Winter Mountaineering - Tips & Tricks
Winter mountaineering is all about making things easy for yourself. Some winter days when the conditions are bright and still you might have all the time in the world. Other days, when the mountain's in a different mood, these tips and tricks might make things go that little bit smoother:

	Tip 1
	Make sure you're really well hydrated before you set foot on the hill. Sports nutritionists testing athletes in the lab suggest that a 5% dehydration can lead to a 20% drop in performance. In cold winter temperatures, it's less easy to recognise the symptoms of dehydration until you really start to struggle. The drop of performance will manifest itself eventually as wearyness, blurred vision and headaches. Keep a water bottle in the car with you for the journey to the mountains. Drink regularly on the journey. Avoid diuretics like tea and coffee in the morning. Drinking large amounts of alcohol the night before may be desirable; it may even be inevitable; but you're going to wake up dehydrated.

	Tip 2
	Full size OS sheets aren't really designed for navigating with. Surprising that isn't it. They look great hung on the wall in the office and are OK for spreading out in the comfort of a bunkhouse but on the hill they're just too big. After spending far too long in a howling gale in the Cairngorms trying to fold a full size OS sheet I looked for a better way. Now, I cut OS sheets half and seal them with transpaseal which you can get from WH Smiths. I have a small Ortlieb A5 mapcase which is great for half a map. Get rid of the string; it will do more harm than good if the wind gets up. With a much reduced map you actually have a chance of being able to navigate if the wind gets up.
	Tip 3
	If you're going to need to put crampons on, do so sooner rather than later. It's loads easier to get sorted on a nice piece of flat ground rather than sketching around trying to put your crampons on with one hand. Whilst we're on the subject of crampons - make sure they're in a tough bag. There's nothing more annoying than crampon spikes digging into your back.
	Tip 4
	Develop a sixth sense for when the weather is going to come in and anticipate what conditions will be like round the corner. Keep your map and compass handy all the time and don't be reluctant to stop and take a bearing if you expect to lose visibility sometime soon. Assuming you're using the cut-down map taking a bearing's not difficult but it's worth turning your back to the wind and possibly crouching down and resting the map on your knee whilst you do it. Keep in mind the general direction that you are going (e.g. North East) all the time. This will help prevent making a 180 degree error.
	Tip 5
	The ice-axe attachment systems that most rucksack manufacturers use are truly rubbish. The worst are the ones with the adjustable loop thing at the bottom for the head of the axe and the strap which is supposed to hold the shaft. On more than one occasion I've watched an ice axe sledge off downhill after coming loose. A much better system can be improvised using the wand pockets on your rucksack and a couple of piece of bungee cord. If you want to go really gucci you can introduce some key ring clips in there too. Be creative. Whatever you come up with is likely to be an improvement on what's there before.