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| Day 3: Camp after the big storm. |
Fort Augustus. May 16. Rain. The 7th day of the Challenge. There has not been one wholly dry day or night but there have been gloriously sunny moments with the freshly snow clad hills sparkling. My camps have been good too, three in woods, squeezed in between spring birches and sombre pines. Of the two on open exposed sites on only one was it very windy and my shelter coped well. That was the night before the day of ferocious winds and continuous rain when I was nearly blown off my feet on a low level route. Then came the cold front backlash and a day of hail and snow and kicking steps over Toll Creagach in head high spindrift. Next comes a two day crossing of the Monadh Liath. The forecast is for rain.
My equipment has held up, all except my high-tech airbed, which burst internally, leading to a rather disturbing and unusable bulbous end. After two uncomfortable nights I have replaced it with a cheap thin foam mat. At least this can't burst.
Nice one Chris :)
ReplyDeleteI've experienced the same before with an airbed. Fortunately the fault appeared at the 'head end' of the mat so it made for a temporary and pleasing pillow!
Chris - TGO weather starting where it left off from last year then!
ReplyDeleteThe good old reliable foam mat. What goes around comes back round.
ReplyDeleteIt started out as a comfortable pillow Terry but grew too vast! I now have my old Therm a Rest Ultralite 3/4, complete with patch.
ReplyDeleteMy Pacific Outdoors Peak AC failed on the first night of the Challenge - wouldn't stay up an hour at a time (had tested it prior to leaving home!). Three sitmats, three air-filled map cases, and an emergeny foil blanket were much more comfortable! Think I'll go back to my Thermarest Ultralight 3/4 too!!!
ReplyDeleteYes punctures are partly why invented the Karrimat..... long time ago but this TGO-C I made a switch.....to an inflatable.....called Klymit Inertia Frame which was lighter and tons more comfortable/warmer than my 5mm Karrimat.
ReplyDeleteOur route was further north so we got a lot more snow, phew.
The Klymit Inertia Frame does look good.
ReplyDeleteMy route was in the north - I began in Torridon and had snow on all the hills between there and Fort Augustus. However from Glen Feshie I headed for the Southern Cairngorms as I didn't fancy plodding through lots of snow in the Northern Cairngorms. That meant I ended up going from the northernmost start point to the southernmost finish - Montrose.
yes see what you mean. We started Strathcarron on Friday and crossed An Rhiabhachan on Saturday; foot deep drifts.
ReplyDeleteI had drifts like that on the three Munros I did in the first 5 days, especially Sgurr nan Gobhar.
ReplyDeleteThat looks an interesting pitch. Bit of heather to keep you company?
ReplyDeleteWas that the 1m pitch? Which height did you tend to pitch at?
Tony
Tony, yes, it was around 1 metre. I didn't measure the pole and used several different heights during the walk. This was the lowest due to the wind and rain. The edge of the Trailstar nearest the camera was curved over a bank of heather and there was another, lower bank on the other side. I just had room to lie down. The ground was fairly dry though - mostly it was saturated - and the high bank on the left cut some of the wind.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris,
ReplyDeleteI presume you had your head near door. At 1m there is very little room length wise at the rear, at 1m do you envisage any problem using your OookWorks bug inner at the rear.
I pitched today at 1.2 and 1m and 1m back there is "tight". Once vids uploaded I'll send you links.
Glad to hear most your pitches were over 1m much more room, comparatively.
Lovely pitch pix btw, all of them here.
Yes, I slept with my head towards the door. I think the bug inner would fit with a 1m pole but it might touch the Trailstar. I'd pitch it at the side rather than at the back.
ReplyDeleteI'd only use a 1m pole in extremely windy weather anyway. The night before this picture was taken was when the big storm came in. I was on an exposed site and had pitched with a 1.4 or so metre pole. I woke early in the morning feeling the Trailstar had shrunk and nipped outside to tighten all the guylines. When I took the tent down I found the pole was about 20cms shorter than when I'd pitched the Trailstar. The pressure of the wind had forced one of the pole sections down inside the one below. Despite this the Trailstar resisted the wind well.
Glad you like the pics!
Great reply and in fact you mention.something I'm in conversation with Sean about....
ReplyDeleteDo you think the inner / floor will fit length wise / head at door rotated to the left? I sleep on my right side so having the floor on the left (looking in towards TS) would be great.
The pics are good. Good luck with your book.
The floor/inner can be pitched in various ways if you use a couple of tent pegs. I pitched the floor on the left side once when I only had room to do that.
ReplyDelete