Thread closed

So, the Monadhliath thread on OM has now been closed by the moderator. Firstly, I want to thank readers for their support. I think Jon has done the right thing in closing down what was becoming a slanging match. As we have seen in previous threads, these things have a habit of spiralling out of control. It’s not easy moderating. How much freedom of speech to you allow? Equally, as a participant, do you just shrug off defamation or do you call the perpetrator to account? To do nothing seems like surrender. I think the right thing to do is to ask the perpetrator to desist. To be fair to ALS, at no time did I feel that he was abusing me. All I wanted him to do was to stop making unwarranted assertions about me that had nothing to do with the topic in hand. It’s a real shame as I have had some cordial email exchanges with ALS (Jerry) through this blog in the past.

Unfortunately, communication through forums and email can get very heated. As Dave (Backpackbrewer) points out, face to face, these rows are often defused quickly. In cyberspace, they take on a life of their own. As Alan said, it is a shame that the Monadhliath thread will now pass out of view and that people may miss a chance to join the protest. The petition now has around 840 signatures, but really needs ten times that to be effective. Spread the word as best you can.

There is a dilemma here. Do I leave the OM forum in disgust or continue to contribute? A number of others have been subject to much worse abuse than me and, understandably, have left. Others see what goes on and decide not to participate. I’ve kept a relatively low profile since the last wind turbine thread. The disappointing aspect of this recent one is that it started off in a totally uncontentious manner (deliberately) and was then hijacked. If outdoor folk can’t discuss important issues like this amicably, why should politicians listen to us?

I want to commend Chris Townsend for his contributions. I kind of dragged him in by quoting him. Chris is someone I’ve never met, but feel I know through his books, articles and blog. He is never less than passionate about the things he cares about, but expresses himself in courteous and considered manner. He was never less than polite and informative in his comments. Thanks for your help, Chris (stop blushing!).

This country of ours (all of it) has a unique landscape. Although it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, it has a surprising amount of beautiful wild land. While none of it is pristine in the sense of being untouched by man’s influence, much of our uplands and moorlands retain a feeling of remoteness and an aspect of grandeur that man has been unable to mar. The siting of huge wind farms with not just their oversized turbines, but all the attendant roads and pylons will irrevocably change the aspect of the land and its ecosystems, many of which are fragile in themselves. Let’s not stop campaigning against these monstrosities, but let’s keep our dignity. I would also urge you to sign one of the petitions against the new planning guidelines, which threaten our landscape.

Lastly, I want to share a YouTube video that I found, that I thought was (loosely) appropriate for the ALSs and Parkys of this world:

Character assassination

Perhaps I was born at the wrong time. I’ve always tried to be courteous and in a discussion concentrate on the issues rather than personalities. I started a thread on OM about the Monadhliath wind farm issue (see previous post). I felt it was appropriate to alert OM members to Chris’s article and the petition. Half way through the thread, suddenly I get a load of grief directed at me from “ALoveSupreme” over how I haven’t contributed to the Scottish economy, how I buy too much gear and don’t recycle it. Apparently that disqualifies me from expressing an opinion (probably on anything!). There are times when I really think: why do I bother? I know forums become fractious and have trolls and that they shouldn’t be taken seriously, but ALS had seemed previously to be quite a nice guy. I do find it sad when serious discussions tip into character assassinations. It can happen to blogs as well. I’m grateful that it hardly ever happens here.

Save the Monadhliath Mountains

Chris Towensend article here

Sign the petition here

 

Dead Can Dance

Today I discovered “Dead Can Dance“. Listen to “The Host of Seraphim”. Truely awe inspiring.

 

In the draw

Clouds over Braeriach

Checking through my gazillion emails yesterday when I arrived home, there was a welcome one from John Manning confirming the receipt of my TGO Challenge application for 2012. So far there are about 200 applicants, of whom, like me, there are 40 first timers. Next step is the luck of the draw. Even then, I will need to be confident that my wife can survive two weeks without her shopping and dog walking assistant. However, I’m hopeful that I will be able to participate, if selected.

I’ve already given a lot of thought to gear and have three potential routes planned. The next significant date is the draw in early November. Perhaps with my recent track record of weather, the organisers might want to leave my name in the hat! Having said that, I can’t imagine the weather can be worse than this year’s Challenge.

