Well that winter didn't last long. Not even the end of March and already been hill walking in short sleeves. We managed 5 new Corbetts in a mega-weekend to Glen Dessary last week. A 9.5 hour day on Saturday & 12 hour day on Sunday. It was a long time (19 years) since I'd been to Glen Dessary, so good to get reacquainted with one of Scotland's finest mountain areas. There's still so much to do there, so no way I'm going to leave it so long before our next trip there.
Even though it was still March, it was so good to have that extra bit of daylight at the end of the day. Light until 8.00 p.m. Fantastic! From now on the days just get longer, but no matter what the month, there is always that danger of misjudging how long it will take to complete your route and you could end up benighted.
If you follow the MCofS on Facebook and Twitter you will have seen that we've really been pushing the "check your headtorches" message this winter. Take a look at the Mountain Rescue statistics in the 2010 report http://www.mcofs.org.uk/assets/scottish_mountain_rescue_incidents_2010.pdf and you will see that getting benighted is one of the main attributable reasons for incidents involving rescue teams. If everyone in your party has a headtorch with good batteries and spare batteries then you are unlikely to end up benighted and therefore less likely to become involved in a rescue incident.
Even as we go into the summer and enjoy the long evenings, it is still worth remembering the message about always carrying a good headtorch with plenty of battery power available.
As for current work in the MCofS office, we've been busy with several things this week. There have been a few updates on the MCofS Members' Discount Scheme pages on the website. http://www.mcofs.org.uk/discounts.asp We welcome the Braeside Guest House in Drymen to the Accommodation page and there's a few changes on the Short Term Offers page. Worth a look.
We've also sent out MCofS posters to the members of the Scottish Climbing Walls Network, so if you go to any of these walls look out for these posters.
We've also been promoting our upcoming Navigation courses, so if you are interested in these take a look at: http://www.mcofs.org.uk/navigation-courses.asp.
Unfortunately, the weather looks like returning to form tomorrow, just in time for the weekend, so a chance to rest up after last weekend's exertions. Hopefully this early season heatwave is a taste of the long hot summer of 2012 to come. We have a long list of Corbetts and kayak trips in mind, so more good weather please.
As always, don't forget to check MWIS http://www.mcofs.org.uk/weather-reports.asp for the weather forecast before you go out.
Friday, 30 March 2012
Monday, 12 December 2011
The snow & ice are back
Well, winter is here now & like most mountaineers I can't wait for the cold & sunny days to come. The clear air & long-distance views are what I love about winter in the hills. No heat haze to wipe out the distant views, just mountains as far as the eye can see.
Whilst we might be able to see further on a good day in winter, we can't see much at all when the weather clags in, & the length of daylight is significantly shorter during the winter months so the time window to take in the views is squeezed in at both ends. The rewards on a good day are fantastic, but as the MCofS Chief Officer, David Gibson, said in a MCofS news release last week: "
the margin for error is much less than at other times of the year due to the weather, conditions underfoot and limited daylight hours".
The MCofS in the last couple of weeks has announced its Winter Skills & Avalanche Awareness courses as well as the upcoming series of Winter Safety Lectures. Visit our Press Releases page & click on the two most recent entries (2nd & 9th December). I hope that lots of people will sign up for these courses & come along to the lectures. Heather Morning is working hard to get the winter safety message across and her work will hopefully lead to a further reduction in the number of incidents & casualties on the Scottish mountains.
I didn't have time to get out for a proper day on the hill yesterday, but I did go out with Perth Road Runners for their festive run to Loch Ordie above Dunkeld. Long stretches of the Land Rover tracks were covered in ice, so I tried out my new set of Yaktrax Pro ice grips on my running shoes. Wow, to say I was amazed would be a bit of an understatement. I was able to run on the sheet ice as if it were a pavement, & that was on the downhill stretches as well. In fact the sheet ice was easier to run on than the chossy snow in the middle of the track or the variable vegetation at the side of the track. My running on the sheet ice certainly drew the attention of passing walkers who probably thought I was just wearing a pair of running shoes!
