So another visit to the doc today sets up tonight’s pithy Facebook response to last week’s Fisherfield piece:
Backslab off, brace on… Slioch *on*! :-)
15 May 2015
6 May 2015
Fisherfield through-trip and backslab
I was with Noel when I did it, except that I wasn’t with Noel. He’d dropped me off to start along the shorter, northern leg of the Kernsary Circular Path because I’d be continuing east after A’ Mhaighdean while he’d be cycling down the slightly longer, but infinitely more bike-friendly, southern leg because he’d be coming back out west. But here I was, heading into the remotest hill terrain in Scotland on Sunday night, in trainers but carrying boots, axe etc. as ‘insurance’ against conditions on the high tops, not yet two miles off the road on a section of path so straightforward I could have been walking down the street, when my right foot suddenly, inexplicably folded inwards with an ominous grating sound… (more…)
19 April 2015
In Pinn revisited
Last time I did the Inaccessible Pinnacle of Sgurr Dearg (with Noel Williams in October 2007) it was wet, windy and absolutely hairy enough to remain temporarily unmoved by the charms of its topping ‘Bolster Stone’ where my feet were never going to follow my hands on the day. But, despite guessing a significant proportion of satisfied recent ‘Munroists’ to have stood (or even sat?) no higher than the top of the pinnacle ‘proper’, I just couldn’t head for Slioch on 30 May without first topping this highest point left since the lightning strike of Spring 2007. (more…)
Comments Off on In Pinn revisited
29 March 2015
Munros, Tops and ‘Munro-lite’
A bit late in the day with just 12 of my 601 all-time Munro Tops left to do and Slioch waiting for 30 May but, prompted by Robin Campbell’s receipt of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture at last month’s Fort William Mountain Festival, I’ve finally bought and read The Munroist’s Companion. (more…)
Comments Off on Munros, Tops and ‘Munro-lite’
10 March 2015
Escape to the East
While a full weekend in Kirriemuir with Saturday ascent of Mayar and Driesh might have been nice had I been free to go sooner, it might equally have been too wet and windy even that far east to enjoy and would certainly have resulted in missing the excitement of the river engorged beyond anything I’ve seen in 25 years of Kinlochleven life, as photographed on my way out at c.2:00pm… (more…)
Comments Off on Escape to the East
16 February 2015
Beyond ‘buffeting’
‘Buffeting’ is a favourite word of the MWIS forecasts, carrying a windy warning with predictable (sometimes almost daily) regularity. But yesterday’s Northwest Highlands forecast didn’t say ‘buffeting’, it said ‘Southerly, marked increase with height to 50 to locally 60mph’ and ‘Walking conditions difficult across higher areas’. But, since it also said ‘Precipitation unlikely until nearly dusk’ and ‘Most summits cloud free’, I thought I’d just take the difficult walking conditions for an otherwise decent-looking day which (taking that 50 to 60mph as a baseline rather than peak figure?) turned out to be one of the windiest I’ve ever been stupid enough to spend on the hills! (more…)
Comments Off on Beyond ‘buffeting’
4 January 2015
Last of the missed deletions
While I’ve always regarded the Tops as part of the Munro game, I’d struggle to say exactly when the deleted summits became a non-negotiable part of my agenda. Pretty sure they were marked on the ‘3000 Plus’ wallchart I had as a student and kept for some years to record what I’d done, but that eventually got outdated through changes to subsequent editions and replaced by my custom digital mapping system. (more…)
Comments Off on Last of the missed deletions
31 December 2014
Plane over Moon over Dearg
Suddenly, after a largely lousy December for coincident good hill conditions and free time, forecasts were pointing to three or four consecutive grab-me-while-you-can days and I was off to start cleaning up the North-West… (more…)
Comments Off on Plane over Moon over Dearg
24 December 2014
Last of the Monadh Ruadh
This blog needs a ‘walking’ category. Can’t remember why I didn’t set one up in the first place (maybe I just thought I didn’t walk much?), but sometimes things get posted as ‘climbing’ or ‘running’ that are really more ‘walking’, so I just made a new category for them and hereby launch it with yesterday’s first ‘boots, axe and crampons’ (the last carried but not used) trip of the winter… (more…)
Comments Off on Last of the Monadh Ruadh
13 December 2014
eTrex 20
It’s not my first GPS device. I’ve got half a dozen now counting this new eTrex, two running watches (Forerunner 305 and 310XT), a nüvi 1390T for driving, a chart plotter on the boat and an old 8-channel GPS 45XL (which was my first), but most were bought for different purposes and only that old 45XL is truly superfluous now. (more…)