2011: A hill walking year! (part one)

As this is my first post of 2011 I thought I would write a summary of the past years activities (although it was going to be short, it seems to be growing rapidly so I'll break it into sections). This year has been extremely busy with trips to Wales (Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia), Northern England (Lake District and Yorkshire Dales) and Scotland (Cairngorms, Glencoe and Kintail). With a variety of day walks and multi-day expeditions with some wild camps.


January
The year started in North Wales with unrelenting rain with a bit of hail for light relief. We stayed in Corris and made our way up to Dyfi Forest to attempt the walk described by John & Anne Nuttall in their book The Mountains of England and Wales Volume 1: Wales. I say attempted as the rivers were flowing down the roads in full spate and once out of the forest the wind was driving the hail into your eyes at full force. An interesting start to the year nevertheless!

The following weekend involved a trip to the Peak District, thankfully it was dry. It was cold, but not as bad as the previous November when the return trip from Stanage Edge involved negotiating Bamford Clough which had been turned into a steep ice rink by the 4x4 vehicles (some of which were being winched back up the hill!) The walk this day was instead up to Kinder, starting from Upper Booth via Crowden Brook. The viability was poor but you could certainly hear voices even if you could not see many people. The following day was a pleasant stroll around Bamford Moor with good views to Ladybower Reservoir below.

February
The month started with a trip to Scotland to go on a Winter Walking Skills course. This was organised by TISO and Climbmts, it involved a Friday evening chat about equipment in the TISO shop in Edinburgh and introduction to each other. Saturday morning we all headed off to the Glenshee Ski centre in the Cairngorms for a days training in self-arrest and the use of crampons etc. It was a fantastic day and good introduction to the skills required for winter walking.

By the middle of February a stay in Copper Valley just outside Coniston saw the arrival of snow early Saturday morning. As a result we awoke to find a wonderful carpet of snow through the valley and surrounding mountains. With the snow came streams of walkers up Coniston Old Man, many bottom shuffling their way back! With poor visibility we abandoned the planned circuit for a day of playing in the snow and practising walking with crampons without spearing yourself in the process.

March
The beginning of the month saw me back in the Lakes, this time up by Derwent Water. This was for a three-day navigation and leadership assessment for a walking holiday company. We spent a few days and nights traipsing the nearby fells looking for the slightest bump or tarn marked on the OS maps with a mixture of rain and snow to accompany the gusting wind. As it turned out it was a successful trip, but I didn't discover this until some time later.

Two weeks later and I was back in the Lakes, this time based at the Youth Hostel in Borrowdale. This is a lovely hostel in a good location, it can also be reached easily by bus from Keswick which is a bonus when you take the 5.40am train up from London. The purpose of this trip was to attend a ropework course, this isn't for climbing but more emergency use of the rope when leading groups in preperation for my Mountain Leader assessment later in the year. The organisers were Mountain Sense based in nearby Keswick, Chris who ran the day was very thorough and easygoing. The following day I headed off towards Dale Head, Hindscarth, Robinson and return by way of Fleetwith Pike and Honister. This was a really good day with some hazy views and interesting people en-route.

2011: A hill walking year! (part two)

This is the second part of my summary of 2011's hill walking exploits. For the first part of the year see the posting below.

April
A quiet month for walking, although I did manage to get back up to the Lakes for the Royal Wedding weekend. I made my first visit to Helvelyn via Dollywaggon Pike on a beautifully clear day, the following day was rather blustery so I cut short my planned Fairfield Horseshoe and descended into Grasmere. I arrived a little after midday on the day of the wedding and for the first time in my life I found the streets of the town deserted. It was a bit like an apocalyptic scene from the movies, the buildings were all intact but not a sole was to be seen. The next few days was taken up with an ML refresher course - steep ground management, more ropework, navigation and leadership. A mini-expedition took us over to Cockley Beck and around the Crinkle Crags with a wild camp in a fantastic spot above Lingcoye Beck with views of the Crinkle Crags.

May/June
A month later and I was off to Scotland, this time the logistics required the use of the car. After a stop off in Glasgow I took a late afternoon drive up past Loch Lomand, an area I had last visited in the 1980s. By the time I  reached the edge of Glencoe it was getting dark and I parked up near the Kings House Hotel, just off the A82 and headed off into the gloom to find a dry spot for an overnight camp. It was a short walk-in but fantastic to wake up on a mountain side away from it all. A quick ascent of  Beinn a' Chrulaiste and Meall Bhalach (both Corbetts) before the onward drive to Kintail on the west coast. A mixture of walks were undertaken this week, starting with a circuit incorporating Beinn Bhreac and Beinn Bhuide before returning through Morvich. The spate of the rivers, particularly Allt a' Ghlomaich meant our walk from Camas-luinie to the Falls of Glomach was curtailed a mere 500 metres from our destination. Over the next two days we tackled the South Shiel Ridge in two sections and bagged a few Munros in the process.

A long drive across country took me to the Cairngorms with an overnight camp in a secluded forest. The Glen Feshie area was an amazing place to go walking and relatively quiet away from the bulk of visitors to the National Park. After a long days walk around Carn Dearg Beag and Carn Dearg Mor I headed up to Glenmore Lodge and onto Ryvoan Bothy. This was my first trip to a bothy and here I found a DofE group camped outside on the flat grass and two inebriated students staying inside. This was an eventful evening as one of them cut his hand, requiring me to administer first aid treatment and sending them down to the Outdoor Centre for further assistance. They returned after midnight even worse for wear but with the cut glued together by the accident and emergency centre. I left early the next morning and headed up Meall a' Bhuachaille, Creagen Gorm and Craiggowrie before descending into Glenmore Forest. While following the forest tracks I saw a pair of Red Squirrels playing, not something I can see at home being surrounded as we are by Greys. The next few days were spent at Glenmore Lodge on a series of training courses.

