Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2020 i Trail

We all go to the mountains for different reasons. The challenge, the scenery, the adventure, the fitness, the benefits to our mental health, the thrill of an overnight wild camp, the warm embrace of that post-walk pub. I could go on forever. For me the mountains are all about fun, a place to break away from the daily life to-do list and scurry around doing something awesome for a few days. I love scrambling along knobbly ridges, waking up in weird places, peeping off the top of tall cliffs, watching big birds of prey glide through the sky, jumping in cold pools of water, talking rubbish with old friends for hours on end, and generally making myself feel like a kid again. And that’s also why I love this issue…

We first featured The Adventure Patch Company in our Christmas gift guide, loving the fantastic retro designs combined with iron-on convenience. At that point there were nine Lake District patches available: Blencathra, Coniston, Grasmoor, Great Gable, Helvellyn, High Raise, High Street, Scafell Pike and Skiddaw. And now six more popular peaks have been added to the patch portfolio: Bowfell, Catbells, Fairfield, Great End, Haystacks and Pillar. Get these and other mountain-inspired patches for £4.99 each at adventurepatch.co.uk LOAD LIGHTENER The line between trail running kit and gear for walkers who move fast and light is an increasingly blurry one. Take this Inov-8 Adventure Lite 15 pack (£80), for example. Designed primarily for runners, the no-bounce precision fit, super stable vest-like harness, conveniently accessible pouches and durable construction will no doubt…

“THE VERY BEST OF SNOWDONIA’S ROCKY LANDSCAPE IN ONE MULTI-DAY JOURNEY” From Beddgelert, start with a brisk road walk north-west to the National Trust’s Craflwyn Hall. At the back of the car park a range of permissive footpaths lead into the woods. Take the higher path past waterfalls, following black arrow markers for about 2km until you reach a bridge over a stream with a gate and stile to the left. Leave the circular route, go over the stile heading north-west on a well-trodden permissive path. This crosses lovely hillside and joins with the Watkin Path. You could ascend Snowdon via the Watkin, but instead our route forks left off the Watkin to Bwlch Cwm Llan and the start of Snowdon’s South Ridge. It’s a beautiful airy ascent, with no…

WHAT IS IT? An igneous rock formed by the slow cooling and crystallisation of magma beneath the Earth’s surface. From the Latin ‘granum’, meaning ‘grained’, it is rough and usually composed of feldspar, quartz, mica and small amounts of other minerals and can be grey, white or pinkish in colour. WHERE IS IT? Cairngorms; Cornish coast; Mourne Mountains; El Capitán and Half Dome in Yosemite; and Mt Rushmore. Kangchenjunga (8586m), in Nepal, is the highest granite mountain in the world. HOW SLIPPY? When wet or polished it’s very slippy, but good and grippy otherwise. Friction, steepness and soundness of the rock make it great for scrambling and climbing. Weird thing is it’s naturally radioactive, containing up to 10 times more uranium than most other rocks. It’s not enough to affect…

A full traverse of the Isle of Skye’s Cuillin Ridge is rightly regarded as the UK’s most challenging mountain route. The saw-toothed chain of dark peaks that form ridge can be confusing and bewildering to navigate, so it’d require something pretty special from a guidebook to demystify this terrain. Climber, Mountain Leader, photographer and author of Skye’s Cuillin Ridge Traverse, Adrian Trendall lives at the foot of the Cuillin and has made it his job to get to know the ridge intimately. But translating first-hand knowledge and experience into a form that helps others make use of it isn’t always easy. This is far from the first guidebook to be written about the Cuillin, so how have Adrian and Cicerone gone about ensuring that this is worthy of not only…

