Tarps, tents or tarptents video

In between heavy showers I spent a day with Cameron McNeish recently making some instructional videos for a new TGO website, which should be on line in September. The site will feature videos and we’ll be making plenty more in the future. Cameron was photographer, director and editor while I talked about and showed gear and techniques. As a taster Cameron has posted one of the videos on his website. This is about shelters for backpacking and the difference between the various types. Cameron and I hope you enjoy it and would like to know what you think. I’m sure some people will disagree with some of what I say!

Photo info: Tarp camping on the slopes of Ben Mor Assynt. Canon EOS 350D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm@21mm, 1/50@F8, ISO 200, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.4

Ultralight in the Cairngorms

My pack for the overnight trip in the Cairngorms described in the last post weighed 11.4kg . Without food and camera gear, which included a tripod, the base weight was around 8kg. Everything fitted easily into a 50 litre pack with room to spare so I thought my load compact and light. Until Colin Ibbotson stepped off the train in Aviemore with what appeared to be a medium sized stuffsack that is. I’d met Colin at the end of the TGO Challenge a couple of times. After this year’s Challenge he said he’d be interested in showing me his modified tarp, which he reckoned was just as stable as a lightweight tent, so we’d arranged this overnight trip. Since the Challenge Colin had designed and made his own ultralight pack, which he’d brought along for a first outing. That was the “stuffsack” he was carrying. It weighed 93 grams empty and was around 25-30 litres in capacity. Less than 100 grams. For a pack. My waterproof pack liner weighs more than that. Colin showed me the ingenious design, which transferred the weight to a simple frame and the shoulder straps so the actual bag could be made from thin silnylon as it was not under stress. This also meant that different sized bags could be used with the same harness system. With food his total pack weight for the trip was 3kg. The base weight was 2kg. My pack weighed almost four times as much and suddenly looked massive. Did the weight make much difference on the walk? 11kg is quite a light load for me and I only noticed the weight when climbing steeply. Then I certainly found it hard work keeping up with Colin (but then he does have much longer legs and is over two decades younger so maybe it wasn’t just the pack weight).

The day over the summits to Loch Einich was sunny with just a light breeze so no warm or waterproof clothing was needed. During the evening the wind increased and there was a slight coolness in the air. My thin windproof top was welcome. With that over my merino wool base layer I was warm. Colin however, much to my surprise, donned a hooded down vest in which I would definitely have overheated. It turned out he runs cold, which makes his ultralight load even more impressive.

For shelter I’d brought a 1.6kg semi-geodesic tent I was testing. Colin had his 550 gram tarp, a Mountain Laurel Grace modified with side guylines and extra pegging points, and a light bivi bag. The night was stormy, as described in the last post, and the noise of the wind and rain buffeting the tent woke me several times. Colin’s tarp seemed quieter and shook less in the wind. It was certainly more than capable of coping with the storm. His modifications had turned a tarp more suited to calmer weather into one adequate for the Scottish climate. Unfortunately as far as I am aware there are no tarps on the market that will provide the same performance without modification.

Colin used most of this equipment other than the pack (he had one weighing twice as much at 210 grams) on the TGO Challenge this year and found it fine. This provoked some controversy, which continued after the Challenge as lengthy debates on Andy Howell’s and Peewiglet’s blogs. Now whilst Colin’s superlight, minimalist gear won’t be for everyone (including me, I suspect, though this trip did encourage me to think about going a bit lighter) there is no question that it works and is suitable for Scottish conditions.

If you want to know more about Colin’s ultralight gear he has some web pages hosted by Andy Howell here.

Photo info: Colin’s tarp pitched beside Loch Einich at dusk, as the wind was starting to pick up. Canon EOS 450D, Tamron 11-18mm @11mm, 1/100@f5.6, ISO 400, raw file converted to JPEG in Photoshop Elements 7.

