hilltrek

I pose this question because I looked at today’s weather forecast for Deeside and Lochnagar and it was awfull both on MWIS and the Met Office websites-snow showers, white out conditions, low cloud at around 700m, winds of 60 mph with gusts up to 85 mph, windchill at -15 degrees C. 

There were promises of good visibility.

A great day for a hill walk up a small hill.

I chose Cairn Leuchan,  a 700m summit near Ballater with a track to the top, with great views to Lochnagar – but not today.

In these conditions normally there is no-one fullhardy enough to walk up there but to day I met three others – two wearing Páramo- both Hilltrek customers – the other wearing Mountain Equipment.

Therefore when I was on the hill 75% of the hillwalkers were wearing Páramo.

Now why is that? Are Páramo wearers a mad, full-hardy, decrepit old bunch with no sense or do they trust their gear to work in all conditions. Perhaps it  is just a plain love for the outdoors.

My Páramo gear certainly worked – Alta Jacket, Velez Adventure Trousers, Grid baselayer, Core Insulator – despite sleety rain lower down, snow on top all being driven by a 60 mph wind.

Apologies for the lack of a photograph from the day , although I had packed in my camera the visibility was too poor.

Here is one I prepared earlier.

We recently received a letter from a Gentleman who had been given one of our Glencoe jackets as a gift from his daughter. His use of Ventile has exceeded 50 years, as you can see from his photographs.

The black & white image was taken in 1957 “on the hills above Cannich”, and shows the wearer in a Blacks of Greenock Ventile anorack.

The second image shows the Hilltrek Glencoe being put to use on a “day of driving rain in the hills North of Keswick”. The wearer also reported “not a drop of rain inside”.

Here’s to the continued use of Ventile in the hills.

On a beautiful frosty Sunday I met one of our customers Dr Gordon Watt of Alford in the Keiloch Car park at Invercauld near Braemar wearing an earlier version of our Glencoe Double Ventile Jacket.

He estimated that the jacket, which was in pristine condition, was at least 20 years old.  

Although now in his 80′s Dr Watt has been an expert telemark skier, cross country skier and hillwalker.  The Glencoe Jacket, which he used both for walking and telemark skiing, has had minor refurbishment once in 20 years and had a modified moleskin collar.

Dr Watt obviously cares for his gear as he showed us an early Mountain Equipment Duvet jacket, at least as old as the Glencoe Jacket, which had little loss of down feathers. He also bought one of the early Páramo smocks from Hilltrek.

According do his daughter Dr Watt is a bit of a outdoor jacket and gear fan. He was using a Garmin GPS to navigate along the path to Alltdourie.

A man after my own heart!

The 14th annual Ballater Walking Festival has just taken place with the event again being fully subscribed.

We sponsored the photographic competition which was won this year by Margaret O’Hara with a photo from Loch Muick.

To find out more about the Ballater Walking Festival and register your interest for 2012 see the  website.

Thanks to all local outdoor clubs who visited us on Sunday for our club day.  We had an excellent turnout from several clubs including Cults Hillwalking Club, Deeside Runners, Aboyne Ladies and Aberdeen Mountaineering Club.

As well as taking advantage of excellent deals, several bottles of wine and numerous cups of coffee were consumed while tales of 10K runs, munro bagging, ice climbs  and long range treks were shared.

The next event at Hilltrek will be the visit of Chris Townsend on April 16th.

Chris is a well known long distance walker with several firsts under his belt including the first 1600mile trek along the Rockies and the first continous climb of all the Munros and tops (Scottish Mountains over 300o ft first listed by Sir Hugh Munro).  As well as a gear reviewer in the TGO, Chris is an excellent writer and photographer, and on the day will sign his new book published by Cicerone on the Scottish Mountains called Scotland. Chris is also a Páramo fan and has recently tested our Foinaven Cotton AnalogyVentile Smock.  

We look forward to seeing you there.