It’s the end of a glorious day in the hills. You’ve ambled through sun-drenched valleys, followed dancing becks, powered up brutal ascents, glided over sweeping ridges and posed triumphantly on exposed summits – and now it’s time to set up your tent. You feel happy and free. The cleansing power of the hills has worked its de-stressing magic. But there is still one final itch to scratch, one final need left unmet. Hunger. You deserve a hot, hearty, delicious meal to complete the perfect day in the mountains. You reach into your backpack and disaster strikes – you’ve forgotten your camping stove. Perfection? So close, yet so far. This happened to me on a peak-bagging expedition in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland. And, suffice to say, eating a dehydrated expedition…

FILL Down offers superior warmth-to-weight than synthetic fills, but synthetic bags are cheaper, easier to look after and remain warm when wet. CONSTRUCTION Most bags use box wall construction, to trap the fill inside brick-shaped pockets (baffles). Larger baffles give more space for insulation to loft, smaller baffles help stop the fill from spreading out. CUT Most bags are available in different lengths or widths, as well as women’s specific ZIP A full-length zip allows you to vent heat and makes getting in and out easier, though a shorter zip saves weight. Zips usually have a baffle to prevent cold spots, but make sure it doesn’t snag. FABRIC Shells and linings are usually made from nylon, though cheaper bags use polyester. TEMP RATING Most bags give an upper limit, a…

An Cliseam (Clisham) is generally climbed as an up and down route from a parking place along the A859 to the mountain’s south-east. This makes for a short, sharp climb of 650m over 3km that can be recommended only for the views or for those with limited time. By contrast, the Clisham Horseshoe is a challenging circular walk through some magnificently wild country. Approaching An Cliseam from the northwest makes for a long walk in on an often boggy path that brings you to the foot of the ridge linking Mullach an Langa, Mulla bho Thuath, Mulla bho Dheas and finally An Cliseam. There is some easy scrambling on the ridge and tougher sections that are easily avoided. This is an enjoyable route for those who are confident on rocky…

The Arenigs are a disparate mountain range in Snowdonia, to the north and west of Bala. Dominated by the twin peaks of Arenig Fawr and Arenig Fach, the Arenigs are a mix of grassy hills, vast bogs and sudden rocky terrain. They feel quiet and wild – and that is their appeal. This ultimate weekender starts with an ascent of pudding-shaped Arenig Fach from the shores of Llyn Celyn, before heading to Llyn Arenig Fawr for a night in the tiny and charming Arenig Fawr bothy. Day two is a climb of Arenig Fawr, the loftier of the two Arenig brothers, before returning to your car and chosen accommodation, while day three involves ascending the extinct volcano of Rhobell Fawr and its remote neighbour, Dduallt. ROUTE 7 Arenig Fach ROUTE…

1 SH756225 Turn right out of the car park, walk past the school and turn right again at a fingerpost sign to take a bridleway leading uphill away from the village. Go through a gate and continue on a green lane, with a fence to the left and a mossy stone wall to the right, heading north-east and east. Pass below a house and at a path junction, cross the house’s driveway and fork left. Go through a gate and head north-east and north through forest. Pass through a couple of gates and ford a stream before reaching a junction at SH764233. Veer right through a gate and head north-east to reach a wider track entering from the right. This point is marked by a metal fingerpost sign. 2 SH766235…

1 NX557944 The start is beside the A718, immediately south of the bridge over Water of Deugh, parking on a stretch of disused roadway. Cross the main road onto the track leading past Bridge-end Farm. Ignore a wide new track on the right, and follow the smaller, older track ahead, north-east. A muddy pool below the track, Green Well of Scotland, was once a sacred spring used for baptisms. The track passes alongside Water of Deugh, then slants up the slopes of Willieanna and Dunool. 2 NX578971 At the track end, follow a small path with a wall on its left. After a soggy, level section the path and wall dip to a footbridge over Polsue Burn, then run up the slopes of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn to the trig point…

