Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i Trail

God, I love Britain. Wasn’t always the case – before I started climbing hills I spent a lot of time pining for other places. I explored a few, too, looking for this ‘ideal wilderness’ I’d always imagined. They all had downsides Britain didn’t have, though. Canada was amazing, but it had grizzly bears. Alaska had even more grizzly bears with the addition of lots of wolves and – far more worryingly – lots and lots of guns. Patagonia had no bears or wolves but did have this horrendous thing called a chicken spider, and the sort of distances that require you to spend days on a bus or a lively, terrifying few hours on a little plane that looked like a strong sneeze would blow it out the sky. Then…

When you’re steaming hot on a summer’s walk, the prospect of anything cool becomes almost hallucinogenic – be it a head dunking in a mountaintop tarn, cooling your feet in a stream, or full immersion in a high-tucked mountain pool. Whether the science backs up the actual feeling or not, the moment you stick whatever bit of you in, there certainly seems no water crisper, colder or more pure on this earth. If you want to go one step further and actually have a swim, visit www.wildswimming.co.uk to get some insight and advice on where best to do it, and how to make sure wherever you do it, you do it safely.…

Favourite hill snack?Soreen malt loaf with butter Highest mountain climbed? Probably Aiguille du Midi (3842m) on the Mont Blanc massif, when I soloed the Frendo Spur [a popular Alpine route near Chamonix]. Scafell Pike, Snowdon or Ben Nevis? Ben Nevis every time. The other two aren’t even in the same league. The Ben’s one of the best mountains I’ve climbed worldwide. What do you love about mountains? Searching for new adventures. It’s like being a kid in the woods – everything is wild and intriguing. Every time I go into the hills I get those butterflies in my stomach and look forward to exploring what the mountains have to offer. Most memorable mountain day? That’s an easy one! The day I’ll never forget is when I was attacked by a…

A large fire that burnt across moorland near Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District in May was started by a barbecue. The blaze began at around midday, and was under control by about 8pm, contained to an area of just under 1km2 . Ted Talbot, the National Trust’s countryside manager for the Peak District, said: “The area is incredibly valuable and quite rare in north-western Europe, it’s within a National Park, and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. This is our equivalent of the Serengeti – we’re keepers of a really important international habitat. “Fire is part of the heather’s natural renewal; after a couple of hot, dry days you get this woody, non-sappy vegetation that becomes quite flammable. So I’d encourage anyone…

After serving up a smash hit with his 2014 documentary about England’s highest mountain Scafell Pike, which you may have seen on BBC4, film-maker Terry Abraham has followed that up with an equally impressive sequel about Lakes icon Blencathra. Terry had planned to use this popular 868m peak as the finale to a trilogy that will eventually include Helvellyn, but he bumped it up the running order to reflect the level of interest swirling around Blencathra since it was put up for sale by its owner the Earl of Lonsdale two years ago. If you’re a fan of the Lakeland landscape, a lover of the British mountains and are interested in the culture, history and life stories of the people who share a strong connection to this most magical of…

TRAIL’S ROUTE Distance 13.3km (8 miles) Time 4¾ hours Total ascent 1212m Maps OS Landranger (1:50,000) 41; OS Explorer (1:25,000) 384; Harvey Superwalker (1:25,000) XT25 Start/finish NN220563 If you’ve travelled this way you’ll know what I’m talking about: that feeling of excitement and awe as you approach the bulk of Buachaille Etive Mor. My stomach gave a little kick of anticipation as we sped through the dawn. Rannoch Moor was captivating in the early-morning mist and as the sun broke through, bathing the moor in golden light, I felt my heart notch up a gear at the sight. Today was going to be special – I could just feel it. Today was the day I would be climbing the mountain that captured my heart the moment I first travelled this…