Although he's not a runner, I've bought a pair of Yaktrax Pros for my Dad's Christmas present this year. Don't tell him, but I saved a couple of pounds by getting a MCofS discount on them. If you're still looking for presents then don't forget to use your MCofS membership card to claim some tasty discounts. Take a look at the Discounts area of our website before you head to the shops this week. http://www.mcofs.org.uk/discounts.asp
If you are stuck for a gift for a mountaineer in your life then don't forget the Gift of Membership offer that we have at the MCofS. This is a great way for you to buy a friend or relative a year's membership of the MCofS at a very reasonable price. Check out: http://www.mcofs.org.uk/gift-of-membership.asp.
Anyway, I hope you have a great Christmas & New Year, & that you get out to enjoy some time in the hills over the festive season. I also hope you will get along to a Winter Safety Lecture & use your membership card to get some discounts on your Christmas shopping.
All the best for 2012.
Whilst we might be able to see further on a good day in winter, we can't see much at all when the weather clags in, & the length of daylight is significantly shorter during the winter months so the time window to take in the views is squeezed in at both ends. The rewards on a good day are fantastic, but as the MCofS Chief Officer, David Gibson, said in a MCofS news release last week: "
the margin for error is much less than at other times of the year due to the weather, conditions underfoot and limited daylight hours".
The MCofS in the last couple of weeks has announced its Winter Skills & Avalanche Awareness courses as well as the upcoming series of Winter Safety Lectures. Visit our Press Releases page & click on the two most recent entries (2nd & 9th December). I hope that lots of people will sign up for these courses & come along to the lectures. Heather Morning is working hard to get the winter safety message across and her work will hopefully lead to a further reduction in the number of incidents & casualties on the Scottish mountains.
I didn't have time to get out for a proper day on the hill yesterday, but I did go out with Perth Road Runners for their festive run to Loch Ordie above Dunkeld. Long stretches of the Land Rover tracks were covered in ice, so I tried out my new set of Yaktrax Pro ice grips on my running shoes. Wow, to say I was amazed would be a bit of an understatement. I was able to run on the sheet ice as if it were a pavement, & that was on the downhill stretches as well. In fact the sheet ice was easier to run on than the chossy snow in the middle of the track or the variable vegetation at the side of the track. My running on the sheet ice certainly drew the attention of passing walkers who probably thought I was just wearing a pair of running shoes!
Although he's not a runner, I've bought a pair of Yaktrax Pros for my Dad's Christmas present this year. Don't tell him, but I saved a couple of pounds by getting a MCofS discount on them. If you're still looking for presents then don't forget to use your MCofS membership card to claim some tasty discounts. Take a look at the Discounts area of our website before you head to the shops this week. http://www.mcofs.org.uk/discounts.asp
If you are stuck for a gift for a mountaineer in your life then don't forget the Gift of Membership offer that we have at the MCofS. This is a great way for you to buy a friend or relative a year's membership of the MCofS at a very reasonable price. Check out: http://www.mcofs.org.uk/gift-of-membership.asp.
Anyway, I hope you have a great Christmas & New Year, & that you get out to enjoy some time in the hills over the festive season. I also hope you will get along to a Winter Safety Lecture & use your membership card to get some discounts on your Christmas shopping.
All the best for 2012.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Summer into Autumn
That was a great spell of weather we had last week, but talk about having to wait for some decent warm conditions. I must admit to giving up on our Scottish summer & heading off abroad for a week amongst some warm mountains. We had an amazing week in Slovenia & made it to the top of Triglav. Great mountain & some fantastic views. Our base was the village of Ribcev Laz at the eastern end of Lake Bohinj. It's a great area & anyone into their mountains should aim to go there at some point.
