UKC

Typically, is there any Ice/Mixed climbing to be done between Christmas and New Year... Anywhere?

There will be yes if you are flexible on days and location. There always is - you just need to seek it out. Weekend Warrior stuff can be a tougher game.

In reply to frqnt:

Not since the baby Jesus banned it. This has got to be a troll.

In reply to The Big Man:

Fair enough. But in all seriousness, and excuse my ignorance, everywhere I'd been reading suggests conditions only really come in from January. And I'm trying to decipher if that is just an arbitrary date for reliable conditions or if for some strange phenomenon conditions are only good either side of this X-mas/NY period.

I've decided to head to Scotland.

In reply to frqnt: grab a copy of Scottish winter climbs by SMC, and follow ukc winter conditions and links to the various guides blogs.

In reply to Milesy:

No there isn't! I can think of at least one year when there was no snow anywhere during that week, it wasn't even cold enough for a bit of cosmetic frost for the dry toolers

In reply to frqnt:

I was winter climbing on the 12th of December in the Cairngorms and it was a fairly busy day. The year before I was climbing the frozen waterfall behind the Drovers Inn on Christmas Eve in blue sky and sunshine. Winter is made up of lots of small mini seasons of warm and cold, low and high pressures so there is lots of variation. One day it can be freezing and iced up everywhere then the next day it can thaw away to black rock only to be replaced by ice and frost again the next day.

Start reading the instructor/guide blogs - http://www.mwis.org.uk/blogs.php

You can go through them all and look back at previous winters and see what was getting done, where and when for an idea of the variation.

In reply to Toreador:

The euros will always scratch up something. What was the post from last year of euros dry tooling on the ben on a top rope?

In reply to Milesy:

That is an unfair comment... more scratches initiate from tool owners closer to home than the continent.
Most visitors who make the trip from the continent know better than come on a set date (unless for the international meet).
Alas as always there will be some who will get something done come what may... and often the accent is not foreign or even English for that matters.

Having said that, we have all made the mistake at least once, and climb a route that wasn't in proper nick. I'll not cast the first stone...

In reply to frqnt:

It is a bit of an arbitary date but it's fair to say that January is a good bit more reliable than December. As for the X-mas-NY period, this can be anything from mild & wet to cold but no snow to heavy snow and storms to fabulous low level ice!

In reply to Milesy:

Punters who climb at our low grade will always need "winter conditions" however guys that climb hard define winter by different standards...they don't scratch up routes but climb them with a talent that i, for one, certainly don't posess. Genuine mixed is not for the average punter, watch them as we climb and give them due respect.

In reply to frqnt:

Hit and miss - could be brilliant, could be non-existant. Don't book ahead, but be ready to jump.