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.