Getting back home in mid-September I started to make autumn plans for a few Corbetts, but a break in the weather provided the opportunity to get out midweek & grab a bit of late summer warmth. It's a long story but I ended up cycling the Formartine & Buchan Way from Dyce to Peterhead. Not that well known mountain route, but a great way to spend my birthday when I was in the north east anyway. A lot of good work is going into developing & promoting Scotland's Great Trails so it was good to check one of them out.
Now that we really are heading into autumn it is back to plans for Corbetts & I can feel a trip to Ardgour coming on. Meanwhile at work our thoughts are also turning to autumn & winter. The MCofS's winter safety initiatives are almost ready to go. We're at the Mountain Safety Day in Stirling tomorrow, then our autumn & winter courses are filling up quickly & we'll soon announce the dates & venues for the Winter Lecture Series. Keep an eye on our website & e-newsletters for this information as it becomes available.
On my own Membership Development side of the MCofS's work, today has been an exciting day as we launched a new membership initiative called The Gift of Membership. You can now buy someone special to you a year's membership of the MCofS. Whether it be for Xmas, birthday, anniversary or Valentine's Day, this is a superb gift that provides the recipient with the many benefits of MCofS membership, & you get to choose a free gift for that special person, so there is something tangible for them to get on the day.
Finally, a big CONGRATS to the G-Force who completed his first round of the Munros last weekend. Chased on by Wispa the Wonder Whippet, this was one driven man determined to get his name onto the Munros list. Read all about it on his partner's website.
Getting back home in mid-September I started to make autumn plans for a few Corbetts, but a break in the weather provided the opportunity to get out midweek & grab a bit of late summer warmth. It's a long story but I ended up cycling the Formartine & Buchan Way from Dyce to Peterhead. Not that well known mountain route, but a great way to spend my birthday when I was in the north east anyway. A lot of good work is going into developing & promoting Scotland's Great Trails so it was good to check one of them out.
Now that we really are heading into autumn it is back to plans for Corbetts & I can feel a trip to Ardgour coming on. Meanwhile at work our thoughts are also turning to autumn & winter. The MCofS's winter safety initiatives are almost ready to go. We're at the Mountain Safety Day in Stirling tomorrow, then our autumn & winter courses are filling up quickly & we'll soon announce the dates & venues for the Winter Lecture Series. Keep an eye on our website & e-newsletters for this information as it becomes available.
On my own Membership Development side of the MCofS's work, today has been an exciting day as we launched a new membership initiative called The Gift of Membership. You can now buy someone special to you a year's membership of the MCofS. Whether it be for Xmas, birthday, anniversary or Valentine's Day, this is a superb gift that provides the recipient with the many benefits of MCofS membership, & you get to choose a free gift for that special person, so there is something tangible for them to get on the day.
Finally, a big CONGRATS to the G-Force who completed his first round of the Munros last weekend. Chased on by Wispa the Wonder Whippet, this was one driven man determined to get his name onto the Munros list. Read all about it on his partner's website.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Borderline Hills
The Munro that has been on a bit of a diet has certainly made the headlines this week and the main talking point has been the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) announcement that it is taking some time out to decide how to react to The Munro Society survey that has measured Beinn a' Chlaidheimh at 44 centimetres short of the magic height. Will it or won't it be demoted to a Corbett? I don't want to add to that debate, but there are a couple of other issues that have sprung to my mind and which I will discuss here.
A number of the interviews this week have concentrated on what difference this will make to Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, as if it were a stand alone Munro for which hill walkers have to walk in for many hours just to reach one Munro. Beinn a' Chlaidheimh is still at the northern end of a ridge system with 4 peaks and still on the classic circuit of the Fisherfield mountains that many walkers tackle from Shenavall bothy. A hill walker going by the name of G-Force makes that point today on the Fiona Outdoors blog. G-Force says: "In any case, it wouldn't save much of a walk skirting round this mountain because you need to walk up on the ridge to reach the peaks of all of the Fisherfields. I'm not disappointed at all." I'm with G-Force on this one; to my mind the Fisherfield 6 will always be the Fisherfield 6, even if it becomes 5 Munros and 1 Corbett. It is still a fantastic mountain journey and we should celebrate living in a country that has such stunning mountains. Whatever their height.
