We've had the old arguments of mobile phones and hills, but here's a new one for you.

Netbooks on the mountian? For those of you who've been sleeping in Millican's cave for the last twelve months, a Netbook is basically a small laptop (7-10inch screen) with decent battery life and optimised for browsing 'tinternet on the move. There's a few different brands available, a couple of the better ones being the Asus EEE 901 and the Samsung N10. I nearly got the Asus, but the hard drive was too small, so the Samsung, affectionately known as a Sammy online, was the best option. With a battery life of over 7 hours and a large 10in screen, it's a brilliant piece of kit.

Not only that, but at 1kg you could conceivably take one on an overnight wild camp. To test it out, i took it for a walk up Yr Wyddfa last night and as you can see from the pics, managed to get online. There was nobody on MSN though to ask them to "guess where I am? No, Guess. You'll never get it. Go on though, guess!) If it does start a craze off though, you know where you read it first! Going to have to find a lighter version next and couple it to the Freeloader solar charger ;-)

Internet connection was using the N95 as a bluetooth modem, and speed wasn't overly impressive. That said, my home broadband is expensive and speedy so i'm spoilt in that regard. Some netbooks come with built in wireless broadband (such as the Asus eee901) but i'm waiting now for a smaller, lighter version.

Well, I've packed already and even made a home made lamb madras to enjoy on the slopes of Yr Wyddfa tomorrow evening... Unfortunately the port that was intended to accompany it hasn't survived the journey from the bottle to the rucsack. It might be a slow start in the morning!

Here's the gear list for the 3 day trip over the Welsh Metric 4 Peaks (51km, 3500m ascent).

ion torch 30g
Minimal 1st Aid Kit 80g
Silva E4 compass and BMC Map 150g
OMM Mountain Marathon 32 650g
Atomic Pants 150g
Montane Prism 360g
Laser Tent 1300g
Kettley Thing (no lid) 85g
Pocket Rocket 85g
spoon 15g
1 litre Platy 25g
2 litre platy 35g
titanium mug 70g
Montane 180 waterproof 180g
Alpkit Pipedream 800g
Thermo Max Pad 470g
Total Weight of Selected Items 4486g

Of course, that excludes worn items (i.e. clothes), food and consumables. The mobile isn't included, but some gear is shared so that will balance that out. Got to listen to the Welsh side thrash the Irish on Saturday!

It would be easy to take this below 4 kilos. The tent is rather heavy, but a spacious luxury that could be replaced by an under a kilo Laser Competition, the sleeping bag could be a good 2-300g lighter this time of year and the sleeping pad is an extravagance that could be cut down to 150g at the expense of a good night's sleep (and what does that weigh in as?)

To do all that, cutting the pack weight to nearer 3.5Kg would cost in the region of £500. Free weight loss would be leaving one platy and the mug at home, and technically some of the gear's shared as well.

Oh yes... I suppose the camera is the only cheat. Seeing as I'm going to be wearing it, I suppose it doesn't count ;-)

Right. First thing you need to know, most of the snow's gone. There might be some remaining on sheltered paths, but any that's there is likely to be more of a hindrance than fun.

Weekend Forecast.
High pressure's bringing plenty of cloud, with a high chance of some inversions on Saturday. It also seems at this stage that Saturday's going to have the drier, finer weather, with Sunday being cloudier, with some drizzle. On the upside, there's a chance of snow showers on Sunday on the very highest tops.

The one thing that's almost as good as snow, an inversion!

Summary.
Head for the highest tops on Saturday and hope for an inversion, sod the snow.

Popped up the PYG on Saturday. Snow was still hard in places, but was increasingly wet and slippery. Some were even climbing the snow gullies. Only three ill-equipped walkers on the PYG today, three guys, one pack between them and no winter gear (borderline line they had a flask). Was told at the summit they'd asked for directions down the Watkin. Again, surprised there were no serious incidents.
Some pics.

According to this link, the useful Sherpa buses are to finish after March as the Assembly withdraw their funding. It remains to be seen what real effect this will have on the service as it sounds like the first to blink will end up paying for it.

If the service is curtailed, or stopped then it will be a big blow to north Snowdonia. What they need is a more frequent service, so that you're not stranded for hours on end until the next bus or rushing down the mountain to get the only bus for ages (or the final one).