| Walking Home |
|
My walking gear
Over the years of hill walking I've accumulated a range of walking gear, in the form of both clothing and support stuff. I was lucky that my school, as part of the cadet work, taught us hill craft, and my first proper walks were with them, in the Yorkshire Dales. It means I was taught, for instance, how to recognise hypothermia in myself and others, how to avoid it, and how to treat it. I also learned map and compass reading, and how important they are.
For those and other reasons, I like to think that I'm a relatively safe hill walker. It has always been my aim that, should the Mountain Rescue ever need to come after me, it will down to bad luck, not stupidity on my part. I have gone the wrong way in the past, and also got the early stage of hypothermia, but I knew enough on each occasion to sort myself out. So, for what it's worth, this is the gear that use.
Clothing
Maps and Navigation
Walking Aids
Survival Gear
Clothing
As I said above, I'm well aware of the problem of hypothermia. I've even had a pretty severe case a couple of times, but both involved inadvertent swims in very cold water. But I do remember my first time in the Lakes, I climbed Helvellyn from the West in very wet weather in September. I was starting to feel depressed and having those "why on earth am I doing this" thoughts that you get when the weather is against you. I wasn't, I hasten to point out, feeling cold at all. If anything, slightly warm due to exertion. But I stopped and put on another layer (a heavy fleece) because I was suspicious about the way I was feeling. Within minutes I was feeling much better. An important lesson: just because you don't feel cold doesn't mean that you aren't cold. That said, I generally find that most walkers do seem to be pretty well dressed these days - or at least the ones I meet are. The Mountain Rescue teams no doubt have horror stories. The only weird ones I've seen as the middle-aged lady struggling up Wansfell in a short denim skirt. As the rain started she did have the sense to go back down though. The other one was the man I met above Honnister pass on a longish hike who was properly dressed on his upper half, but only wearing a pair of 1970s shorts on his bottom half (and boots of course). He seemed to be OK.Thus, I tend to have about five layers of clothing, either on me or in my backpack. For various reasons most of my gear is either Berghaus of North Face, but now those two labels have become fashion accessories for people who struggle to get on a bus, I'm slowly moving to other makes. I suppose you could call it badge reverse-snobbery. I like Bergaus and North Face gear, not least because it's pretty good, and a pretty reasonable price, but I actually use it for hill walking. But I don't walk in the height of summer, or the depths of winter, so the stuff I have is not exactly hardcore. As an indication, the waterproof jacket was about £170 in around 2009.
I have base layer T-shirt, and a thin fleece. When I start off I'll either have a heavier fleece or a waterproof top, depending on weather. Above about 500 metres I'll usually have both on, unless it's very warm. So far, that's enough, and even on the top of Scafell in light snow I was plenty warm enough: the waterproof keeps the wind-chill down. But just in case I get stuck, I carry a body-warmer in my pack, which is the fifth layer.
Also with me, and only deployed if necessary, are watherproof trousers and gaitors. The gaitors are great bits of kit: I've waded over a fast-flowing stream, across rocks that left me shin-deep in water, and not a drop of water got into my boots. I nearly got swept off the rocks a couple of times, but that's another matter.
Maps and Navigation
A couple of years ago, I got a Satmap Active 10 GPS. I did look at some other sytems, mostly Garmin ones, but that was the one I ended up with. They are little larger than some other GPS rigs, but this means a bigger screen, so I consider that good, not bad. I was also impressed by stories of people dropping them down cliffs etc, and having them emerge unscathed. Given my tendency to drop stuff, that sounded useful. Of course the down side of GPS is not just the price of the device (which is fair enough) but the price of the maps, which is anything but. In general, electronic maps are two to four times as expensive as their paper versions. Now unless I'm completely mistaken, I'd guess that the OS hold their master maps in electronic form these days, meaning that it's probably cheaper to make an SD card with a map on it than a paper map.Now I know at least one person who bought a Satmap and now never takes the paper version when he's out hiking, but I still have a folding map. There are a couple of reasons:
1) Safety: I've never
heard of the batteries going flat on a paper map. But they do after
about ten hours on my Satmap. They last about thirteen hours if you go
onto full power-saving mode, but that's about it. And that assumes that
you remembered to charge the thing up properly.