Astonishing Light

Last night I was camped beside Loch Einich in the Cairngorms after a walk over Sgoran Dubh Mor and Sgor Gaoith with ultralight backpacker Colin Ibbotson (more on this in a future post). The day had been sunny and clear with just a cool southerly breeze. The forecast was for increasing wind and rain. We thought our camp on the west side of the loch was reasonably sheltered but early in the morning I was woken by great gusts of wind roaring down the glen and rattling the tent with splatters of rain. Curious to see how Colin’s tarp was performing in the storm I unzipped the door and peered out into the near darkness. Immediately a glow in the sky to the north caught my attention. Surging masses of clouds swirled over the head of the loch, shredded and torn by the wind. Away in the east the sun was rising and its first rays shone under the edges of the clouds and lit them from below, turning them pink and orange. As the clouds swirled and merged and split apart the light changed constantly, the patches of colour expanding and contracting, an amazing vast light show encompassing much of the sky. Suddenly wide awake I grabbed the camera and started taking photographs, using the tent porch as cover from the rain. For ten minutes the magical light continued then the colours began to drain away and the sky darken and turn grey. The following day was dull and overcast with rain showers. Walking out of the mountains down Gleann Einich I didn’t take a single photograph but it didn’t matter. The stormy grandeur of the dawn still shone in my mind.

Photo info: Dawn light in storm over Loch Einich. 4.50a.m. Canon 450D, Tamron 11-18mm lens@11mm, 1/160@f5.6, ISO 400, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

Scottish Wild Land Group

The Scottish Wild Land Group, founded in 1982 “to protect and conserve wild land throughout Scotland”, looked as though it might be fading away last year due to a dearth of volunteers to run it (and I have to confess that despite having been a member for many years I was one of the many without the time to help). Happily new people did come forward and the organisation was able to continue. Now the first edition of the SWLG magazine, Wild Land News, has appeared and it is excellent. Published just three times a year Wild Land News carries in-depth articles that are usually worth reading and studying. The theme of the Summer 2009 issue is rewilding (a neologism I am not very happy with but guess I have to accept) and the features on this are thought-provoking and stimulating. Peter Taylor, author of Beyond Conservation and a founder of the Wildland Network, looks at the very different approaches of Alladale, Trees for Life and Carrifran Wildwood. Taylor feels that all three have something to offer, though his description of Alladale suggests it will have a negative not positive effect as the whole philosophy behind it is wrong. I was happy with the article to this point but to finish Taylor writes about the need for the return of predators and goes into a somewhat fuzzy “new age” morass of thoughts that I find extremely off-putting. The idea that our souls are separated from “an abundant and forgiving earth-mother” and that the “inner worlds of …private religious experience” need to be “made whole again” are just high sounding but meaningless guff.

More down to earth is a piece by ecologist James Fenton entitled “The Scottish uplands: allowed to be wild” in which the author argues that wild land should be left alone rather than being managed with fences and planting and that it has always been more wild than many people think. “Letting things be wild means letting nature decide what happens”. I have a great deal of sympathy with this view. Certainly I think any management should be as minimal as possible, probably just restricted to reducing the artificially high numbers of grazing animals and reintroducing extinct ones.

Continuing the rewilding theme there are two articles from two members of the SLWG steering group. Calum Brown gives a brief history of wild land in Scotland since the last ice age and looks at the possibilities for rewilding and the benefits it could bring. Moving from this overview to specific proposals David Jarman considers the idea of rewilding Kintail and Glen Shiel, a glen marred by ugly block conifer plantations.

I’m impressed with this issue of Wild Land News and recommend it to everyone concerned about wild land in Scotland. The SWLG has a new website too, which is worth checking regularly.

Photo info: Glen Affric, where the remnants of the old Caledonian pine forest are expanding due to regeneration and planting. Canon 350D, Canon 18-55mm lens@22mm, 1/80@f8, ISO 100, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

The Joy of Backpacking Journeys in the August TGO

In the last issue of TGO, just out, I write about the joys of journeying on foot in my backpacking column, review walking sandals (which have certainly be useful in the recent heatwave) and test the Hilleberg Soulo (which is great in wintery conditions but certainly not ideal for heatwaves!). Coincidentally in the two pictures of me accompanying my column I am backpacking in sandals – in places as far apart as the Uinta Mountains in Utah and the Scottish Highlands. One of those pairs of sandals, Merrell Molokai, is discontinued, the other, the Hi-Tec Tahoma is still going and included in my review. Both my pairs are usable though the threadbare sole on the Molokais means they are relegated to short walks locally and general wear.

This issue also includes a piece on the cuts in the Ramblers organisation, cuts that have now gone ahead and seen the demise of the Scottish and Welsh offices and also, I think, the demise of the Ramblers as a campaigning organisation with any interest in the hills or wild places. I have cancelled my subscription.

Other good pieces include Ian Battersby going coast to coast across Wales, Bernard Newman traversing An Teallach and Stephen Venables trekking round Manaslu, all with excellent pictures, plus Glenmore Lodge’s advice on interpreting summer weather and Eddy Meecham’s take on bivvy bags.

