Hillwalking Thread

[RH33]

On 05/05/2022 at 10:02, Day of the Lords said:

A rest day today partly because the weather's shite in Ullapool and also my gear is all still drying out after a total soaking Glas Beinn, my 40th Corbett. Straight up and down the "baggers route" as early "it might stay dry after all" optimism was replaced with horizontal rain and a total fucking soaking. Consoled myself with some Lochinver pies. Tremendous.


 

Over rated.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Over rated.

The hill or the pies? [emoji23]

[RH33]

Just now, Day of the Lords said:

The hill or the pies?

Pies

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Pies

Nooooooo. Mine were tremendous tbf.

The shop's been taken over now and the sit down bit isn't open. Bit of a pisser when we were fucking frozen, still soaking after the aforementioned hill and standing in a queue for pies [emoji58]

I was about 20 quid for 4. A bargain next to the £15.95 fish supper in Ullapool [emoji23]

[Swello]

21 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

£15.95 fish supper in Ullapool

EH? Where was that from - the place that is attached to the Seaforth?

[Benjamin_Nevis]

EH? Where was that from - the place that is attached to the Seaforth?

Aye. I asked for a Large tbf [emoji23]

[RH33]

1 hour ago, Day of the Lords said:

Aye. I asked for a Large tbf

If the fish is fresh and that tastes half as good as it looks theb £15 is fine.

[Chinatoon Bairn]

Have began looking at some camping gear that I can put to use over the summer months as I've had enough looking at 3+ hour drives and going "that might be a bit much". If anyone would be able to recommend a decent 1/2 man tent that would be appreciated, no real specific price range.

Doesn't have to be anything extreme, just something that is reliably going to get me through the nights in reasonable conditions.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Chinatoon Bairn

[Swello]

2 hours ago, Chinatoon Bairn said:

Have began looking at some camping gear that I can put to use over the summer months as I've had enough looking at 3+ hour drives and going "that might be a bit much". If anyone would be able to recommend a decent 1/2 man tent that would be appreciated, no real specific price range.

Doesn't have to be anything extreme, just something that is reliably going to get me through the nights in reasonable conditions.

A lot depends on how you're going to use it. If you are planning to carry it into places and use it as a base, then you can get away with something a bit heavier (and the extra space and strength will be useful), if you plan to carry it over the hills with you, you might want to think about lightness and packed size. 

Will you use it in winter as well as Spring/Summer/Autumn? 4 season tents come with a bit of a weight penalty.

If you're planning to camp on summits and/or reasonably exposed places, that would probably change things too.

I think Alpkit do a good range of tents that aren't silly money but are very decent for UK conditions - might be a good place to start (I think @Day of the Lords has one actually). If you want to go cheaper, there are a lot of chinese brand tents that seem to get reviewed quite well but it's a bit of pot luck in terms of customer service and no-one really knows how long they last. If you want to go expensive, you can look at brands like Hilleberg (which are fantastic tents but are genuinely silly money).

For info - my main tent is the Tarptent Scarp 1, which I think is genuinely amazing after a lot of four season use. I've had a lot of tents and done a lot of research and I think it might be the best combination of weight, strength, space and cost that I've seen. Drawback is that despite (apparently) being designed for Scottish/UK conditions, it's made in the US and not sold here - you have to mail order them direct from the guy that makes them. It's also not cheap - but not at outrageous levels if you are going to get a lot of use out of it. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