WHERE DO I START? The route starts and finishes in the public car park at grid ref NY187085 near Wasdale Head. Wasdale is one of the hardest Lakeland valleys to each by car, but well worth the long drive. WHAT’S THE TERRAIN LIKE? You get a real mixture of mountain conditions with this walk, including valley path, stepped path, river fords, boulder field, scree gully, moorland, steep rock and steep gully. HOW HARD IS THE WALK? The definition of a challenging hillwalk. There are no graded scrambles or particularly complex sections, but it’s rocky and long with plenty of points that need sharp navigation skills. WHAT MAP SHOULD I USE? • OS Explorer OL6 (1:25k) • OS Landranger 90 (1:50k) • Harvey British Mountain Map Lake District (1:40k) WHERE CAN…

WALK IT You can walk into Lud’s Church from a car park just 1.5km away at Gradbach, but what would be the fun in that? Our 24-hour Peak District adventure on page 42 starts at Ye Olde Rock Inn at Upper Hulme pub (which was closed for refurbishment at the time of writing). We started walking late afternoon, with a bivvy on the Roaches, but this is also an awesome route at any time of day. Looping up and over Ramshaw Rocks, around to Lud’s Church (grid ref SJ987656 ), and finishing on The Roaches and Hen Cloud, the route packs in some of the Peak District’s most dramatic features. From forested trails, big views and deep chasms to scrambling on the super grippy gritstone rock, there’s something to charm…

It’s easy to dismiss Scafell Pike. Sure, it’s England’s highest peak, but so what? It’s too busy, doesn’t have one of those deliciously pointy summits, and you won’t find any razor-edged ridges or pristine mountain lakes high on its rubble-strewn slopes. Isn’t it all just, a bit boring? Wrong. The Scafell range is defined by dark, almost gothic qualities, its high ramparts defended by abrupt cliffs and mangled buttresses that create a sinister atmosphere as you tiptoe beneath them. It would be madness to visit these peaks without tagging the high point of the country, but combine that with an ascent along the deep gash of Piers Gill (sneaking into the left of this picture), and the lonely neighbour of Sca Fell (dominating the skyline to the right) for one…

ADVENTURE WEDDINGS Lucky enough to have found a partner who also loves hilly places? Thinking about tying the knot? Here’s an idea for a wedding to remember – get married in the mountains! Combine your special day with the activities and places you love the most and tailor your ceremony into something really personal. Adventure wedding photographer Cat is based in Austria but shoots weddings in high places all over Europe, including the UK. Check out her work, get inspired and download her free step-by-step guide to adventure weddings at wildconnectionsphotography.com WIN A BIVVY! Lightweight wild camping can be an expensive business, so we’ve teamed up with Outdoor Research to offer one lucky winner a Helium hooped bivvy bag, worth £200! It’s tough, lightweight and very packable. Enter at livefortheoutdoors.com/ORbivvycomp…

“IT WOULD BE RUDE NOT TO BAG THE MOST CRACKING SECTION OF THE NANTLLE RIDGE” The village of Rhyd Ddu sits between Snowdon and the Nantlle Ridge. Snowdon is yet to come, but for those looking for an extra challenge and with fit mountain legs, it would be rude not to bag the most cracking section of the Nantlle Ridge first – which is a 5km detour, with an added 746m of ascent. If 12km and nearly 1000m of ascent is enough for one day though, a pleasant and much easier start to the day can be taken through Beddgelert Forest from Rhyd Ddu. Forestry tracks can be a bit confusing and arrow markers don’t necessarily mark the right way, so keep a close eye on the map. The Nantlle…

You’ll need a good breakfast to get you up and going again after a big day yesterday. Turning left out of the Pen-y-Gwyrd it’s just 100m down the road until you see a footpath heading across a stream and north up the Miner’s Track. Get a rhythm going to the grassy ridge top up some boggy ground. Stop to admire views of Tryfan looking outstanding, before taking the path left in a westerly direction towards Glyder Fach. The ground soon becomes covered in shattered rock. Stick to the worn paths for easier going. Just before Fach’s summit, you’ll see the pinnacles at the top of the aptly-named Bristly Ridge, and shortly after, the Cantilever Stone. Glyder Fach’s true summit is an awkward (and totally optional) scramble over a heap of…

