Expedition climber and Alpkit drinking partner Jerry Gore has got in touch with some seasonal ice climbing information for anyone heading out to the Southern Alps. Jerry moved to the Ecrins Massif in 2003. In between expeditions he runs his company AlpBase.com offering bespoke mountaineering courses on ice climbing, and providing apartments and chalet accommodation for climbers, walkers, skiers and snowboarders.

Every year in late July / early August a normally sleepy village at the foot of the big Ecrin mountains attracts more than 300 bronzed dudes looking for the little blocs. They shuffle around some of these blocs in the midday sun, cursing their tight shoes and dipping their hands in the little sacks around their waist. If you find yourself there and wondering what is going down, don’t worry, the chances are it is TAB time.

When you are spending your hard earned savings on expensive kit you want to know it is up to the job, you want information. Catalogues, magazines, shops and best of all your close network of friends have always been on hand but now technology is providing a broader user base of independent gear reviews. We take a look at one site that is leading this revolution.

If mountains are your bag then this site should feature highly in your list of favourites. We don’t know how many of you mountain people temporarily traversing cyberland do not already know about SummitPost.org, it is hard to believe there is anyone, but even if we manage to bring just one more person to this site we can say that we have done our bit.

Climbing attracts a lot of nutcases, it is one of the things that makes the world of climbing so interesting. Just hit your crag on the weekend or stare at people in your local climbing wall and wonder what is making them tick (whilst they wonder what the hell you are all about).