TRAIL’S ROUTE Black Distance 11km (7 miles) Time 4 hours Total ascent 895m Maps OS Landranger (1:50,000) 90; OS Explorer Castle Howe (1:25,000) OL6; Harvey British Mountain Map (1:40;000) Lake L District Start/finish NY286061 T T L E L A N G D A E I t’s a tricky walk to explain, Crinkle Crags. Officially it’s a ridge, but with almost zero exposure. It fidgets its way above a series of very wrinkly cliffs, without ever forcing you to set foot on any of them. There’s no proper summit to speak of, just one pile of rocks in the middle that’s marginally higher than the ones before and after. And it’s quite easy, really, because although you can get your hands dirty on a few scrambly sections, you don’t have…

YOUR EXPERTS Graham Thompson GT – Trail’s technical editor for over 25 years – is our walking gear guru. Rob Johnson MIC Rob is an international expedition leader and mountain instructor. Lyle Brotherton Navigation expert Lyle is one of the world’s leading authorities on search and rescue. Jeremy Ashcroft Trail’s mountaineering editor Jeremy has a lifetime of outdoors experience. 1. ON THE MAP What to look for Everyone wants a comfy night’s kip, and choosing a good wild camping site is essential for this. The key elements are flat, dry ground; running water sources nearby; and shelter from wind. Finding these on a map can be a challenge, and local knowledge always helps. A water source Look for rivers with flowing water. Do not rely on ponds with no marked…

A walking boot’s ankle cuff is designed to support your ankle, holding it steady on uneven surfaces and protecting it from knocks. So on tricky terrain it’s worth lacing your boots all the way to the top in order to maximise this reinforcement. However, on easier, flatter ground – where you could get away with low-cut walking shoes – you may find lacing boots all the way to the top unnecessarily restrictive. In these circumstances you could be comfier only lacing as far as the second-from-top eyelets, or even lower. Your ankle will still be protected from impact, but the looser fit will give it more flexibility and make travelling over less challenging terrain less tiring. Bear in mind, though: if you’re only lacing partway you’ll have more lace left…

A REPELLENT FOR KIT Spray it onto your clothing, pack or tent to repel mosquitos and midges. PICTURED: Lifesystems EX4 £8.50 B REPELLENTSPRAY In high-risk areas of insect-borne infections, a powerful high-DEET repellent is wise. PICTURED: Lifesystems 100+ £7.99 C YEAST EXTRACT Whether it’s the vitamin B or the smell, anecdotes advocate consuming Marmite. PICTURED: Marmite spread £2.50 D BITE RELIEF BALM As well as treating bites and stings, it can also be used on muscular aches and pains. PICTURED: Tiger Balm White £4.39 E BITE RELIEF CREAM Relieve stinging and itching, and prevent infection, with a medicated cream. PICTURED: Savlon Bite Relief Gel £4.99 F TEA TREE OIL A naturally repellent, tea-tree-infused lotion applied to skin help keep bugs at bay. PICTURED: Dr Organic Lotion £6.59 G REPELLENTSPRAY For…

The name Glaramara suggests this mountain has Norse origins and links with a romantic past, similar to nearby Blencathra. Its bulk dominates Borrowdale, and in particular the striking feature of Combe Gill, a hanging valley gouged from the earth by ice. Despite the appearance of Combe Gill – the ravine being a great gash in the fellside – there is a relatively easy scramble to climb it, which makes an interesting and alternative way to reach the summit of Glaramara. Climbing it can be steep at times, as you would expect; but the exposure is never worrying and the climb is mainly on grass. Exiting neatly at Combe Door, much of the ground in this area is boggy and there are few paths; this isn’t a place to try to…

Despite its deceptive appearance from the Ogwen Valley road, the main cliff of Glyder Fach isn’t really a cliff in the true sense of mountaineering terminology. It’s more a chaotic sprawl of buttresses and rock bands on the mountain’s steep north-west slopes. Tucked away on the far right-hand end of this sprawl, and very difficult to spot from a distance, is a well-defined ridge. The ridge runs down from the summit plateau and ends abruptly with a steep, truncated buttress. Perched midway on the crest of the ridge is a flat-topped jumble of boulders resembling a dolmen (an ancient chambered tomb), which gives the ridge its name. The Dolmen Ridge is an outstanding route that meanders through impressive terrain, but should only be attempted by very skilled and experienced scramblers.…

Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent owe their fame to the 24 mile, 12 hour Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, which attracts thousands each summer. It’s a spectacular day out; but a full weekend offers even more. In addition to the usual highlights of Ingleborough’s ‘hill-fort , the Ribblehead Viaduct and the black void of Gaping Gill, take the time to discover hidden tarns on Yorkshire’s highest peak, vast lunar limestone pavements on Ingleborough and an enormous collapsed cavern below Pen-y-ghent. Throw in a breathtaking escarpment route, and a ride on the Settle-Carlisle Railway, and you’ve got a challenge more than worthy of celebration. TRANSPORT Trains from Leeds and Settle to Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Ribblehead www.settle-carlisle.co.uk; Ingleborough Pony bus 831 (summer) www.dalesbus.org PUBS/GRUB Horton: Crown Hotel (01729) 860209; Pen-y-ghent Café (01729) 860333; Blindbeck Tea…

On a clean blue-sky day... there are few places in Britain more sublime. HIGH POINTS Kinder Low 633m/2,077ft Fairbrook Naze 619m/2,031ft Grindslow Knoll 601m/1,972ft Crookstone Knoll 521m/1,709ft Kinder Scout is an unusual mountain: its form is hard to define from below, yet it exudes a powerful presence that has rare ability to instil feelings of both shock and beauty in people. On a bleak winter’s day with wind-driven sleet it can be grim beyond words and a place living things flee from. But on a clean blue-sky day with the sun up and the larks rising there are few places in Britain more sublime. It is this perverse attraction that has always drawn people to climb its steep flanks and explore the bewildering myriad of peat hags, gritstone tors and…

THIS LOT ARE IN, AND THEY’RE LOVING IT! There’s still plenty of time to make this the most rewarding mountain year of your life! Visit www.lfto.com/trail7summits , download and print off a blank form, then fill in the seven peaks you’d love to climb this year. Then share your list with us, your family, your friends, with everybody – using the social media hashtag #trail7summits There’s a buzzing Facebook group to join for information and inspiration, and once you’ve made it public, there’s added incentive to complete it! Join the Trail 7 Summits Challenge today and get the most out of your hillwalking in 2016. • JOIN THE 7 SUMMITS CHALLENGE ONLINE AT WWW.LFTO.COM/TRAIL7SUMMITS…

On 4 May, a Stormtrooper claimed Scafell Pike for the Empire, climbing it in 2hr 15min and planting a flag on the top. Star Wars fan Ashley Broomhall was wearing the white plastic suit on his mission to climb the National Three Peaks to raise money for Cancer Research UK and the Lingen Davies Cancer Trust. He did Ben Nevis and Snowdon last year, and this English ascent completed the trilogy. After climbing the mountain, he wandered, by total chance, into a Star Wars -themed wedding. We had to ask him about this... What was the costume like to walk in? Surprisingly comfortable. I wear mountain shoes because, as I found on The Wrekin, standard Stormtrooper boots aren’t meant for mountains – and safety comes first. Where did you get…

There’s nothing better than a hard-earned pint when you’ve come down after a long day on the hill, is there? Well, actually, maybe there is. What about a hard-earned pint while you sit back and enjoy the view from the top of said hill? And if that hill just happened to be the highest in England, that’s got to be a pretty special brew, hasn’t it? If that sounds like your idea of a dream, you’ll be pleased to know it’s come true. On Saturday June 18 Mark Corr (inset), landlord of The Strands Inn & Brewery in Nether Wasdale, will be carrying four and a half gallons (that’s 36 pints) of ale to the summit of Scafell Pike, from where he’ll be serving the beer via a hand pump…

Entries are pouring in for Trail’s annual UK Mountain Photo of the Year competition, but if you haven’t entered yet don’t panic –you still have plenty of time. The closing date isn’t until Sunday 21 August, so get out there and start snapping! On the right is a small selection of what you’re up against so far… ENTER NOW Email your entries to trailcompetitions@lfto.com with the subject line ‘UK Mountain Photo of the Year’, and visit www.lfto.com/photocomp for full terms and conditions.…

