See your way off the hill

First of all a happy new year to everyone.  I hope you had a good festive season and are ready for getting out onto the hills in 2013.

One of the tasks I perform at the MCofS is putting together our "Something for the weekend" safety messages for posting on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.  A recurrent message we put out through the winter months is to carry a torch, and spare batteries, and check that everyone in your party is doing the same.

I fell foul of that final point about three years ago this month.  I had my torch in my rucksack and was carrying spare batteries, so I was pretty confident I wasn't going to get benighted in deepest winter.  However, the mistake I made was to not check that my walking partner that day was also carrying a head torch and spare batteries.  My fault.  I should have remembered to check with him before we set off that day.

We did get down off the hill, but with only one torch between two it took us an extra hour and a half.  Lesson learned!

How many others remember to check with the rest of their party before setting out?  For that matter, how many remember to carry spare batteries with them?

Checking with your party is something you need to do every time you go out, whereas devising a system for carrying spare batteries is something you can do this evening.

I've worked out that you can fit 6 AAA batteries (my head torch uses 3, so enough for two head torches) into an old camera film tub.  Readers under the age of 25 may be wondering what a camera film tub is!  They were common in the days before digital cameras.  We're talking last century.

If you still have an old film tub you can slot the batteries in there this evening and then keep the tub in a place that you won't forget when you pack your rucksack.  Inside your first aid kit is one possibility, or just keep the tub with your torch at all times.

I hope this piece of information will save someone from the slow descent off the hill that I once had.  Being able to see your way safely off the hill might even save your life sometime.

Oh, and just one final thought on this.  It is worth practicing changing head torch batteries in the dark, and the wet, and the cold! 

Winter to Summer in Less Than a Week

What a turnaround in our weather these last few days.  We had a week off recently and got out for three days on the hills.  Corbetts to be more specific.

Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th we were in the Glenfinnan area and managed to take in 5 Corbetts.  Sgurr Ghiubhsachain and Sgorr Craobh a' Chaorainn on the Tuesday and An Stac, Rois-Bheinn and Sgurr na Ba Glaise on the Wednesday.  We enjoyed some sunshine and fantastic views, but it was cold, there were a number of snow showers and the snow was lying to below 2,500 feet.

By Sunday 20th we were down in Dumfries & Galloway and had a very enjoyable walk/run around the circuit of Hart Fell in wall-to-wall sunshine.  The transition from winter to summer had taken place in a matter of a few days.

And now on Friday 25th I find myself at work putting out messages warning of the dangers of hyperthermia, heat stroke and dehydration; oh and adders as well.

Something we have started doing over the last few months is putting out messages on a Friday via Twitter, Facebook and our website, warning of the main danger or hazard that hillgoers are likely to face over the coming weekend.

From the retweets we are getting and the occasional message reaching the BBC Scotland news webpages, we are confident that we are reaching a wide audience with these messages.  By getting these messages out to increasing numbers of walkers and climbers we feel that we should be contributing to improved levels of mountain safety awareness.

Although we will never know it, one or more of these messages may well prevent a mountain rescue incident at some point.

If you do read this blog then do look out for our "Something for the weekend" messages in the future.  Follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook and look out for our postings on Fridays.  Our Twitter Friday safety messages will have the hash tag #sftwe.