The Scottish National Sports Centre, Glenmore Lodge (01479 861256) offers a similar programme based at Aviemore.What you take into the mountains is fundamental to your comfort and safety. Protective clothing doesn't have to be GoreTex, though many manufacturers use this fabric for their top-of-the-range gear Most important are the design and fit of the garments. Lowe Alpine use their own breathable fabric, Triplepoint Ceramic, and Paramo clothing relies on regular treatment of non-waterproof fabrics for optimum breathability and water-resistance.Boots need to be both water-resistant and suitable for use with crampons. Plastic shelled boots are frequently used, but tend to be uncomfortable if worn day in, day out. Salomon now produce leather mountaineering boots (the Super Mountain range) which include lots of innovations, derived in part from their ski-boot experience. A boot which sprouts crampons from the sole unit at the touch of a button (after Rosa Kleb in From Russia With Love) is keenly awaited.For both clothing and specialist climbing hardware, the best advice is available from your instructors, and specialist retailers such as Cotswold Outdoor (01285 643434). Half the fun of winter mountaineering is in gratifying pent-up gear lust But keep in mind more mundane equipment, such as gloves.
We wondered, for several soggy, cold hours, why our instructors had a minimum of four pairs, until we realised that no one, other than Marigold, has managed to produce finger-bags that keep the water out for long.. Do you spend eight hours and 42 minutes sleeping every day? Do you watch the television for about two hours and 33 minutes, and spend an hour eating at home, another hour socialising, and between 40 and 50 minutes on your personal care? If all of these apply to you, then you are absolutely average according to the latest edition of Social Trends, that indispensable manual from the Office of National Statistics. The same had happened in St Moritz in 1928 while, four years later in Lake Placid, the four-man event was delayed until after the closing ceremony.Having gone off first yesterday, Olsson put the Union Jack at the top of the Olympic leader board for the first time since Tout and Lenny Paul led the two man competition after the first two runs at Albertville in 1992.However, they slipped back on the second day to finish sixth - which was the only reminder Olsson needed yesterday to take nothing for granted.. At Grenoble in 1968, Eugenio Monti won the Gold over two runs after officials cancelled the second day because of a thaw. "I'd have obviously settled for being in a medal place at the end of the first day, so it's tremendously pleasing to be right up there," said Olsson, "but we've still got it all to do over the final two runs."We won both our world cup bronze medals at Winterberg and La Plagne this season in rainy conditions so hopefully that's a good omen."Olsson held a 0.11-second advantage over third-placed Christian Reich of Switzerland, and was 0.16sec ahead of the previous track record holder, Brian Shimer of America who was in fourth place.Under Olympic rules, a minimum two runs must take place for medals to be awarded.
Since then Britain have not won an Olympic medal outside the ice rink.At the last Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, when Olsson finished eighth, team-mate Mark Tout's fifth place was the best British performance in the four man since Frederick McEvoy won the Bronze medal at Garmish-Partenkirchen in 1936. IN the land of the Rising Sun, Sean Olsson still had to endure the longest night of his bobsleighing career knowing Britain's first medal of the Winter Olympics was within grasp. The British champion and his Zanussi crew of fellow paratrooper Dean Ward, "civvy" Courtney Rumbolt and Royal Marine Paul Attwood, were in second place overnight in the four-man competition after heavy rain forced the cancellation of yesterday's second run on Nagano's Spiral track. And for once, rain was good news for British sporting aspirations because a three-run race offers more of an advantage to crews already in the medal positions than those looking to catch up.Olsson had promised that the British quartet would be "awesome" off the top and he was true to his word as they smashed the previous start record from the No 1 slot in the draw.Their time over the first 50 metres of 4.83 seconds was only bettered by Germany's Christoph Langen who clocked a staggering 4.78 seconds on his way to snatching the lead in a new track record time of 52.70.But Olsson, who produced the run of his life to get down in 52.77 - just 0.6 seconds outside the previous track record - still clocked the fastest speed of 130kph."We've got to be more than happy with the way things have gone so far," said the 30-year-old Para, seeking to become Britain's first Olympic medal winner since Tony Nash drove Robin Dixon to gold in Innsbruck 34 years ago. Exactly how many players were involved and the extent of the damage was not certain, a spokesman added.This was not the first case of vandalism at these Games: the Austrian snowboarding world champion, Martin Freindanetz, had his Games accreditation revoked by delegation officials after trashing his hotel room in the wake of a disappointing Olympic showing.Having a smashing time yesterday, in the strictly legal sense, was the Italian Deborah Compagnoni, who went into the Olympic record books when she won the women's giant slalom for her third gold medal in three successive Games.The 27-year-old won in a combined time of 2min 50.59sec to finish more than a 1.5sec ahead of second-placed Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria as she became the first female Alpine skier to manage such an Olympic run.Compagnoni won her first gold in the Super-G in Albertville in 1994 and then took the giant slalom two years later in Lillehammer before yesterday's success.. Then he slowly got up and joined his team-mates for the post-game handshake.He had his first chance at an Olympic gold medal because the NHL, for the first time, let its players participate Now, the best he can do is win a bronze today.