This photo shows me on my final Nuttall summit – Chwarel y Fan – after 8 years of effort. [Nuttalls are hills in England and Wales at least 2,000ft (610m) high with a relative height of at least 15m.] Apparently I’m only the 239th person to complete them. My Nuttalls in numbers 443 summits 379,429ft of ascent 1,957km walked 1 broken leg 6.03kmph fastest walk: Buckden Pike (in fell running shoes) 1.83kmph slowest walk: Snowdon Horseshoe 27.5km longest walk: Ennerdale Round 2.53km shortest walk: Garreg Lwyd My Nuttalls in words Best mountain (England): Blencathra Best mountain (Wales): Tryfan Best view from summit: Snowdon Best walk: The Scafell range Best scenery: Wasdale looking towards Great Gable Best ridge (England): Sharp Edge (Blencathra) Notable mentions: Striding Edge & Swirral Edge (Helvellyn) Best…

TRAIL’S ROUTE Distance 6.3km (4 miles) Time 3 hours Total ascent 820m Maps OS Explorer (1:25,000) OL17 Guidebook North Wales Scrambles by Garry Smith, pb Northern Edge Books Start/finish car park on A5 at SH659602 Bristly Ridge is a jagged rock buttress leaning steeply against the side of a mountain. What do you think of when you read the word ‘ridge’? A broad-backed rippling chain of hills like the Peak District’s Great Ridge? A narrow, rocky arête requiring absolute focus, such as the one linking Carn Mor Dearg to Ben Nevis? Or does your mind leap excitedly to a picture of a jagged rock buttress leaning steeply against the side of a mountain, a shattered spur that requires the would-be traverser to immerse themselves in the grey area between…

One of the UK’s most remarkable hills is less than 10km from Cadair Idris. As a child, climber Andy Kirkpatrick used to dream of it. As a student, Charles Darwin frequented its top. If you search it out on an OS map, it’ll be marked with one of those little blue stars indicating ‘something cool here’; there’s a hill-fort, a castle and loads of birds. Can you name it? I wouldn’t have been able to. We went because, seen from the summit of another hill, it looks really good: two rough tops, one of which bulges out over a dead flat valley and is half sliced away in steep cliffs. It’s different to every other hill on the horizon, the kind of thing you gawp at and say, “What is…

Generally, the more you pay for a backpacking tent the lighter it will be. But if you don’t have £400-600 to spend on the pinnacle of design, can a less costly tent offer a comfy experience? Vango regularly combines low prices with highly practical performance, so its new Bora 200 two-person tent demands a closer look. The tent costs £130 yet it weighs just 2064g – between just 100g and 1000g heavier than tents that are over three times its price. But while a tent’s cost and weight are important the most crucial features are its size and performance on the hill. The Bora 200 is made from polyester, while higher-priced tents are made of nylon (often of a ripstop design to prevent snags creating long tears). So the Bora…

Welcome to Trail’s routes section: your cut-out-and-keep guide to the best days in the UK hills. Whether it’s an airy mountain scramble, a classic Lakeland fellwalk or a multi-day backpacking epic, you’ll find it here... written by experts, walked by you. • Trail Routes use OS mapping and gradient profiles, and are available to download at www.lfto.com/routes Hill-bagging stats Walking the Wainwrights, the Munros, the Corbetts or the Welsh 3000ers? These routes have got you covered. Gradient profile We map every route for its unique gradient profile, giving you a pinpoint impression of its progressive steepness and the heights you’ll hit. What are the Trail 100? They’re your tick-list of the 100 UK mountains you MUST climb! Download the full list from: bit.ly/trail100 Always take a map on the hill…

For sheer vertiginous impact the peaks of Glen Coe are hard to beat; and this fact inevitably draws the punters in their hundreds. But you don’t have to go far before the crowds thin out dramatically; a quick escape into neighbouring Glen Etive will do. While Etive lacks nothing in grandeur of its own, it retains the feel of a remote backwater. In contrast to the close-packed confines of Glen Coe there’s a wider, wilder feel here, and the promise of big days on big hills that see a fraction of the footfall. Rising in a complex tangle above the forestry of the lower glen, the Munro and Corbett pairing of Sgor na h-Ulaidh and Beinn Maol Chaluim are typical Etive, bursting with rugged charisma and yet unaccountably deserted. Tackled…