A lot depends on how you're going to use it. If you are planning to carry it into places and use it as a base, then you can get away with something a bit heavier (and the extra space and strength will be useful), if you plan to carry it over the hills with you, you might want to think about lightness and packed size. 
Will you use it in winter as well as Spring/Summer/Autumn? 4 season tents come with a bit of a weight penalty.
If you're planning to camp on summits and/or reasonably exposed places, that would probably change things too.
I think Alpkit do a good range of tents that aren't silly money but are very decent for UK conditions - might be a good place to start (I think [mention=15829]Day of the Lords[/mention] has one actually). If you want to go cheaper, there are a lot of chinese brand tents that seem to get reviewed quite well but it's a bit of pot luck in terms of customer service and no-one really knows how long they last. If you want to go expensive, you can look at brands like Hilleberg (which are fantastic tents but are genuinely silly money).
For info - my main tent is the Tarptent Scarp 1, which I think is genuinely amazing after a lot of four season use. I've had a lot of tents and done a lot of research and I think it might be the best combination of weight, strength, space and cost that I've seen. Drawback is that despite (apparently) being designed for Scottish/UK conditions, it's made in the US and not sold here - you have to mail order them direct from the guy that makes them. It's also not cheap - but not at outrageous levels if you are going to get a lot of use out of it. 

Yeah I've got the Alpkit Solo. It's a fine one man tent, coats about £100, is really easy to pitch and weighs about 1.3kg. Best to pitch it facing into the wind though, given the design. I've used it for low level and summit camps.

[Chinatoon Bairn]

15 hours ago, Swello said:

A lot depends on how you're going to use it. If you are planning to carry it into places and use it as a base, then you can get away with something a bit heavier (and the extra space and strength will be useful), if you plan to carry it over the hills with you, you might want to think about lightness and packed size. 

Will you use it in winter as well as Spring/Summer/Autumn? 4 season tents come with a bit of a weight penalty.

If you're planning to camp on summits and/or reasonably exposed places, that would probably change things too.

I think Alpkit do a good range of tents that aren't silly money but are very decent for UK conditions - might be a good place to start (I think @Day of the Lords has one actually). If you want to go cheaper, there are a lot of chinese brand tents that seem to get reviewed quite well but it's a bit of pot luck in terms of customer service and no-one really knows how long they last. If you want to go expensive, you can look at brands like Hilleberg (which are fantastic tents but are genuinely silly money).

For info - my main tent is the Tarptent Scarp 1, which I think is genuinely amazing after a lot of four season use. I've had a lot of tents and done a lot of research and I think it might be the best combination of weight, strength, space and cost that I've seen. Drawback is that despite (apparently) being designed for Scottish/UK conditions, it's made in the US and not sold here - you have to mail order them direct from the guy that makes them. It's also not cheap - but not at outrageous levels if you are going to get a lot of use out of it. 

Thinking at the moment is something lightweight that will be easy enough to take over the hills with me. Basically looking for a way to eliminate the early rises in the mornings I am going walking seeing as the current plan is ~4:30am rise for a ~7:30 start on the hills, so a case of driving up in the evenings and propping up a slight way into the route.

I'm not exactly looking for something that will cover all four seasons, I'm reasonably happy to buy another better equipped tent for that but if I come across a well recommended one that does so I'm fine with spending. Really just something that will be able to get me through nights from around May-September.

So basically primarily low level, late spring-summer camps are the target I'm looking at.

[Florentine_Pogen]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/27/highland-hounds-take-on-scotland-munros-as-mountain-hikes-rise-in-popularity

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Excellent day today, climbed the three Glen Dessart munros in glorious conditions with the addition of a bonus Corbett. Tough but rewarding. Also got my 250th Munro on Sgurr nan Coireachean.

[vikingTON]

Nowhere near as arduous as the above, but I started the day at Rhubodach at the Kyles of Bute and linked up with the West Island Way down to Ettrick Bay, then to the other side of the island at Port Bannatyne (pub) and finally Rothesay for the boat home. 

Much of Bute was superb as ever but unfortunately the forestry industry has turned the West Island Way around Rhubodach into something that looks like it came out of the trenches of the First World War. There has to be a better way of managing land than the nick that commercial forestry leaves in its tracks. 

[vikingTON]

On 08/03/2022 at 21:35, Day of the Lords said:

I've had these for about 3 years:

https://alpkit.com/products/compact-hiker-twins

Pretty light, pretty cheap and fold down small enough to be chucked inside the rucksack if required. They're also the snaplock type rather than telescopic/twist fittings which used to utterly boil my piss.

