Ben Hiant

For once my planned alpine start went to plan. Instead of just saying I was going to get up early on my day off, I actually had to do it as I was meeting folk at the other end. I might get into the habit of it too as my drive up the usual A82 was clear and uneventful for a change. I ended up making such good time that I had time for a wee catnap in the motor while the Corran Ferry trundled back and forth.



Gradually the inkiness of the night gave way to the weak light of the morning. There was no spectacular sunrise. The day kind of just crept or sidled in quietly leaving the world with a washed out pastel look. The ferry crossing was quick and the choppy breeze drove the sleep from my body. As I shouldered my pack and wandered up the slip, I spied Steve and Elaina through the window of their hotel. 5 minutes later with a coffee in hand I was catching up on all the gossip while we a made last minute decision on our route.



The clouds were on the move and clearing out nicely by the time rucksacks and arses were being temporarily installed in the the car. The drive to our start point was an interesting one thanks to the bonkers driving style of some locals and the fantastic views of rugged wee hills and remote coastline of Loch Sunart. When we arrived at the start point overlooking Camas nan Geall the decision to strip all extra winter kit from our pack was immediate and unanimous. The sun was out and we saw no sign of this cracking winter we've been having. We had driven past some snow capped peaks but there was none this far west. Pleasant enough in fact for everyone to be wandering along in just a base layer for most of the day.




Thirsty Coo's





Our route followed the coast for a bit until Port a Chamais which made for a nice change to the norm of just bashing straight uphill. I like following coastlines as there's often loads of junk that washes up and terrain that's worth scrambling over which add a bit of interest to a walk. Having some water in your photies also adds some depth and contrast that I find is missing from my usual pics which usually just consist of mountains with more mountains behind.










Skimming stones...honestly just before the shot was taken I had ones that bounced 6 or 7 times. As soon as the camera went on...SPLASH!

As we turned inland our pace was steady and the views behind us were stunning. The sun was doing some nice things in the distant clouds and gave a lot of my shots a nice atmospheric silhouette effect. As we came around Stallachan Dubha towards the bulk of Ben Hiant we came across a large herd of deer which split and ran off in 3 different directions. I even managed to get some of them to not look like brown rocks in the photies.











We stopped for a bite to eat before heading up the main slopes of the hill. There were 2 or 3 differing lines of ascent discussed but when we got onto the slope we realised that it wasn't as steep as it looked from the distance and just went straight up, the same way some of those deer had gone. The slope leveled out into a nicely sheltered wee spot with the hill rising to our left. I was taking note of this as a potential bivy or wildcamp spot as we started off again. 10 minutes later we reached the secondary top we were climbing and I was erasing that last spot from memory in favour of this new one.








The Lighthouse at the Point of Ardnamurchan.

For such a wee hill (528m) Ben Hiant has some very varied terrain with lot of ups down and wee hidden bits. It also has some pretty commanding views of the area. We could see out to Rum, Eig and even make out the snow on the ridge of the Cuillin on Skye. After many photies we dropped down from our false summit and pushed on up the last short slop to the Trig Pillar and Cairn and congratulated ourselves on conquering such a mighty wee hill.







After lingering for a while the thought of a pint of The Red Macgregor eventually pulled us down the first hill path we had seen all day towards the eastern side of the hill and the road back to the viewpoint we parked at.




A lone sheep

A great day oot.

Cream crackered!

I'm not long in from a rather hectic nightshift. I've sorted out the pictures from the weekends adventures but I've run out of steam. Nodding off on the couch is'nae a good idea. The words'll come later...Aye, and it's great to catch up with pals you hav'nae seen for a wee while :O)

Some you win some you lose, but...

...I suppose everything balances out in the end anyway. I got a wee package in the post at work today from those nice chaps at Needle Sports. A while ago when I was ordering my Kahtoolas from them I mentioned my Grivel Airtechs with the dreaded GSB. I had read somewhere that you could "mod" them at "your own personal risk of course" to get rid of the prong and fit a Cramp-o-matic bail. The nice man on the other end of the phone told me he had a pair of front sections from last years G12 model which should fit. They could be mine for a donation to charity.





Well after much cursing and swearing, a sore finger and eventually being reduced to pleading with little bits of metal (christ, that's just a normal day at work for me!) I had to finally admit defeat. It wont fit. I could make it fit; but it would be more hassle than it's worth and probably a little dubious on the safety aspect anyway.

Ach well, never mind as they say. My GSB soles have plenty of life left in them yet, so my crampons won't fall off and I won't go hurtling to my death while trying desparately to remember how to ice axe brake...at least not any time soon that is.