No assault, lots of battery

C’mon guys, I go out, it rains and blows a lot. You know the pattern. Wednesday was the day set for the ascent of Little Narrowcove, so the weather was atrocious. I endured an hour of  the worst rainstorm I’ve ever endured. Brilliant! Fortunately I was in my tent at the time and my tent was the Scarp. It rained so hard that the ground gave up soaking up the water and it started pooling in the depressions and flowing into my porch (see below). Not one single drop got through to the inner tent either from underneath or through the flysheet despite pole arch guyline peg pulling out. Later that night a linelok slipped so one corner wasn’t pegged down. No problem for the Scarp, mate (I did get out and re-peg it). It as so bad that on Wednesday night/Thursday morning I got approximately zero sleep with the noise from the wind battering my little fortress. What fun! I’ll write up the trip notes over the next week. I’ve got some good gear observations to pass on as well.

Assault on Little Narrowcove

Little Narrowcove

On Monday, I will be off on yet another foray into the Lake District. The object this time is to return to Eskdale and climb Scafell Pike via Little Narrowcove. The weather looks a bit unsettled, but with a bit of luck there will be a window of opportunity in the middle of the week. I shall be renewing my acquaintance with the Scarp and I have a couple of new bits of gear to try out. Just in case the weather is dire (as if!), I’m taking a weatherproof camera, my old Olympus mju 770SW. I’m interested to compare the quality of photos with my Lumix TZ5.

Interesting new tents

A couple of interesting new tents have popped on to the radar screen in the last week.

The SoLong 6 is from LightHeart Gear in the US and looks like an interesting hybrid shelter with masses of internal space. Jolly Green Giant bought a cuben version and reviews it here. My thoughts are that it looks very interesting at 765g for the silnylon version and c.600g for the cuben (both without pegs). However, it’s not quite right for UK conditions. A lower fly, a larger porch, some roof vents and not quite so much mesh would do it for me.

PTC* has been to KORS 2011. In his report, he looks at some new tents from Vango. Below is the new Helium Carbon. The one man version weighs 800g. It looks pretty interesting up against the Power Lizard the Laser range. The TBS system should make it very stable. The flattened roof arch is also an attraction. What about combining the pole system of the SoLong with the design of the Helium? That would make an interesting tent.

Picture courtesy of PTC*

August photos uploaded

I’ve uploaded my August photos to my Picasa page. Hope you like them.

Buff pillow cover

On the last few trips I’ve used a Thermarest microfibre pillow case for my Exped inflatable pillow. While the pillow material is not unpleasant, I prefer the fleecy feel of the microfibre on my skin. Strictly speaking this is a luxury item, although at 60g it is hardly an enormous weight penalty. A function of having too much time on my hands is thinking of solutions to meaty problems like this!

Yesterday I had an inspiration. Why not use a buff instead? I dug out a fleece and a microfibre buff and inflated my pillow to see whether it would work. Hey presto, perfectly fitting pillow covers and one less item to carry.

Left to right: pillow and “covers”, microfibre pillow case, fleece buff, microfibre buff

Exped Cloudburst 15

Earlier in the summer, in the Carneddau, I used a Summit to Sea Ultrasil Daysack. While it is a brilliant occasional daypack, its lack of structure makes it a bit unstable. A few weeks ago I came across the Exped Cloudburst 15, which is a cross between a rolltop bag and a rucksack. It’s similar to the Alpkit Gourdon, but about half the weight at a touch under 300g.

click on picture to enlarge

Like most Exped products, it seems very well made, neatly finished and well thought out. The back panel has a bit of structure with a thin U-shaped stiffner. The shoulder straps are mesh and there is a thin, removable waist strap to add some stability. The front has a useful bungee cord arrangement for waterproofs or a helmet. I thought the translucent strip on the back panel was cosmetic, but it helps you see what’s inside the pack when the top is opened. It’s also textured, making it less slippery than the slick waterproof body fabric.

I’ve not used it in earnest, but it struck me that it is a useful bit of kit for peak bagging side trips to save lugging a full rucksack to the top. When not in use, it can double up as a drybag.