2) The size of the Satmap (and any other GPS) screen is such that if you've zoomed in enought to read labels, so you know where you are, then you've zoomed in too far to see more than small area around you. Zoom out far enough to get a feel for the surrounding area and you can't read the labels any more so you don't know what anthing is.
2) The size of the Satmap (and any other GPS) screen is such that if you've zoomed in enought to read labels, so you know where you are, then you've zoomed in too far to see more than small area around you. Zoom out far enough to get a feel for the surrounding area and you can't read the labels any more so you don't know what anthing is.
As a result, I find it easiest to actually use map and GPS. I use the paper map to work out the route, and to check were I am going, which direction etc. I also use it to identify distant landmarks. The GPS I use mainly to see where I am and which way I am headed. I also use the altimeter function a lot, although more as a morale booster (or destroyer) than for navigation: 500m means properly in the hills, 700m means the end is in sight, 800m means nearly there etc.
Walking Aids
When walking poles first made their appearance I tended to think of them as an affectation. I did eventually buy a pair of Leki poles in 2008, and I have to say now that poles are brilliant. They help you get up hills by enabling your arms to do a bit of the work, they help you get down by taking some of the impact, and they help stabilise you almost anywhere. The poles I have did develop a small problem with the locking mechanism a couple of years ago, which is annoying. Basically, when you close them up they won't lock, and ditto sometimes when you extend them. You have to open the joint out to full extent, partially lock it (until there's resistance when you try closing the entension) then close to the desired point and twist-lock it. The other thing that's a little weak about them are the handles: handles suitable for walking downhill are uncomfortable going up hill, and vice versa.I also carry a back-pack, which I am hereby defining as a walking aid. For a few years I had a Karrimor one, but recently bought a Lowe Alpine Airzone 25 pack. It's a little small, but otherwise a good pack. It has a contoured back, a load of straps, a rain cover which almost works, and a couple of easy access pockets for small bits of gear like torches etc. Obviously at 25 litres it's only a day pack, but I don't camp overnight: if God wanted us to go camping he wouldn't have invented Bed and Breakfast.
Survival Gear
I'm also going to take this topic a bit loosely, and cover all the rest of the stuff I have in my pack, not including the camera. I certainly don't plan on anything going wrong, but I'd like to be able to cope with at least minor things happening, and I usually walk on my own.1) Food. I only do day walks, so this
is mainly my lunch. I'm not a fan of trying to eat things like crisps
on the tops of hills in driving rain, so I usually just have a couple
of rounds of sandwiches. But I also take at least three pieces of my
world-famous tiffin recipe, as each piece has about the same number of
calouries as a three course meal. And that's only a very slight
exaggeration.
2) Drink. I normally have two 500ml water bottles. I used to lug a thermos of coffee around, but I seldom bother these days: too heavy for too little reward. Typically I'd apect to drink about two-thirds of that on a trip as long as (say) the Fairfield Horseshoe.
3) A survival blanket. One of the foil/mylar ones.
4) Torches. Two: a head torch and a smallish hand-held one.
5) Penknife. A single-bladed Gerber lock-knife.
6) A whistle. Small and plastic, but loud.
2) Drink. I normally have two 500ml water bottles. I used to lug a thermos of coffee around, but I seldom bother these days: too heavy for too little reward. Typically I'd apect to drink about two-thirds of that on a trip as long as (say) the Fairfield Horseshoe.
3) A survival blanket. One of the foil/mylar ones.
4) Torches. Two: a head torch and a smallish hand-held one.
5) Penknife. A single-bladed Gerber lock-knife.
6) A whistle. Small and plastic, but loud.
The only thing I probably ought to get is a small first aid kit, but if the emergency has reached the point where I need that then I might be in no position to use it. But I'd certainly recommend one.
19 June 2012