The other point I want to raise was triggered by something Dave Hewitt wrote in the Caledonian Mercury. Dave's argument is that "resurveys generally reduce heights rather than adding to them" and suggests there is a trend in this downward direction. It is understandable for The Munro Society to be looking at the bottom end of the Munro's Tables and top end of the Corbett's Tables, but who is going to investigate the bottom end of the Corbett's Tables and top end of the Graham's Tables, or any other set of tables for that matter? Beinn na H-Uamha is regarded as the lowest Corbett, just scraping in at a marginal 762 metres (2,500 feet). Ben Loyal and Meall an Fhudair are also pretty close to the borderline with their current heights of 764 metres. Is the status of some of these hills in doubt now? I think they are. Dave has quite rightly identified a trend towards resurveys suggesting a lower height, but if a high Graham were to buck that trend then there could be a case for promoting a big Graham into a wee Corbett.
No doubt at some point someone will get round to resurveying some of the borderline hills in the other Tables. In the meantime there is plenty for hill walkers to chat about and no matter what happens, a good hill will always be a good hill. Ben Loyal will always be right up there amongst my favourites (see my last blog posting) even if it were to be relegated into the third tier of Scottish hill tables.
A number of the interviews this week have concentrated on what difference this will make to Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, as if it were a stand alone Munro for which hill walkers have to walk in for many hours just to reach one Munro. Beinn a' Chlaidheimh is still at the northern end of a ridge system with 4 peaks and still on the classic circuit of the Fisherfield mountains that many walkers tackle from Shenavall bothy. A hill walker going by the name of G-Force makes that point today on the Fiona Outdoors blog. G-Force says: "In any case, it wouldn't save much of a walk skirting round this mountain because you need to walk up on the ridge to reach the peaks of all of the Fisherfields. I'm not disappointed at all." I'm with G-Force on this one; to my mind the Fisherfield 6 will always be the Fisherfield 6, even if it becomes 5 Munros and 1 Corbett. It is still a fantastic mountain journey and we should celebrate living in a country that has such stunning mountains. Whatever their height.
The other point I want to raise was triggered by something Dave Hewitt wrote in the Caledonian Mercury. Dave's argument is that "resurveys generally reduce heights rather than adding to them" and suggests there is a trend in this downward direction. It is understandable for The Munro Society to be looking at the bottom end of the Munro's Tables and top end of the Corbett's Tables, but who is going to investigate the bottom end of the Corbett's Tables and top end of the Graham's Tables, or any other set of tables for that matter? Beinn na H-Uamha is regarded as the lowest Corbett, just scraping in at a marginal 762 metres (2,500 feet). Ben Loyal and Meall an Fhudair are also pretty close to the borderline with their current heights of 764 metres. Is the status of some of these hills in doubt now? I think they are. Dave has quite rightly identified a trend towards resurveys suggesting a lower height, but if a high Graham were to buck that trend then there could be a case for promoting a big Graham into a wee Corbett.
No doubt at some point someone will get round to resurveying some of the borderline hills in the other Tables. In the meantime there is plenty for hill walkers to chat about and no matter what happens, a good hill will always be a good hill. Ben Loyal will always be right up there amongst my favourites (see my last blog posting) even if it were to be relegated into the third tier of Scottish hill tables.
Thursday, 28 July 2011
The Far North At Its Absolute Best
I was asked recently to imagine that I had an overseas visitor staying with me and I had one day to take that visitor up one Scottish mountain of my choice. Which mountain would it be? It led to an interesting discussion, albeit with no firm conclusion. Possible candidates ranged from Sgurr Alasdair, Liathach, An Teallach, Beinn Eighe, Ben Nevis, Suilven and several others that I can't recall just now.
