I spend between 50-65 days on the hill in winter in all weather conditions. I need kit thats well designed, fits and performs in all sorts, from blue sky alpine days to full on arctic winter ones. I am not a sponsored climber, however, the following kit works for me.
I have been wearing Patagonia now for the last 3 years and would thoroughly recommend it. Maybe not for cost.... but for design/fit, performance and the companies environmentalism.
La Sportiva footwear- Innovation with passion! Great performance mountain boots, rock shoes and running shoes.
Weather/Avalanche Forecasts
MWIS - The best mountain weather forecasts.
SAIS - Avalanche forecasts plus lots of good info on their blogs.
MetCheck - UK weather forecast from 3 days to 300 days.
BBC weather - New website with a great rain raidar.
Met Office - National mountain forecasts.
Synoptics - Wetter3.de - Comprehensive european synoptics
Frontpoint - Find out those all important climbing conditions.
Travel & Accomodation
VisitAviemore - Eating out, transport & accomodation.
Ecosse.net - Accomodation, travel, weather etc in Lochaber, online accomodation booking.
Highland Hostels - Independant hostels guide for Scotland.
National Express - Bus and train timetables and online bookings.
Travelsupermarket - Flights and car hire.
Insurance
British Mountaineering Council - BMC - UK climbing info and dependable insurance.
Snowcard Insurance Services - an alternative to the BMC with more options.
Organisations
MCofS - The representative body for hill walkers, climbers, and ski-tourers who enjoy the Scottish mountains
MIC Community - The Mountain Instructors Community is a collaboration of independent climbing instructors who provide climbing and mountain skills training throughout the UK.
The Association of Mountaineering Instructors - The AMI is the professional body for qualified Mountaineering instructors.
Climbing
UKClimbing.com - Info and forums, where you can post til your harts content
Plantfear - Leading adventure sports resource and online shop.
Scottishclimbs - News, discussion forum, competition results, guides to trad, sport, and bouldering areas across Scotland, photos and articles.
Mountain Biking
Scottish Mountain Bike.com - Comprehensive site with everything you need for planning a bike trip to Scotland's mountain bike centres.
MTB Scotland - run by mountain bikers for mountain bikers.
Chain Reaction Cycles - the World's Largest Online Bike Store, great deals and free shipping.