“Boys, keep off the moors. Stick to the roads, and the best of luck.” That’s the advice proffered to Jack and David in the film American Werewolf in London. They don’t take it and – spoiler alert – it does not end well. Tourist mauling werewolves aside, why is it that we’re often so reluctant to head off the well-trodden path? Thanks to open access land in England and Wales, and Scotland’s superbly progressive approach to accessibility, in the British mountains there are very few places that we can’t go, so why limit ourselves to these thin ribbons? Maybe it’s security, paths forming a psychological tether to more familiar ground. Maybe it’s habit; following paths is just what we do. Or maybe it’s laziness, the choices of where to walk…

Astrange thing happens when you drive into Scotland. As you leave the north of England in your rear-view mirror you enter an empty land of lonely valleys and solitudinous hills. To anyone even slightly landscape-curious, these places beckon and call. You may even promise to yourself that, one day, you’ll return to this wild country and give it the explorative attention that it deserves and you crave. But then your journey takes you on into the busier, more populated swathe of Scotland occupied by the likes of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Your focus shifts to the beauty and tranquillity of the Highlands that await beyond, and all thoughts and memories of that blessed green land you’ve already left behind drift from your mind. This, then, is the curse of the Southern…

1 Refill all your water bottles the night before so you can get a brew going the minute you wake up. 2 If you left your boots outside the tent or inside the porch, check them for slugs before shoving your feet in them. They love dark, damp, salty places. 3 Shake as much water off the tent as soon as you can after getting up to help it dry faster, and peg the doors open to air out the inside. 4 Open the full length of your sleeping bag’s zip and spread or hang it out while you prepare breakfast. 5 Pack up the rest of your stuff while breakfast cooks, leaving your tent up to dry, if it needs to. 6 Plan your day’s route over breakfast and…

ROUTES & GRADES Scrambling routes are graded in terms of difficulty, starting at Grade 1 up to Grade 3. Grade 1 routes are generally the domain of the hillwalker, while Grades 2 and 3 tend to involve specialist equipment usually associated with rock climbing, such as ropes, helmets and harnesses. Classic Grade 1 routes include the North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch, Striding Edge, The Ring of Steall, Sharp Edge and many more. Each main mountain area in the UK will be covered by at least one scrambling guidebook, featuring a huge range of routes with descriptions, parking details, gradings and inspiring photographs. Recent guidebooks break the routes down into plus and minus grades. If you are just starting out then choosing some Grade 1 minus routes will allow you…

PACKED SIZE Mats with smaller packed sizes are easier to fit into a rucksack with your other camping gear. Warmer mats are usually bulkier, so really compact mats are best saved for summer. REPAIRABILITY Inflatable mats become unusable if punctured, so it’s useful if they come with some kind of repair kit. Foam mats are bulkier but far more resilient and continue to offer insulation even when wet. WEIGHT A sleeping mat will probably spend more time being carried in a pack than being slept on, so there’s a definite advantage to a lighter weight. However, robustness can diminish with weight reduction, so there’s a balance to be found. R-VALUE R-value is a measure of thermal resistance. The higher the R-value, the warmer the mat. From 2020 a new industry…

Black Combe should be famous for all sorts of reasons. It’s a Trail 100 , for starters: perhaps Wainwright was misguided in relegating it to an Outlying Fell, despite claiming he could climb it in his slippers. Wordsworth, on the other hand, was suitably impressed, referring to ‘the line of Erin’s coast’ beyond the Isle of Man in his poem View from the top of Black Comb. Indeed it has one of the few unimpeded felltop views of the Irish Sea, with Scotland and Wales breaking through on the clearest days too, and creating a prime summer bivvy spot as lights twinkle on distant shores. However, located between Barrow-in-Furness, Sellafield and the central fells, it’s also a necessary reminder that the Cumbrian coast is a working environment and not just…

