Some thoughts and reports from outings...
Blogs from some outdoor adventures.....
Snowshoeing for the first time…. The winter so far had been good and I had taken advantage of this fact as much as I could , you never know when the latest dump of snow will be the last dump of snow!!! For climbing the conditions and snow hadn’t been great but for walking adventures it had been greatJ The two weeks prior to this trip had seen significant accumulations of snow to low levels and after a number of wading trip this year I had decided to purchase some snow shoesJ I did a bit of research and the MSR shoes were given good ratings , however given the fact that I may not get too much use out of these I decided to opt for a middle of the line pair (cheaper and easily available;)). The Chinooks were ordered online and arrived a couple of day later, perfect timing for a test drive on this trip. Given I couldn’t get away until 13.30 due to family commitments, I chose to explore an area close to home and not far from GlenAlmond where I head for lots of outdoors fun J A few weeks ago whilst exploring Buchanty Spout I had noticed a nice hill above the Sma’ Glen with a Cairn near the top. This had taken my interest and scouring the map on Friday I noticed some Landover tracks leading towards its summit- this maybe perfect if there was enough snow cover…. Turns out I didn’t need to worry about that!! Initially I followed a track to a farm that had been compacted down by a plough and farmed but I could see there was a good amount of snow on either side, and it was the fluff powdery kind too. Looked like the snowshoes would get an outing at least!! As soon as I left the farm track the snow was shin and sometimes knee deep and I hadn’t even started gaining altitude!! I finally gave in and put the snowshoes on. What a difference this made, instantly it felt easier and I was off , taking to the new shoes like a duck to water! It was great fun but was still hard work (not as hard as without them I must say!!). The snow was getting deeper and it was all unconsolidated powder. Given the low height of these hills it had all fallen in the last week or so and it wasn’t until just before the top that I reached anything like neve (the crampons on the underside of the snowshoes worked well on this too!). I finally made it to the Cairn just before sunset and it was biting cold. The batteries in all but one of the camera died pretty quickly so I didn’t hang around and set off down the hill following my tracks. On descent the snowshoes were even better I found them super useful here and was making good progress homewards in the gathering gloom. I made it back to the car without the need for the head torch, but I wasn’t far away from requiring it!. A grand adventure and I’m already looking forward to getting the snowshoes back on!!
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WilkieMurraySome thoughts and reports from my outdoors activties... Archives
August 2017
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