What's New on Mountaindays.net?

This is the Alpine Dawn Wallpaper based upon a shot we took from the Torino Hut in June 2004.

Web cameras have come a long way since a group of students at Cambridge University thought it would be a great idea to publish a picture of their coffee pot webcam on the Internet. There are now tens of thousands of web cameras across the globe providing shots of people, places and landscapes every hour of the day.

From a mountaineering perspective, the useful ones are those that are showing the current conditions in mountain areas, of which there are numerous in the UK. In this article we have pulled together a selection of the best ones available.

Climbing is confusing enough without having to learn a whole new language, hopefully this dictionary will prove useful in translating some of the words and terms that you will hear or read. 

Taking you on a journey from A right through to Z, we try to cover off many of the terms you will hear while at the crag and maybe even a few that are new to you.  This isn’t by anyway an exhaustive list, so if you have a definition that you feel should be included, get in touch and we’ll add it to the list.

Winter climbing in the UK is becoming more and more fickle as the years go by.  However, the excellent condition reports combined with a basic understanding of climatic conditions that lead to good conditions, mean that you stand a good chance of being in the right place at the right time. 

When sea cliff climbing not only is it useful to know what the weather is going to be like, but you also need to know what the tide will be doing.  Without this information you could get to your climb and find the base of the route is not accessible or, if having to retreat, you could face a long swim home. 

Knowing where the rain has fallen or where the rain is coming from can be really useful when planning a day out at the crag.  In the UK the Met Office kindly supplies a Rain Radar on their website and is really useful allowing you to check where its been raining in the last 6 hours. Excellent!

Take me to the Met Office UK Rain Radar

We have just received a copy of the new Andy Cave book Thin White Line.  Initial impressions are very good and a full review will be available on the site shortly.

Links to the best mountain weather forecasts for the European Alps

Links to the best mountain weather forecasts for the South Wales and the Brecon Beacons

Links to the best mountain weather forecasts for the North Wales and Snowdonia