Week 3-4: Start walking on steeper ground, look for shallow gullies where you will now be needing use of one axe to keep you balanced, and to stop a fall. (For how to stop your self when sliding down a mountain I shall cover this in part two later on this year)

Week 5-6: go out with your more experienced climbing partner as now you will be needing to use a rope for safety. Look around your hills and mountains for steeper gullies around 45 degrees to 65 degrees and climb this in pitches (stages) stopping when ever you come across a safe place to rest or stand. You should by now also be using ice protection that you have been introduced to by your climbing partner. Unfortunately it is to complex and difficult to explain how to use ice screws, dead men and snow stakes in an article, so ask for assistance regarding placing ice protection form your friend or an instructor.

Week 7-9: you should by now have some confidence in moving on steep ground using both ice axes to progress. So now during these next three weeks you are going turn form a winter hill climber into an ice climber. Go out to where you know there was a stream or small water fall running in summer, and with any luck it will be now cold enough so as to be frozen into a nice ice climb. Please note do not go out to some massive ice fall that you know of, and try to climb it. Not only will you probably not succeed but you run risk of killing your self and possibly others by you lack of experience.

So did you enjoy your self? If not then this type of recreation is probably not for you, but if you did then this is begging of rest of your life, there is a whole world out there for you to climb just climb safely but most of be free and enjoy your self.

My web site http://www.coldclimbs.co.uk covers many winter Ice Climbs in UK and if you ever fancied getting out with an experienced ice climber then feel free to drop me an email through my site

Adjustment capability is also important. A good scope will have little or no movement of reticle, nor should it. You don't want your aim reference point changing from one shot to next. Check for Parallax error as well. This is when slight changes in eye position change aim of scope. You can expect most quality rifle scopes to be parallax error-free to 100 yards. Magnification of target image is another item to consider. If you're hunting with a very powerful gun over a great distance this may be something you would want. Most time however you don't want any magnification, as it fiddles with your natural ability to reckon distance drop.

Finally make sure scope you buy is watertight; sealed tight as a drum, and totally fogproof. Keeping these things in mind while you're search for a new rifle scope will help you save money, heartache, and missed shots!