There's a wee donation winging it's way here, where I'd like to think it will help in some small way.

I also found this rather appropriate (for this place anyway) beer when in Asda picking up a few essentials this afternoon. It'll probably taste disgusting but I'll be drinking it tonight while packing for tomorrow's adventures with some friends.



See, I told you it'd balance out nicely. Looking back at the page I've just written I see more wins than loses!

PS
Know anybody who needs a replacement pair of G12 front sections? In the spirit of goodwill and joy etc they're free to a good home.

Marmot Superhero first wee look

During my walk up An Caisteal and Beinn a Chroin the weekend before last I spent the first half of the day on snow capped hills with blue skies behind. As I scrambled down off An Caisteal and made my ascent of the second munro the weather closed in fairly quickly. I had biting winds in almost (but not quite full) whiteout with the windblown ice crystals stinging my face and eyes. I pulled up my trusty purple bufff and cursed myself for forgetting my goggles. My gloved hand was no real substitute for the goggles as it only works if the wind is blowing the right way (does it ever?) and only leaves one hand free to hold/use ice axe and compass. The icy wind cut right through my buff as if it wasn't there.



In that bloody frozen ,yet still fun and joyous, romp along the ridge I decided two things. First I would never forget my goggle in winter again and second I must get a more hardcore replacement for the trusty buff and beanie combo...




...and here it is.

It's the Marmot Superhero. It's not just a cool name there's some thought gone into its construction. It's all down to the clever use of the right fabric in the right place. I didn't want something made completely from windstopper as balaclava's that hardcore restrict your hearing a bit (think jogging with headphones on, a sensation I don't like) and would be too hot and sweaty when moving I think.

The superhero uses a mix two different polartec fabrics. You have the usual Polartec Powerstrech around your bonce to keep you warm and allow moisture out sound in etc. Round your face, ears and front neck you have Polartec Windpro to take the bite out of the icy blast.





The cut is quite clever too. It allows you to have your face exposed and the fabric grips around your'e chin snugly or you can pull the fabric up over your mouth and nose where it stays put. Often to my annoyance I find my buff slips down after a while so I'm quite pleased with this.

It's no heavier than a beanie, it feels well made and has a cosy snug feel the second you put it on. It's also comfortable under a hood and a helmet. I think it will become standard winter, grab automatically kit.

Abort Abort!

Tomorrow's...today's, aye whatever, Saturday's plan of walking up something pointy has changed. The "Band Of Brothers" DVD boxset has come into my possesion for a brief period, therefore my arse shall be in constant contact with the sofa this weekend only to be broken when on a brief mission across the room to put the kettle on (and find the biscuit tin). Beside's, the forecast is pish.

BPL Pole extender review

Back at the start of November I received a shiny purple walking pole extender, very kindly sent by Bob from www.backpackinglight.co.uk I've been using it since then and it's quickly replaced my home made effort from an old Alpkit Carbonlite handle section.


In...


...out.

Like all of the best ideas it is both simple yet ingenious. It weighs in somewhere around 45 grams and when using my Golite Shangri La 3 allows me to leave the standard 400ish grams pole at home. That's an enormous weight saving for less than £13! In fact by ditching the standard pole and using a light weight bivi or groundsheet, then I can have a solo shelter that's not too far off the weight of my Terra Nova Laser Competition and yet gives me the space of a 3 man shelter!



At first I was a little concerned about connecting my trekking poles in this way if the weather is going to be windy but I've been out in some pretty windy conditions with no problems at all. In fact the only reason I haven't thrown the standard pole out is so we can use it if we are base camped somewhere and leaving the tent up for a few days.





As the BPL extender has the expanding widgets on it, the direction you twist the thing to tighten is the the way you expect. Whereas my home made effort uses the expanders from the bottom two sections of the poles, so it tightens the wrong way. I know that sounds confusing but imagine trying to work out in your head which direction you should be twisting the thing when you've just woken up because it's blowing a hoolie outside and the fly is flapping like a washing left oot in a storm. Get it wrong and at best you'll get a face full of tent, at worst the wind grabs your sagging fly and something goes rip! Trust me, the BPL extender is the way to go here.





This really is a fantastic wee gadget! If you are using one of the many Tipi style shelters on the market such as the Golite Shangri La's, Black Diamond 'mids, Mountain Hardwear Kiva lite, Mountain Laurel Design 'mids etc. you can't go wrong with this cheap and functional wee gizmo.

Is that no' braw?

The view from Sron Gharbh on the way to An Caisteal yesterday