The Great Outdoors March issue

  

The March issue of The Great Outdoors is in the shops now and the theme is wild winter hikes. Three big UK winter hill walks are described. The first is Alex Roddie's Cairngorms trip from a year ago. I accompanied him for the first night of the trip and really wish I could have stayed for the rest as Alex had superb winter conditions. In the Lake District Ronald Turnbull has an exciting overnight trip in snowstorms in the Eastern Fells. And on Dartmoor Tim Gent takes advantage of rare snowy conditions. Going further afield Carey Davies and Rudolf Abraham describe winter experiences in the Austrian Alps.

Keeping to the winter theme there are reviews of ten cold weather sleeping bags, four by Lucy Wallace and six by me. I also review a Patagonia fleece that's good for the cold and David Lintern looks at three winter hats. In Part Three of her Winter Skills series mountaineering instructor Rebecca Coles describes the challenges and skills needed for a winter ascent of Ben Nevis via the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. 

The opening photo by James Roddie is wintry too - a splendid image of Suilven under snow.

Far from the British hills there's a spectacular extract from Colin Prior's new book The Karakorum: Ice Mountains of Pakistan. The photos are superb and this looks a fantastic book.

Also in this issue there's a look at the lockdown rules in the different UK countries, an interview with Mark Diggins of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, an interview with Petra Hilleberg about Hilleberg tents, and Jim Perrin on an ancient volcano on the Lleyn Peninsula.