Monthly Archives: January 2015

Lakes Camping January

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So it’s been a while since we went winter wild camping in the Lakes, and we thought it would be good to do again.

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The aims for the weekend were to find some snow, walk a long way over many hills and use our expensive tent, rucksacks, sleeping bags that are lying around not doing much. The van was also designed to make such wild camping trips easier, but we haven’t got around to doing this.

What we found was:
The majority of the snow had melted. There was still enough, and we did use crampons once, but not the bucketfuls I was hoping for.
The winds were much stronger than expected, from a different direction, and with heavy bags on a narrow snowy ridge, this provided much needed entertainment and some potential nasty knee problems. We were almost reduced to a crawl, which is something I haven’t done for a very long time. Luckily the knee seems to be holding up and getting better.

We did manage 12 Wainwrights near Braithwaite for those that count such things, including Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Whiteside, Grasmoor, Whiteless Pike, Wandope, Eel Crag, Sail, Scar Crags, Causey Pike, Outerside, Barrow. Since we were in the cloud all weekend, I still need to do them again to get a view.

We also managed to forget about using the gas canister for a weekend in the autumn, meaning we took a nearly empty one. We just about scraped by; melting snow and getting it just hot enough for the dehydrated meals. The lack of food and drink made the night colder and longer, with an interruption by some mad mountain bikers coming nearby around 8pm. In the morning we dashed back to the van to avoid the rain and find some water. The van then came into its own by providing endless hot drinks and hot lunch and snacks, although it took me until mid Monday to get back to normal. I’ll triple check the gas next time.

Looks like we still have some things to learn about winter camping, so will give it another shot in a few years time. Maybe earlier if we use something cosier like a bothy or snowhole.

New Year in Glen Shiel

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Links to more Photos:
Dave’s Photos (trying flickr out)
Jo’s Photos (still struggling with picasa/google)

The most fresh snow we saw over our New Year trip to the Highlands was in Bradwell on the night before we left. Dave had arrived earlier that day to discover that the forecasts he had been using to deduce that we would be fine getting out in the morning unfortunately did not refer to the Bradwell in the Peak District, where in fact we were and where heavy snow was now falling. However, some pre-emptive action (leaving the car at the bottom of the hill) and some efficient gritting meant that we successfully escaped. In fact we were rather surprised to arrive first at Shiel Lodge, after narrowly avoiding being tempted out by a snowy, sunny Glencoe.

Luckily, that wasn’t quite all the sun and snow for the trip. We had a couple of great winter days out on part of the South Shiel Ridge and on the Three Brothers of Kintail, with snow-covered tops, some interesting ridgy bits and a whole day of alpine views. Best winter walking days for ages, and finally proof that the winter photos in the Munro book might actually not have been faked… It was also a good chance to practice a bit of snow examination and avalanche awareness without a howling gale for once, not to mention some boot skiing on the way down.

Inevitably, the snow all but disappeared and the rain and gales returned, but we managed to get up A’Ghlas-bheinn near Morvich and then Beinn a’ Chapuill near Glenelg on the two subsequent days. Both pretty wild but with surprisingly good views, and a splendid way to work up an appetite for DC and Mary’s excellent New Year’s Eve dinner! Even worse weather the next day encouraged us to get up late, enjoy a brunch of bacon, eggs and waffles, and later make a token effort by wandering along Loch Duich to the cemetery beyond Ratagan and going to visit the local llamas. We still got soaked.

On the final full day we ignored the predicted risk of whiteouts and thunder for a really quite pleasant ascent of Sgurr Airgid near Morvich. Increasingly windy and icy underfoot, but also wonderful winter light and snow-dusted views (at least when it wasn’t hailing), and all the better for being so unexpected. The light was so good that we went out again to inspect Eilean Donan – by which time, of course, it was dull and drizzly again, but we had fun nosing around the shore and the brightly-painted village of Dornie.

We bagged a final bonus Corbett on the way home: another glorious day, so we stopped at Kinlochleven to run up Garbh Bheinn and salivate over the Mamores. Another marvellous ridge (even if the steep nose was a little reminiscent of our scree-running-on-ice experience in Kyrgyzstan), and great to be among the mountains for a little longer.

So, some reward for the past three years of miserable Scottish winter weather – but hopefully that’s not it for another three…