2011: A hill walking year! (part three)

With the arrival of the warmer months there were increased opportunities for walking. However, while home was often basking in the heat (as the London based newspapers were keen to remind everyone) the journeys north saw a deterioration in the weather. Having said that I never experienced the torrential downpours that started the year in North Wales.

August
The beginning of August saw the opportunity to backpack across the central area of the Lake District. Another early start saw me catching the 5.40am from Euston to Oxenholme and onto Windermere. A cooked breakfast in Booth's by the station and a bus to Grasmere for the start of a three day hike. The first day took in Helm Crag, Gibson Knott and High Raise before finding a nice secluded area to camp with fantastic views across to the Pike of Stickle. The second day took me past Angle Tarn where a small group was still encamped and up to Scafell Pike via Broad Crag then down Broad Stand to the Esk and around Great Moss and passing through the col between Long Crag and Low Gait Crags to my overnight camp beneath Bowfell. Needless to say the view from the top of Scafell Pike was non-existent and a handful of weary walkers sheltered  in the lee of the cairn before descending into bright sunshine a few hundred metres below its summit. The final day took in Bowfell and a descent to the Dungeon Gill by The Band. With careful timing it was possible to indulge in a little refreshment at the hotel before catching the bus to Ambleside. A successful trip with three full days walking, two wild camps and all the bus and train connections worked perfectly. A few days walking around Malham area of the Yorkshire Dales National Park concluded the month.

Sunset over the Yorkshire Dales

September
Another trip to the Cairngorms occurred at the beginning of the month. Meeting up with Steve B we walked out from Glenmore Lodge to Bynack More and after observing the footpath repair work currently being undertaken we headed down to the Fords of Avon. Here the Emergency Refuge had been completely rebuilt a few weeks earlier and we managed to find two dryish patches to erect our tents, using the refuge for a place to chat & enjoy a brew. The next morning we headed along the north shore of the Loch to the Shelter Stone and up to Loch Etchachan where we saw a solitary Terra Nova Quasar. As we ascended Ben Macdui the winds increased and we both lost our footing to sudden squalls. As we finally reached the ski centre we saw the first person we had seen since midday the day before. We had had the hills completely to ourselves, but the day was not over yet. As the light started to fail we passed a herd of reindeer in the lower carpark and then headed off to find a dryish spot to pitch our tents. Easier said than done! The final day started early and within a couple of hours we were back at our cars ready to drive into Aviemore for a delayed cooked breakfast before the long drive home.

Fords of Avon Refuge

After a short rest I spent a week in the Brecon Beacons leading walks for a group on a walking holiday. They were a great bunch who came for a weeks walking and socialising in a new part of the country, During the week a variety of walks were offered including the waterfalls walk and one across the Black Mountains. My boots having died in the Cairngorms I managed to find a bargain in one of the many outdoor shops in Brecon and christened them on a 10 km hike up Corn Du, Pen-y-Fan and Cribyn.

2011: A hill walking year! (part four)

This is the final part of my look back on 2011. As the post are written in reverse order I have attempted to re-order them so they appear in number order. hopefully this makes sense. This is the last of four posts and it might be a useful to reminder to explain that I really intended to start afresh in the New Year, but thought that it might help to give a flavour of what I undertook over the last twelve months.

October
This was to be the most important month of the year as in the final week I would undergo my ML assessment in the Cairngorms. Before this however there was still more preparation and practising to do. At the start of the month I arranged to meet some of the others undertaking the assessment with me (we had previously met on a refresher course back in May). We booked into the Youth Hostel at Borrowdale in the Lake district and organised our own ropework and virtual river crossings (why get wet when you don't have to!) and navigation exercises. This was a fun few days with evening chats and communal cooking, although two of our group decided to camp up  on Rosethwaite Fell. The overnight winds encouraged an early departure and they apparently slid much of the way down to the valley.

The last week of October saw us all gathered together up in the Cairngorms ready for our assessment. While most drove I let the train take the strain as the old British Rail adverts used to say and caught a train up from Kings Cross to Pitlochry, arriving early evening. Interestingly the majority of us had attended our training courses back in 2009. Mine was at Plas y Brenin during an extremely hot July, thankfully it was a bit cooler up in Scotland and the promised snow hadn't yet arrived. It was an extremely busy week with lots of boxes to get ticked and a three-day expedition across the Cairngorms from Glenshee to Mar Lodge in a rather convoluted fashion. By the end of the week the majority of us passed but two were deferred on their navigation.

November
A short break and then off the Peak District to help with some leadership and navigation training. An interesting insight into how people think and act when out in the open countryside. It also makes you think about how you do things yourself, so very useful. Straight afterwards I headed to the Yorkshire Dales for a week of leading. Some fantastic walks in this area including Mallerstang Edge and Smardale. Some of which includes part of or is near the Coast to Coast walk that I would like to attempt in 2012. The month concluded with another trip to the Lake District, this time on a train the trainers type course based in the Langdale valley.

Smardale Bridge

For a variety of reasons December has been rather quiet on the walking front, although January is looking promising. To compensate I decided to take an introduction to climbing course at the local climbing wall. This is not something that comes naturally to me as I do prefer to have my feet firmly on the ground, but it was more enjoyable than I imagined it would be. So 2012 will hopefully build my confidence indoors at least.