For a start you have too be super fit.  If you don’t find the walk comfortable to achieve in summer conditions then do not attempt it in snowy conditions, especially when drifting snow can give snow depths of over 1 metre.

Preparation is key, know the weather forecast in detail, apply your local knowledge, tell some one where you are going and when you will be back.  Clothing in many layers, compass, map and all the common sense basics.   If you are not first out in the hills then you will gain the advantage of following in the footsteps of others but there will come a time when you need to cut a virgin trail through the snow, this is when things will get extremely tough going.  Take the space steady and work on a technique of walking that gives the best cutting motion through the snow,  I like to lead with my knee to shin and lean my weight slightly forward.  Walk on paths you know well,  it will surprise you how different they look when covered in deep snow, all the trees look the same, there is no path to guide your eye.  So, you need to work harder on examining the terrain and not just the terrain but the patterns on the snow.  Paths often are cut into the hill thus with any wind they get blown full of snow, often the deepest now will be on the path.  Examine the wind direction and see where the snow is being stripped down from, often a ridge line of a hill.  The snow will be more wind packed there and the pattern of the snow will resembles sand waves in a dessert.  But a word of warning, these are not golden rules, pocket of really deep snow will catch you out, the snow will give under you feed on snow condition that look identical so the only rule to follow is to concentrate on each step and be prepared to break through the snow with out warning.  This dictates a slow steady walking rhythm.  Listen to your body, it is easy to over heat, take on board liquids on a regular basis and food.  And start the return to home when you still feel energised as it will be just as hard getting back as hiking up as tiredness takes it toll.  Why, put yourself through this?  It can be fun making the first tracks, views to be had and just for the joy of walking in powder snow,  also the joints get a nice soft landing cushion.  There is much pleasure to be had but take care and be prepared.

Walking in powder snow is fun.  However, to keep it that way you need to make sure the wet does not get into your hiking boots.  Easier said than done, powder snow has that ability to find its way in regardless how tranquil the weather conditions are.  The only solution I have found to work is to wear a pair of snow gaiters.  The tip on buying gaiters is to select a good fit and make sure they have strap under your hiking boot.  In deep snow it is just so easy for the gaiter to ride up your leg.  The team at the Hilltrek store will be happy to share their advice with you.

Sunday was a cracker of a day, a damp cold valley floor soon crisped up as I walked up the Fungle where the puddles were mini ice rinks.  However, the Fungle lower down was a tricky walk, damp and slimy conditions under foot, damp rocks covered in leaves or needles, its all too easy to slip and give a musle a tear.  In the trees the exposed roots were well slick too, try and avoid those.  Once out into the expose moorlands the ground was pretty much frozen and the sun was warm.  Gannoch  was my destination 731 metres above sea level but before then I had to head down into Feughside to 200m metres before ascending again.  Under foot conditions were similar but this time I was heading above the general freezing level.  The path went from firm to bullet proof and had a dusting of snow that made for tricky conditions under foot.  Luckily I was still in full sunlight, just as well as the wind was picking up and it was biting.  I reach the snowy summit, views to the deep blue north  sea at Aberdeen to a view of the whole of the Cairngorms, Cairn Toul to Ben Avon, taking in the whole of Deeside, infact a 360 view of Aberdeenshire.  Jaw dropping.  But it wasn’t a day for hanging around.  I was heading home to Aboyne via Glen Tanar and that put me in the shade of the sun and the gentler slope meant the running water on the path had turned into min glaciers, real dangerous walking, especially when you are a 2 hour walk from home.  With the wind buffeting you down the slope you have to place every step with care.  Including watching out for a high altitude frog that had found a ray of sunlight further down the hill.  The deeper bogs were slightly frozen but not enough to hold my weight, so some jumping was required.  All in all the wind chill was allowing the cold to get to me but that was soon put right with the last climb of the day to head across to the Tower of Ess.  All in all 30km of tricky hillwalking conditions especially underfoot.  My feet were in great condition through out and I put that down to a pair of quality socks, purchase from Hilltrek.co.uk .