Roll forward a couple of weeks and we're up in Caithness for a few days. The weather in the far north was better than the rest of Scotland for most of that week and the Tuesday and Wednesday in particular were absolutely stunning. We decided to nip over the border into Sutherland for those two days and visit a hill that has been high on my list for many a year. Ben Loyal.
Wow, did we pick the right day! This was the north of Scotland at its absolute cracking best. Warm, but with no hint of heat haze. North Rona, which is 84 miles away, was visible with the naked eye & binoculars made it even more impressive to look at. We also found an interesting descent route off the west side of the hill just to add a bit more pleasure to an already top quality day.
A much sought after Corbett visited on one of the best days of the year. Possibly the best day of the year. And when that hypothetical overseas visitor comes to stay I might just take him/her up to Ben Loyal to show them the delights of a perfectly formed and beautiful Scottish mountain.
Roll forward a couple of weeks and we're up in Caithness for a few days. The weather in the far north was better than the rest of Scotland for most of that week and the Tuesday and Wednesday in particular were absolutely stunning. We decided to nip over the border into Sutherland for those two days and visit a hill that has been high on my list for many a year. Ben Loyal.
Wow, did we pick the right day! This was the north of Scotland at its absolute cracking best. Warm, but with no hint of heat haze. North Rona, which is 84 miles away, was visible with the naked eye & binoculars made it even more impressive to look at. We also found an interesting descent route off the west side of the hill just to add a bit more pleasure to an already top quality day.
A much sought after Corbett visited on one of the best days of the year. Possibly the best day of the year. And when that hypothetical overseas visitor comes to stay I might just take him/her up to Ben Loyal to show them the delights of a perfectly formed and beautiful Scottish mountain.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Cape Wrath Challenge
I have written a guest blog about my week at the Cape Wrath Challenge running week for Fiona Russell's "Fiona Outdoors" website. To have a read, go along to: http://networkedblogs.com/jwqbK
Monday, 21 March 2011
First Tick of the Year - March 20th
So much for the theory that says the hard winter will have hit Scotland's tick population. I found my first tick of the year on my right leg last night. I suspect I picked it up yesterday afternoon in my own garden, probably within 15 metres of the house, although it could have been on Saturday when I ran the Newtonmore 10 mile road race (in shorts) or when we went up Meall na h-Aisre in the afternoon (in gaiters). Most likely the garden I would say, in which case I picked up my first tick of 2011 on March 20th. My first tick of 2010 was on April 29th, so quite worrying that they're out so early this year compared to last.
Yesterday was mild though. Despite the breeze making it feel a bit cooler, our weather station recorded a high of 12.9C yesterday afternoon. That warm temperature was no doubt responsible for bringing the tick that attached itself to my leg out of the undergrowth.
I mention this in my blog, because ticks are probably not registering on most people's radars at this early stage in the year. Having previously suffered from Lyme Disease myself (2006) I'm keen to do my bit to communicate the message about taking precautions to avoid picking up ticks on your body and thereby reducing your chances of developing Lyme Disease.
To find out more about ticks & Lyme Disease I would recommend visiting the MCofS YouTube site to watch our 7 minute video on the subject.
Yesterday was mild though. Despite the breeze making it feel a bit cooler, our weather station recorded a high of 12.9C yesterday afternoon. That warm temperature was no doubt responsible for bringing the tick that attached itself to my leg out of the undergrowth.
I mention this in my blog, because ticks are probably not registering on most people's radars at this early stage in the year. Having previously suffered from Lyme Disease myself (2006) I'm keen to do my bit to communicate the message about taking precautions to avoid picking up ticks on your body and thereby reducing your chances of developing Lyme Disease.
To find out more about ticks & Lyme Disease I would recommend visiting the MCofS YouTube site to watch our 7 minute video on the subject.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