Photo info: The Hilleberg Soulo pitched in the Loch Avon basin in the Cairngorms. Canon 450D, Tamron 11-18mm lens@11mm, 1/400@F8, ISO 200, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

Twenty-Four Hours in the Cairngorms

The urge to head for the wilds is always strong and I try and seize any opportunity to head out for an hour, a day, an overnight or longer. A few days ago the chance of an overnight trip came about with the completion of a piece of work and a gap between city trips – Aberdeen a week ago, Edinburgh this week. It had been twelve days since I managed more than a few hours in the local woods and on that occasion strong winds and low cloud persuaded me a long day over Braeriach, third highest mountain in Scotland and one of the finest in the Cairngorms, would not have had enough rewards for the effort involved. Instead I took a lower route over smaller hills and through a section of Rothiemurchus Forest I hadn’t visited for a few years. The likelihood of better weather in the late June heat wave persuaded me to think of Braeriach again so I wandered back through the forest, which was somnolent and silent in the heavy, humid, hot air. Nothing moved, nothing called or sang. Just once a heron flapped slowly out of a boggy trailside pool. Lush grass speckled with flowers edged the path. The first orchids poked their pink and purple spikes through the greenery. This is old natural forest and rich with vegetation, beautiful with age. Leaving the trees I climbed into the rocky confines of the Lairig Ghru. Thick grey clouds hung over the peaks and a southerly wind gusted through the pass. The moving air was warm though and I was fine in shorts and thin top. Once over the pass I found a streamside camp site, still in the breeze at around 750 metres and hopefully midge free.

The sudden spatter of rain on the tent woke me at 5.30 a.m. I peered out into dense mist, rolled over and went back to sleep. A few hours later the rain and mist were gone. To the south Cairn Toul and Bod an Deamhain looked grey and cold, the clouds still brushing over them at times. Knowing the forecast was for a gradual clearance and a fine end to the day I did not hurry to pack and move on, lingering over a second coffee, taking photographs, dismantling a recently built little rock shelter and chucking the stones into the stream, writing my journal, watching the clouds swirl and split, revealing specks of blue and short bursts of hazy sunlight, and just delighting in being there, in the heart of the hills. When I did eventually move I left the trail and contoured round the hillside into Coire Brochain, a fine, high corrie backed by the summit cliffs of Braeriach. Out of the wind here and with the sun strengthening and hot I found a granite seat with my pack softening the rock backrest and ate lunch, wrote more notes and studied the complex, shattered rock architecture curving round the flat, grass and boulder floor of the corrie. Close to hand a clear stream gurgled out of a boulder pile and trickled away across a bed of pale golden sand and gravel. Not very seriously I contemplated investigating one of the gullies, still half-choked with snow, to see if a way could be found to the summit plateau. A sudden loud bang followed by a series of cracks and roars startled me out my reverie. High on the cliffs a smudge of dust hung in the air. Below this I spotted a rock, the size of a football, bouncing wildly and fast out of a gully, spinning many feet into the air each time it hit a boulder until finally coming to rest almost on the corrie floor. I would not be entering any gullies. Instead I clambered over the boulders and up the edge of the corrie to Braeriach and an expansive view of the northern Cairngorms. Further away all was hazy and cloudy.

After a brief chat with the few other walks on the summit I strode across the broad stony plateau to pick up the old stalkers’ path that runs steeply down into Coire Dhondail and then more easily into Gleann Einich. Once off the plateau and out of the breeze the sun was very hot, the sky now cloud free. The long walk down Glean Einich and back through the forest to my car was relaxing and leisurely, with flowers and trees and streams and rocks to keep me interested and involved.

Photo info: Camp in the Lairig Ghru. Canon EF-S 18-55mm@20mm, 1/60@F8, ISO 100, tripod, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

1980s long distance backpacking photos on Rohantime/Flickr

Rohantime has uploaded to Flickr some of my photos from long distance walks in the 1980s on which I wore Rohan clothing. You can see them here. The originals are mostly Kodachrome 64 slides (a film that Kodak has just discontinued). They were scanned for Flickr by Sarah Howcroft. Images include ones from the Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, the Pyrenees and my length of the Canadian Rockies walk.

Photo info: Campsite in Teton National Forest on the Continental Divide Trail. Pentax MX with Tamron 35-70 lens. Kodachrome 64 film. Camera balanced on a rock. Exposure long forgotten!