A couple of weeks ago me (Denis Hoste) and Friedemann Koch went on a trip to the north of the UK, for some mixed winter climbing. To keep the costs low, we would travel with my van (and ferry) which would also be our accommodation for those 8 days. Conditions during the month of January were so-so, with lots of new and fresh snow, so all that the rocks needed to get in good nick were some thaws and then some refreezes. The classic ‘good conditions’-cycle of thaws and refreezes, you know. The end of January saw a lot of those thaws, but unfortunately, not a lot of refreezes. In fact, temperatures were just a little too high which caused for rainfall instead of snowfall which poured all the snow away. Then the waiting game began for a new batch of snow, and again high hopes of a good thaw and refreeze.

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