In the 1920s, J Rooke Corbett listed Scotland’s hills over 2500ft (762m) that were still not the height of the mighty Munros. Chasing Corbetts takes you to interesting places you might not otherwise have thought of. One such being Galloway, which has four of these tickable hills in a wild corner of south-west Scotland where the rocks are granite and most of the other hillwalkers are goats. Corbett-height hills tend to be tougher than their taller Munro cousins. The vegetation is more clingy and lush, the paths are smaller or not there at all. This certainly applies to Galloway. Cairnsmore and Corserine are moderate one-hill outings. But the walk over the two summits of the Awful Hand will seriously loosen up your legs for the long days of summer ahead.…

1 NX358866 The start is a picnic site at the bridge over Water of Minnoch on the track towards Kirriereoch. Continue eastwards along the track. Where it forks, the older track on the right leads to a view over Kirriereoch Loch, then rejoins the main track. Before reaching Kirriereoch house turn right. In 300m ignore a turning on the right (the return route) and in another 500m ignore a turning on the left. After another 1.2km the track crosses Pillow Burn and runs uphill to another junction. 2 NX378881 Turn left, north, for 1km, then bear right on an older and smaller track. After 200m this ends, but keep on ahead along a tree gap to reach Knochlach Burn. Cross this, and head up beside plantations and along their top…

Mountain Rescue hit the headlines in February when four inexperienced tourists were rescued near the summit of Ben Nevis in the middle of a brutal winter storm. The rescue created a firestorm of controversy, with thousands of people taking to social media to criticise the walkers, who were carrying no recognised winter kit, with three of the group wearing trainers. The conditions were so severe that the rescue helicopter couldn’t fly near the 1345m summit, meaning 22 members of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue team were forced to make the journey on foot. The incident raised questions about how reliant hillwalkers in Britain have become on Mountain Rescue, a completely voluntary organisation dating back more than 50 years that relies on the fundraising efforts of its own team members to keep…

A high-level walk starting in the town of Llanberis, taking in three great mountains, a rolling ridge known as ‘The Big Dipper’, shimmering llyns and spooky abandoned slate mines. It’s a short day to start, allowing time to travel and get parked up. Wiggling through the back streets of Llanberis you’ll find a street named Fron Goch, turn right at a crossroads, then left, passing the Plas Garnedd Care Centre. The road gently climbs, turning into a track taking you high above Llanberis. The shoulder of Moel Eilio comes into a view and a path left swoops you up onto Bryn Mawr, which forms the rounded grassy ridge up to Moel Ellio’s summit. It’s an easy climb to the top, where you’ll cross a couple of stiles and follow a…

We’d made a dash for it. Leaving the office behind, we had just 24 hours to pack in as many new experiences as possible. The plan was a clamber over the Peak District’s Ramshaw Rocks to the otherworldly chasm of Lud’s Church, followed by an exploration of the rocky Roaches ridge to find an idyllic spot to watch the sun set and bivvy for the night. The next morning we’d rise early for a sunrise hike up Hen Cloud, eat a big fat breakfast at the Cobbles Café in Longnor, then drive home in time for lunch. The plan was perfect. The weather, however, was not... Despite being mid-summer, rain had lashed down all the way to The Peaks. The dramatic grey gritstone edge of The Roaches, battered by a…

Do more, carry less Rab’s Kaon insulated jacket mixes fabrics throughout its construction to maximise performance while minimising weight. The body and arms of the jacket are filled with high quality goose down (800 fill power) within a light but windproof fabric. The hot areas under the arms are uninsulated, while the shoulders, cuffs, hips and sides of the hood use synthetic insulation for improved weather resistance. An excellent layering piece for big mountain days. rab.equipment (£200) Boots built for UK winters The Karakorum HC GTX is not a new boot, but 2020 is the first time that La Sportiva has made it available in the UK. Which is slightly odd because, with its one-piece leather upper, high cuff, Gore-Tex Performance Comfort lining, chunky high-traction sole and C2 crampon compatibility, the…