 

On 09/03/2022 at 08:18, Swello said:

I've used Black Diamond "Z-Pole" type for the past 7 or 8 years after getting pissed off with Leki poles collapsing and/or getting stuck - they are expensive though. Apart from the not collapsing part, they fold up really small, so can be stashed away when scrambly or winter stuff take over.

Follow up: I went for Alpkit - can't believe I didn't actually think about them before asking, as half my camping equipment comes from them already.

The twin poles weren't (and still aren't) in stock so I got a single carbon pole at the slightly higher price range instead. No infuriating collapses like the previous efforts, although I need to get a broader foot to stop it from slipping. Still a much better than spraining an ankle at 350m and 9 miles from Brodick as I did on Arran - having forgot to pack the pole at all. Or a support, or even painkillers. 

Would highly recommend a carbon pole to anyone on the thread, as the Alpkit version is so light and compact you won't even know that you're carrying it. 

 

[IrishBhoy]

On 20/03/2022 at 20:44, MONKMAN said:

Buachaille etiv mor on Monday, visibility and weather shit all day. 

 

Planning Buachallie for the Summer, possibly the Curved Ridge if I can find a climbing partner. Is it a straight forward enough walk up the front even in Winter conditions? Ive been told there’s a couple of bouldery sections that require some care but nothing too difficult. 
 

 

That picture was from my last day out on the hills, mid January about 3/4 of the way up Ben Vane. Waist deep in snow and what felt like a never ending slog to the summit, but probably the most enjoyable day I’ve spent tackling a munro. The false summits of Vane are bad enough on a nice clear day, they were a form of torture when dragging yourself through 3 feet of untouched snow. 

[Swello]

8 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

Excellent day today, climbed the three Glen Dessart munros in glorious conditions with the addition of a bonus Corbett. Tough but rewarding. Also got my 250th Munro on Sgurr nan Coireachean.

Brilliant effort to get to 250 (the same Munro was my 200th) - and that is a huge day out. I'm assuming the Corbett was Breachd-laoidh rather than heading out to Ben Aden after Sgurr na Ciche?

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Brilliant effort to get to 250 (the same Munro was my 200th) - and that is a huge day out. I'm assuming the Corbett was Breachd-laoidh rather than heading out to Ben Aden after Sgurr na Ciche?

Cheers Swello, Aye after Coireachean I felt pretty good so went for it. Also because the descent off its SW ridge looked a lot better than coming down Coireachean.

Ben Aden looks tremendous but linking the two whilst "entertaining" looked both brutal and probably very time consuming. Planning to get that with a camp near the double dams after a kayak along Loch Quoich.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Follow up: I went for Alpkit - can't believe I didn't actually think about them before asking, as half my camping equipment comes from them already.
The twin poles weren't (and still aren't) in stock so I got a single carbon pole at the slightly higher price range instead. No infuriating collapses like the previous efforts, although I need to get a broader foot to stop it from slipping. Still a much better than spraining an ankle at 350m and 9 miles from Brodick as I did on Arran - having forgot to pack the pole at all. Or a support, or even painkillers. 
Would highly recommend a carbon pole to anyone on the thread, as the Alpkit version is so light and compact you won't even know that you're carrying it. 
 

Excellent stuff. I'm a total Alpkit fanboy tbh [emoji23]

I do need to think about renewing my poles though as the ones I previously linked had been through about 70 munros and taken a fair bit of punishment. The carbon efforts sound good so I'll go for them

[Benjamin_Nevis]

On 29/05/2022 at 06:00, IrishBhoy said:

Planning Buachallie for the Summer, possibly the Curved Ridge if I can find a climbing partner. Is it a straight forward enough walk up the front even in Winter conditions? Ive been told there’s a couple of bouldery sections that require some care but nothing too difficult. 
 

I  haven't done Curved Ridge yet but I believe it's on a similar level to the Aonach Eagach. The "standard route" up the corrie is straightforward with a path most of the way. There is a large boulderfield near the top of the corrie but from what I remember the route through it is pretty obvious. In winter conditions the main difficulty tends to be a large snow cornice at the top of Coire na Tulaich, which generally hangs about until early May.