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Not a great deal of work got completed yesterday afternoon as we all succumbed to the temptations that lie between the covers of Scotland Outdoors magazine after Richard Rowe dropped off our copies of the latest edition. If the front cover cyclists riding along a Hebridean beach aren't enough to convince you that Spring is nearly here and that you should start making your outdoor expeditions plans then there is plenty more inspiration inside. There are articles on sea kayaking, hill-running, sea-eagles, bothies and an Exploration of Wester Ross. Scotland Outdoors is available in store all spring for £3.80

Since the middle of December, the hills and mountains of Scotland have been covered, to varying degrees, in snow but before that, in November you might recall it was just very wet and very windy. In the middle of what was probably the wettest and windiest weekend of them all we headed up to Loch Tulla with the intention of climbing Stob Gabhar. Strong winds and swollen rivers put paid to that plan but the weekend was salvaged with a trek along the stretch of the West Highland Way running north towards Kingshouse. It rained...alot but in between the extremely heavy showers we enjoyed the desolation of Rannoch Moor and glimpses of peaks that we'll save for another day. Overnight camp at Loch Tulla- not raining yet The rain clouds headed our way from the south with the wide-ranging view giving us plenty of warning of when to don waterproof overtrousers. We've used this next photo in our window display cards this March taken high up on the moor looking back towards Bridge of Orchy

Back in November we reported on the success of ex-Out & About Saturday Staff Andy Houseman on the North Face of Chang Himal. In partnership with Nick Bullock he suceeded in this notable first ascent. Their climb has now been recognised by the selection committee of the prestigious Piolet d'Or and is one of five nominees for the 2010 award. The news is extensively covered in the climbing media: The British Mountaineering Council UKclimbing Piolet d'Or