It has long been said that the Carneddau are the ‘Cairngorms of Snowdonia’, but while they have much in common, lovers of these neglected Welsh giants would consider any comparison an affront. Aficionados will tell you there is nowhere quite like the Carneddau. As the most extensive tract of land in Wales above 3000ft, the Carneddau attract those who like to get high and stay there for as long as possible. The scope for memorable hillwalks is almost inexhaustible, the permutations practically endless. Many visits are required to really get to know this sprawling range of remote cwms and ridges, but a good full day introduction to its spacious summits can be had by taking on one of many possible ‘full traverses’. This north/south option has a purity of line…

1 SH850379 Cross the ladder stile to the right of the bothy and pick up the path heading south-west. Cross the reservoir outflow at a plank conveniently placed across the stream and begin to ascend south-west towards Carreg Lefain. The good path is clear underfoot. Follow it as it veers west to Y Castell. Continue ascending west and then north-west, crossing a couple of fences as you go, and arrive at the col of Bwlch Blaen-y-nant to the west of a 684m spot height. Take the main, traversing path that ascends south-west, to the left of higher ground. The terrain is rocky and rugged, but never technical or exposed. Follow the path all the way to the trig pillar and war memorial plaque at the summit of Arenig Fawr. 2…

1 NX552862 The start is a designated walkers’ car park near Forrest Lodge. Just north of the car park, cross a bridge to visit the Black Watch highlander (former ship’s figurehead). Return across the bridge then head a bit north of west on a forest track marked as Birger Natvig Road. After 2km, where the main track ahead is ‘Robert Watson Road’ fork left. In 400m a rough track leads down right towards Loch Harrow. 2 NX532866 Head across the loch’s outflow to its northern corner. Follow traces of an old track ahead under the trees to a leat (artificial stream) and follow it to the left back to the loch shore. Cross the leat’s outflow and another leat just beyond, then turn back right on a track. You pass…

The highest point in England, Scafell Pike, is a worthy prize. Combine it with its twin, Sca Fell, via adventurous and little travelled routes and you have a Lakeland classic. Sod it, you have a British classic. There should never be any excuses, you should know ‘our’ main peaks from many perspectives. It’s easy to be complacent about the key mountains. Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike are peaks that over your hillwalking lifetime should become old friends, with every facet of their personality, both good and bad, linked to personal memories. This is a chance to get under the skin of England’s crowning glory. To look deeply into the face of the mountain and see your own reflected back. Wasdale Head is a pain in the bum to get…

If you manage to reach the true summit of Stac Pollaidh (and there are reasons as to why you might not that we’ll come to later) you’ll have reached the far from lofty altitude of 612m above sea-level. It isn’t a big hill then, only just scraping into the official category of ‘mountain’ by some standards. But to measure Stac Pollaidh purely by its measurements is to do it a great disservice. Let’s start by looking at its summit – or rather its summits. There are two, an east and a west. The east summit is the more easily gained, whereas the west summit – Stac Pollaidh’s true summit – requires scrambling of the exposed and tricky kind that ventures into actual rock climbing. And between the two tops is…

Eilean Sùbhainn TORRIDON WALKED (& slept) by Ben Weeks, Trail senior writer Ask me what my favourite mountain or route is and I’ll struggle. But my favourite bivvy? Easy. We’d canoed over the steely waters of Loch Maree to Eilean Sùbhainn, one of the islands that forms Loch Maree’s National Nature Reserve. We pulled the canoe out at a secluded bay, carried it through wild, untouched terrain that could have been from another time and another land, and put it back into the waters of a lochan cupped within the interior of the island. And in that lochan we found another tiny island, covered with springy heather and peppered by birch trees. Here we set our bivvies, brewed tea, and watched the sun disappear over one end of Loch Maree…