1 SD765789 From Ribblehead Station, turn right onto the road and again at a T-junction. Follow the road and take a lane on the right signed for Sleights. Pass railway cottages and at a farm go straight on through the gate and steeply up a wall to its corner at the top of the main climb. 2 SD765771 Pop up to Park Fell trig then return to follow a wall west then south along the top of the valley overlooking Ribblehead Viaduct, Whernside and Morecambe Bay. The path veers slightly away from the wall and up to the edge of Simon Fell. Soon you’ll end up on the proper escarpment path. Cross the top of a steep ghyll and go through a gate to make the final climb to the…

1 SD764790 From just below the Station Inn, take the path north-west to Ribblehead Viaduct. Stay on its right and follow the railway all the way to the bridge and aqueduct by the Blea Moor tunnel. Cross the bridge and follow main track to right (ignore minor path up wall) past Force Gill waterfall, then through gate and left up fence to a stile signposted ‘Yorkshire Three Peaks’. 2 SD757824 Continue straight uphill, leaving the Three-Peakers behind, and follow track around the moors with views of Aye Gill Pike, Great Knoutberry Hill and the Artengill Viaduct. At a wall corner just before a gate into an enclosed lane, turn left up the wall. At its end continue straight on up a faint grassy track, in line with a row of…

The perfect example of a mountain that sounds at once beckoning and twee, the best thing about Crinkle Crags is, it’s much more rewarding than you expect it to be. First of all (as this stunning shot from Cold Pike shows) it is no mere cheeky wrinkle in the landscape, nor is it simply a rock band such as suggested by other similarly monikered places. No, this is a range: a compact jumble of superb, sharp-featured mountains running north-south, smack in the middle of the Lake District above two of its most venerated valleys, Eskdale and Langdale. With Bowfell as the spectacular northern exclamation mark, the ‘Crinkles’ (again, not the most intimidating-sounding objective) offer a fabulous way to keep the excitement cranked for the best part of 2km with an…

SEE THIS... Lakeland in winter Guy Richardson is a landscape photographer with a passion for the mountains and an eye for changing light. For his latest time-lapse film, Lakeland Winter , he climbed up into the hills fully laden with camera kit to capture fleeting moments of beauty as the season developed. It's just over 3 minutes long, and entirely enchanting. FIND IT: guyrichardson.com KNOW THIS... The ground under your feet If it's your cup of tea, you'll love iGeology: a free app providing a geological map of Britain that will tell you the type and history of the rock you're walking on. Swap to the 3D version to explore an area with your camera, getting quick-fire information about the very ground you're standing on. DOWNLOAD IT…

The thundering hooves are getting nearer. I close my eyes tight and hunker down. If the fold of solid granite above my head doesn’t protect me from the beasts about to plough through our bivvy site, I’m hoping that a feather-filled sleeping bag and not being able to see will do the trick. As the noise grows, I feel a sudden surge of courage mixed with a dash of curiosity. I peel back the hood of my bag, and peek through barely open eyelids. About 30 metres away half a dozen Dartmoor ponies, significantly smaller than the sound of their approach would suggest, saunter past giving precisely zero attention to the two horizontal humans wedged below an overhang on the granite outcrop of Saddle Tor. The dry, taut earth amplifies…

WILD COUNTRY ZEPHYROS 4 LIVING £400 Hot because: This is a proper campers’ tent for proper family camping. Not ‘glamping’, but proper, good ol’-fashioned camping. That said, the weight (7.1kg) will tell you that the Zephyros isn’t a tent for carrying on your back, but is better transported in a car boot (where its relatively compact pack size will leave plenty of space for the barbecue and beer). Trail’s Ben Weeks did exactly this when he took the Zephyros 4 Living on a family camping trip to the Peak District: “I’d taken my family camping once before. We slept in a one-room tepee-type tent. The kids argued. My wife cried. Nobody slept. The Zephyros 4 Living has revolutionised our camping. The two-room set-up means the kids have their own space…

