UKC

I read that soft shell was the way forward generally but recently spoke to a climber who insisted that for Scottish winters Hard is the only way....

In reply to arakis74:
I prefer hard others soft. It is to some extent a personal choice. However you'd probably need a hard shell some days whatever.

In reply to arakis74:
For Scottish winter, there's only one way to go,
to survive the gales and the wind-blown snow:
Rack up the overdraft and buy Paramo.

In reply to almost sane: What about the Buffalo system

In reply to arakis74: There is never only one way. Who ever tells you this is talking pish. Advantages of soft shell are breathablity and comfort. Advantages of hard shell - will provide the most protection in the worst weather. One answer is get a lightweight softshell outer which you put over your existing clothing system which you can wear 99% of the time and a lightweight hardshell (but it really should have a wired hood so you can see where you're going in a gale) which you can put on when it gets vile. Personally I have an old Patagucci Essenshell Pullover which is basicaslly a pertex shell, and a ME ogre for when its bad. Works fine...

In reply to arakis74:

For winter ? - my preference would be a light windproof over a thermal with a synthetic fill belay jacket in the bag.
I'm not keen on climbing in the rain tho.

Winter banter in june - magic.

In reply to arakis74:

I found that when it rained really heavily, the buffalo got soaked through to the skin. It still kept me warm, but not as much as when dry. And the jacket weighed a lot more due to all the water inside it, and water started to run down my skin inside the jacket so that it started to fill up my mitts and, worse, my boots. This was on an extremely windy and rainy day, but such conditions are not rare in Scottish winters, when it can quickly switch from rain to sleet to snow and back again.

In such filthy conditions, Paramo is the only system I've tried that keeps me dry and comfortable.

In reply to A9:
Synthetic fill belay jackets - are they brilliant or are they brilliant?

Cotswold are selling this winter's model of MH Compressor jackets at half price. Really light, warm, and with a hood big enough to go over a helmet.
So I bought one.

Its not just in Scottish winter that belay jackets are useful kit.

In reply to almost sane:

a cheaper alternative shown here

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=306636

In reply to almost sane: Did you use the Shirt and salopettes too with the Belay jacket?