Autumn is much like Spring in terms of walking in the hills.  The range of weather conditions that you can experience in such short periods of time, temperature changes with altitude or your placing on a hill or valley make a big impact on.  With such variability having good logic behind the clothing layers you put on make a big difference to the comfort level you experience while out in the hills.  Today, the temperatures had been in negative numbers for much of the night so the valley floor frost was melting back in weakening sunlight come mid morning.  Therefore, it was cold.  The first layer to think about was a woolly hat, time to put that in your pocket, ventile walking trousers for me and then a T-shirt, fleece and outer light shell jacket.  All layers were needed for the valley floor, even the runners had their hats on today but then the steeper climbs of the Fungle make you warm up from the inside so the outer shell jacket was opened up plus the big zip in the front of my fleece.  In a deep valley and tree lined the wind was light, also, with just a 100  metres of verticle added, the air was not so cold  (cold air sinks).  So having the ability to cool down is important but then the open heather hill top paths exposes the wind.  Time to zip up again, even put the hat back on but then the sun gets warmer and a dip in the hills provides shelter, time to zip down again but then turn the shoulder of a hill and the wind is blowing across 30 miles un-interrupted from the Cairngorms and its time to wrap up again, even in the even warmer sun.  Then its time to head down towards the valley floor, shelter and sun but then the sun disappears and the breeze disappears and the still cold air is still around in pockets.  While it is not as cold as when starting out the fleece provides the warmth.  No rain or wintry precipitation on this walk but that will come real soon.

It is blowing a gale today in Aboyne and we are on the valley floor. What the conditions will be like up in the local hills let alone on Lochnagar or on the plateaus of the  Cairngorms?   Stormy I guess.  I have taken a few batterings from the wind over the years while out walking in both summer and winter.  I rate a blasting wind as one of the most dangerous weather conditions to be out in, I’d rather have it raining hard or -20c below.  While both these conditions have their dangers good outdoor clothing can keep you dry and warm.  However, add the wind to those conditions and life becomes real tricky.  Sure, the clothing will project from the elements but it does not help you keep your feet.  And keeping your feet on the ground is a critical and mandatory element of being able to walk.  It is also the unpredictability of the wind that makes it a top weather concern.  I recall walking up Meikle Pap on Lochnagar, it was a windy winters day.  It was windy from the car park but sheltered SE slopes were keeping the wind at bay until an exposed plateau delivered the gusting wind however, get close to the next SE slope and some shelter was to be gained again.  At the top  of the Pap, there is no plateau but an increasingly sharpening summit.  Not only are you now high enough for the uninterrupted storm force NW wind to hit you directly, you have the vexing of the wind around the summit twisting up the wind.  It is an un-nerving experience, your body knows it is in danger, it can not win.  What I like to do is to ‘listen’ to the wind.  You have to say, OK, today I will not get right to the summit today.  You learn the pattern of the wind, its gusting routine, this gives time to brace yourself to the mountain before making head way in the less severe troughs of wind.  The wind does not run like clock work so you have to keep alert to anomalies but if that is happening lot then heading down the hill is the best answer.

A windy day with rain or snow is even more challenging.  Here the windchill effect really comes to the fore.  While we all do our best to find outdoor clothing and equipment to keep us dry, rucksack need to be opened, gloves taken off and on etc.  The weather gets in.  And the wind just gives the rain and the snow much more energy to achieve that.  Once in, the wind adds it chilling effects.  When out walking in such conditions my goal is to find a place of shelter to perform those tasks.  Whether is be under a tree or lee side of a boulder or the side of a gully.  I use these places to prepare for the challenges ahead or to address changes in clothing or equipment.

In summary, it is the intelligence of the hill walker plus the performance clothing and equipment that makes you best prepared to walk in stormy conditions.