HI GEAR REGULATE TECH TEE SHORT SLEEVE £10 m n When hillwalking, cotton T-shirts – which soon become soggy – should be avoided. Dedicated base layers are a better choice as they are made from materials that move moisture away from the skin to prevent that horrid build-up of sweat that feels unpleasantly clammy under a rucksack. This base layer from Hi Gear has a very low price tag and is made of polyester to ‘wick’ the sweat from your skin. The open weave of the material allows extra airflow to further reduce the build-up of sweat. The material is harder-wearing than natural fibres but it does not have the odour management benefits of many higher-priced options. It’s great for day walks, though, where a quick wash after a weekend…

Not many places in the Lake District exemplify solitude and tranquillity like Grey Friar. It is the least frequented of the Coniston Fells because it stands apart from the main bulk and it takes a detour from the main ridge to get to its summit. The way up from the Duddon Valley is not obvious from below: it’s difficult to see the route of ascent due to the many rocky outcrops and knolls. However, there is a neat way to climb it via the south-west ridge directly to the summit. Anyone who prefers not to follow a well-trodden path will enjoy this walk, as it feels like few have been this way before. The scenery once above Seathwaite Tarn is stunning, with uninterrupted views to the nearby Scafells on one…

Standing proud in the stunning wilderness that exists between Glen Carron and Glen Torridon, Maol Chean-dearg has arguably some of the best views of any Munro. Gaining its ‘bald, red head’, as the translation goes, rewards you with views north over the Torridon peaks, east to the neighbouring Munro of Sgorr Ruadh and on clear days west to the Cuillin Ridge on Skye. Maol Chean-dearg and Sgorr Ruadh (‘red rocky peak’) both take their names from the Torridonian sandstone with its distinctive red hue of which they are composed. Dating back over 1,000 million years, Torridonian sandstone is one of our oldest rocks, predated here only by the Lewisian gneiss, at over 3,000 million years old, on which it sits. Both the sandstone and the gneiss would have been formed…

1 SD807725 Turn right out of Horton-in-Ribblesdale car park, past the famous Pen-y-ghent Café, then go left up a waymarked lane between houses. At a fork, go right, past a farm, to a road and stream. Cross a footbridge and turn left up a road, go through Brackenbottom, and left at the next junction. At Dub Cote bunkbarn, turn left up a lane and straight on through the topmost gate into a field. The right of way is faint here: turn diagonally right up the field before turning towards the left just before a broken-down wall corner. Return to the left-hand wall, and go straight up to another wall. Cross the stile, and soon after follow the now more clear path away from the wall to meet Long Lane. 2…

1 NG993035 Located nearly an hour’s drive from the A87 down the very wiggly Glen Garry road, even the starting point of this round is an isolated spot. From the layby, first walk along the road a little further west, then hop the burn at the head of Loch Quoich’s north-west arm. Follow the boggy shore south-east on a sketchy, soggy path making towards a headland, where a short stretch of old road is met. In the 1950s damming for a hydroelectric project raised the shoreline of Loch Quoich by around 30m, more than doubling its area. The flooded glen is an artificial sort of wildness but no less wild for that. Traces of the old works access road crop up throughout the walk along the shoreline. 2 NG993021 When…

1 NM912981 From the camp, start climbing towards the minor top of Meall a’ Choire Dhuibhe. Before reaching the top, turn south to traverse an obvious grassy line among the jumbled crags of its west flank to reach a well-defined col beneath the north-east spur of Sgurr na Ciche. From all angles this superb Munro is a precipitous cone, rather forbidding in appearance. You have come at it from its most remote side, and the ascent is suitably testing. 2 NM912976 The north-east spur gives a long, rocky climb with plenty of wiggling between craggy outcrops and occasional easy scrambling. Beyond a minor top rises the rugged summit cone. Cross a little saddle then briefly follow a stretch of drystone wall. When the wall trends left of the crest continue…