Hiking, Scrambling, Mountaineering, and Climbing

Climbing in cairngorm for us.

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Looks like you had a stunning day too

Moving to Edinburgh from down south for access to this - excited looking at your pics. Looks like two great days! And nice pics

The Mayar and Driesh Walk is such a beaut route and basically was why i decided to make the move 👌

How do you like those crampons? My boots don't take a crampon (I had to hire some over the weekend) so curious how you find them. I'll buy some winter boots eventually I guess but I'd probably fine with those 90% of the time.

Looks like a cracking day! And @rj too!

There were maybe 3 or 4 sections yesterday where we really could have done with crampons. It wasn't impossible, where we were there were no big run offs and if you'd slipped you wouldn't fall far. We just took our time. Worst bit really was where previously on the way up it was very very hard packed snow and solid ice, it turned very slushy as the sun was on it.

I do have C1 crampons for my B1 winter boots but unless I know its going to be severe winter weather, I use the Kahtoolah Microspikes instead. I was wearing trail shoes for most of it then swapped to Vivo Barefoot boots and was fine.

There was however a young lad going up Ben Lawers on his hands and knees. Wearing slip on Vans, a cheap woolie jumper and some shitty gloves. We were like er no get yourself back down this fucking hill. He was like nah I'll be alright. We were like OK, your life whatever. We spoke to two guys who were coming down, all the gear, proper equipped etc. Mentioned this kid, saying even if he manages to get up , he'll never get down again. They were like, right we'll speak to him. We didn't see him so assume they told him to go down. Absolutely insane.

Would add that walking poles saved the day. Indispensable. I do have a walking ice axe and again could have used it in a few places, but poles were enough.

Cheers, might get some of those then... Maybe with poles and an axe they're enough for the walks I'm interested in

We saw some folks similarly underprepared, one guy in skinny jeans and a girl with basically a handbag for a rucksack. They were sensible and turned back before it got too hairy.

We also saw tracks where someone without crampons/ice axe had slid right down to the bottom of that very steep snowy slope we were traversing in my pictures. There were footprints back onto the path lower down so they made it out fine but it must have been a massive slide, maybe 100m vertical!

Happened here

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Just took two of my nephews for their first taste of climbing.

Did the standard uncle thing of trying too hard to show off. Can barely raise my hands above my head!

They're both hooked. Job done!

Gave myself a big pat on the back for this one. By far the furthest I have ever walked in one day. I wanted to give my new backpack a proper comfort test, so loaded it up with my base weight and food for one day and went on an all day hike while keeping it on basically the whole time, unless filtering water or grabbing a snack. I stopped for 30 minutes combined across the whole day.

It was fucking roasting and I wore a sun hoody for the first time. Really liked it and liked it so much that I think I'm going to buy a hiking umbrella. Lol.

I am intrigued to know A) how much faster I'd have done it with a day pack and B) how much fresher would my legs have felt having not had a backpack.

On the back of this, I've decided to do my first thru hike in April, on the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. It's only 67 miles, but I think it'll be good. Close to home and there's phone signal for most of it, meaning it's not quite as isolated as many other long distance trails around here.

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Any reccos for a water filter? The type where you can fill your bottle from any bog/puddle and drink straight through it seem like they a good shout but are they too good to be true?
I'm doing the Summer Spine in June and they recommend carrying a filter. The kit list states minimum 3L carrying capacity but would be good to be able to use any water source without worrying about drinking sheep piss.

The standard Lifestraw is fucking massive so don't make that mistake like I did.

Sawyer Mini is popular amongst my friends. I just carry about 10l worth of chlorine things everywhere I go as they cost pennies

I plan on buying the Katadyn Be Free. Much better flow rate than Sawyer mini and no faffing with the back flush stuff

Looks and sounds epic. I'm jealous.

Thanks all, I've ordered a Katadyn despite their cheesey marketing videos! If I'm lucky it'll arrive before we leave for Snowdonia on Thursday morning.

but are they too good to be true?

Depends on what you expect them to do. They reduce your chances of ingesting something nasty but don't eliminate it. For what its worth, I would only consider using one on running water rather than a bog or puddle unless in an emergency situation and risking dehydration.

I have one (can't remember which type) but only really use it in the Alps when taking water from a stream that I know is underneath grazing pastures and I have no alternative. For me its an emergency measure rather than something to just stick in a puddle and drink away.

taking water from a stream that I know is underneath grazing pastures

TBH this is the main use case I see for me. All of my hill walking/running is in the UK and that normally means sheep or cows grazing on the land above the streams. I think a bog drink would be a last resort.

I personally wouldn't use a filtration system to routinely drink that sort of water...its more of a precaution that I take for multi day trips where running out of water would be a real safety issue. Obvs my opinion might not be justified.

This chat has reminded me of a safety lesson I learned last August in Switzerland.

Big day on remote 3500m summit. Found a lovely rushing stream to refill my water bottle from so ended up having too much water with me that day.

Went up the same route (for adjacent summit) 5 days later and decided to carry less water because I could refill in that stream. Got there...stream was gone!

Sawyer squeeze has a much much better flowrate than the mini, but it can't be used in line, and it's a bit bigger/heavier. (There's a micro squeeze that can be inline, no experience of it though)

Re -climbing and arborist stuff.
If you had to use and remember one knot what would it be ?

Sawyer mini sucks. Do not buy. Flow rate is just appalling.

I am liking my Platypus QuickDraw so far. It threads onto smartwater bottles as well as hydrapak’s as well as CNOC bags as well as… you see where this is going? It threads onto everything. Flow rate is good - not quite as fast as the befree but supposedly doesn’t clog as easily either and can be back flushed easily with no extra tools.

Oof. Yeah. I’m not looking forward to water drying up where I am. Usually happens by May. Results in long, long water carry’s.

Double figure 8. Safe, easy, just works.

Main competitor is the bowline which can be undone more easily when loaded but is harder to remember + get right every time (for me at least, maybe I’m just slow with knots)

I wonder if arborists every use an alpine butterly? Super useful knot for climbing and glacier travel...wondered if it ever gets used elsewhere?

I remember I used to sport climb with a mate who insisted on tying in with a bowline. Not only is it harder to tie but it's also harder to check if it's tied wrong. And anyway, figure 8s are just prettier knots