Advice

	Belay Jackets And You... Is the traditional layering system dead? We take a look at the belay jacket concept of insulated over clothing.
	Keep Cosy This Winter General pointers on how to stay warm and comfortable when the temperature drops and the rain gives way to snow...
	Winter Skills Courses Want to maximise your winter outdoors pleasure and move around the snowy mountains in safety? Consider a winter skills course.
	BMC Winter Essentials DVD Excellent DVD covering the essential skills you need to operate safely in Britain's winter hills. Also an ideal Christmas gift...
	Buying A Winter Day Sac OM gear guru, the legendary Richard Gear, tells you what to look out for if you're buying a winter day sack.
	What To Carry In Your Winter Pack We go through the basics of what you should be packing to stay safe and comfortable in the hills over the winter.
	Plas y Brenin Winter Skills Course Tested We checked out one of Plas y Brenin's well-regarded winter skills courses in snow splattered Snowdonia.
	Striding Edge In Winter Crossing Lakeland's classic ridge in the snow complete with loads of wintry pictures.
	Our Top Five Winter Mountains Mountains always look better with a covering of crisp, white snow and ice, but some just look that much better - these are out faves...

Lots More Besides...

There's plenty more information about all things wintry on OM, just use the search. And don't forget you can find site and user reviews of specific kit in the OM Reviews Section.

You can find lots of suggestions for walking and scrambling routes in the OM Routes Section.

And the gallery right now is stuffed full of great winter mountain photographs - OM Gallery.