MYOG camera bag Mk2

Two years ago, I made a waterproof, padded camera bag out of an Exped XXS rolltop stuff sack and a piece of sleeping mat foam. It’s been a brilliant bit of gear to protect my camera from rain and from knocks. However, it is a little on the bulky side to fit into my Inov-8 Race Pro 4 belt pack. So I decided to replace the 7mm foam with 3mm foam, shown below. The blue is 7mm and the grey/green is 3mm foam, shown with the Exped rolltop bag on the left.

The 3mm foam makes an appreciably slimmer package. Clearly it’s not quite as protective, but I think it will be enough to protect the camera (Lumix TZ5) from being damaged if dropped. I’ve cut the corners off the foam, as it makes it easier to fold the roll top down. Very simple, but very effective.

Rohan Beacon Shirt

I’ve become a bit of a Rohanist of late. I’ve been looking for a warm shirt for winter recently, more for casual wear than walking, but hadn’t been able to find anything that appealed, until I saw the Rohan Beacon shirt. At £60, it’s hardly bargain basement, but it is a high quality shirt with some attractions. The material feels like brushed cotton but is, in fact, hollow core polyester. It feels very nice and has about the same level of warmth as a brushed cotton shirt. Obviously, it has the advantage over cotton of not absorbing moisture and being faster drying. It is also crease resistant and doesn’t need ironing.

It features two buttoned chest pockets and a hidden zip pocket behind the left hand chest pocket. One nice detail is that inside the collar and cuffs, there is a contrasting plain material to add a bit of style. I’ve now worn it a few times and like it very much. I’m sure it will be hard-wearing and ideal for the colder months. I doubt that I’ll take it walking, but it would be a good shirt for cooler weather trekking, where you might want to wear a shirt rather than a base layer. The one thing I can’t vouch for is odour resistance. If you don’t like red, there are four other colours to choose from.

Disclaimer: I bought this with my own money!

Too much debt

If you are wondering why the economic background is so dire, the answer is simple: too much debt. Over the last 30 years, Western economies have relied on an increasing amount of debt to generate economic growth. For instance total economy debt (i.e. private sector and government) to GDP in the UK has risen from 160% in 1980 to 322% in 2010. This is actually understated as it doesn’t include debt associated with PFI and public sector pension liabilities.

It’s not just the UK, all the major Western economies have seen the same trend, although with different combinations of private and public sector debt. We are now at a point where debt has become toxic to growth. Hence, the Ed Balls “Plan B” won’t work. The conundrum is that growth will be weak whether fiscal consolidation is fast or slow. If it is slow, then a crisis of confidence in debt markets (as we have seen for Greece) is possible. So it is better to gain credibility with the coalition plans and hopefully head off a crisis.

Why am I telling you this? Well, forearmed is forewarned and we are headed into a very difficult period with a probable eurozone breakup and another recession more than likely. Get your finances in order, because the banks are running scared and access to credit will become even more difficult over the next two years.

If you want some more detail on rising debt in the West, there’s an excellent research paper from the Bank for International Settlements. You only need to read the first few pages to get the gist. The table below is an extract from it.

Rohan Elite Trousers

In these straightened times,I think we have all become bargain hunters. Rohan had a sale in July and I spotted the Elite Trousers at half price. Bargain is a relative term, you understand. These were £40.50, instead of an eye-watering £81.70. OK, so it’s not really a bargain, but at £40.50, they are a “sensible” price. I bought them really as a potential second pair of trousers if I needed some for a hotel, rather than out-and-out walking trousers.

They are incredibly light at 203g for a 34″ waist. Unlike previous Rohan trousers (note the word trousers, not pants!), the leg length was just right. Considering the weight, they are fully specified with pockets (two front, one security and one rear) and a proper belt.

The material is gossamer thin. While they are wind resistant, they are not wind proof in the way that Montane  Terra Pants (ugh!) are. I don’t think I’d want to use them in a cold wind. Conversely, in the warmer months, they are pleasantly airy and cool, despite not having mesh vents.

The colour is a slightly strange brown/grey, not unattractive, but I would have preferred a dark grey. I’ve worn them quite a lot on warmer days recently and have grown to like them a lot. Although I think they will be reasonably hard-wearing, I would want to expose them to much abrasion or to thorns.

Rohan still have a few in larger sizes, if you are interested. I’m wondering if they might discontinue them, which would be a shame.