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DECEMBER 2012 £3.99
ROUTES GO FURTHER AND GET HIGHER THIS WEEKEND! ADVENTURES
LAKES 3000ERS SNOWDONIA GLEN LYON EPIC!
BOOTS
The best models for all seasons ON TEST
NO ROPES! The one that argued and argued and argued... then decided sod it, let’s have 53 instead of 50.
THE EIGER
Get your hands on THAT north face
F3REE!
front cover final dec12.indd 1
2 PAGE SPECIAL
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THE ULTIMATE KIT LIST! REVEALED: 53 GEAR ICONS YOU HAVE TO OWN 22/10/2012 10:57
contents out there skills
Where this month’s issue will take you...
54
How to keep cosy Warding off winter chills when on the hill
p32
12
Ask Trail
Dream peak
14
Keep warm SpeCIaL! Making sense of sleeping bag temperature ratings; looking after down; which tents are best for winter?
Behind the picture
16
It’s Alpine Einstein!
Famous physicist snapped on snowy slope Great Gable, a Lakeland mountain that has it all: the looks, the famous friends, the history... One of the oddests bods Britain’s ever spawned, Aleister Crowley was mad about mountains too Get comfy on a Vango self-inflating mat, when you subscribe to Trail – page 30.
58
your trail Trail talk
18
The world of hillwalking – according to you lot
Subscribe and get a gift! 30 Go camping? Fancy a Vango self-inflating mat? Sign up for Trail today and we’ll send you one!
Why we love...
146
...hill legends (especially in the dark in a bothy)
p20
Toadally in love with the Lakes, on High Street.
tom bailey
10
Why now’s a great time to sign up for your ML
Glen Lyon
20
High Street déjà vu
32
The Eiger for everyone
44
Join Trail on a spectacular 2-day backpacking epic in Scotland’s ‘other’ great glen
Boldly going where we went just the day before, for a different angle on a Lake District classic It’s the mountaineering equivalent of stroking a tiger: touching rock royalty, without a rope
‘a Golden eaGle drifTed over The rim of The corrie. aparT from our own, There waSn’T a SinGle booTprinT...’
tom bailey
Hill skills rebooted
adventures
To ScoTland, for a SpoT of (Glen) lyon TaminG.
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FREE INSIDE! 32-page gear supplement 53 outdoor classics that re-wrote the rules
p44
A short walk in a long shadow: below the north face of the Eiger.
£100 boots for hillwalking – yes, they exist!
ROUTES
GEAR Gear news
62
ME Bastion jacket
64
The must-have hill kit that’s coming soon Gore fabric + Mountain Equipment’s nous
3-4 season boots
68
Footwear for all-year-round outdoors action
3-season boots
80
Gaiters
92
Must-have gear for every UK hill-walker The only thing between you and soggy socks For all-year-round action get 3-4 season boots.
p68
Lake District
111
Dartmoor
113
Snowdonia
115
South Highlands
117
Route 1 Blencathra Up via Sharp Edge, down via Hall’s Fell Ridge
Route 2 High Willhays Find a different route onto Dartmoor’s highest
Route 3 Snowdon Walk two tracks that are popular for good reason
Route 4 Ben Lomond An easily accessible (and most southerly) Munro
Lake District
119
West Highlands
121
Route 5 Sail & Causey Pike Bag a pleasing pair of Wainwrights, via High Moss Route 6 Glen Galmadale A horseshoe of hills on the Morvern peninsula
Lakes 3000ers
Route 7 Skiddaw Route 8 Helvellyn Route 9 Scafell Pike & Scafell
p80
125
Visit all four Lake District 3,000-footers (plus many other lesser fells) on a mega 3-day route
Brecon
131
Snowdonia
137
Route 10 Cwm Llwch Horseshoe Route 11 Fan y Bîg Route 12 Craig Cerrig-gleisiad Fancy a long weekend outdoors in the Brecon Beacons? Good; we’ve three great walks for you!
Route 13 Cadair Idris via Cwm Cau Our Classic Route brings you face to face with Britain’s most perfect example of a glacial cirque. And that’s not the only reason to give this wonderful Welsh route a go...
Classic Route
with 3D maps DECEMBER 2012 TRAIL 9
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22/10/2012 11:11
out there
MysTic, MadMan, MounTaineer “The wickedest man in the world” perhaps, but Aleister Crowley was a passionate and persistent mountaineer too, as Trail reveals…
WORDS Dan aspel
T
his is not a story often told. Those who remember the Cambridgeeducated occultist Aleister Crowley usually recall rumours of dark deeds and hushed scandal. But the man who called himself ‘The Great Beast 666’ lived many lives in his 72 years. The earliest of those was as a climber and mountaineer. On expedition (see right) Crowley cut a strange figure. Bearded and with a eerily halfshadowed face it’s difficult to believe that he was just 27 years old. Even more striking than the intensity of his presence is his location. He is returning from the first recorded expedition to climb K2. This seldom-recognised feat saw his party reaching a height on the mountain unsurpassed for 36 years. It was no less than Crowley expected. Born into a wealthy English family in 1875, the world was his for the taking. Occupying the gulf between Alpinism’s ‘Golden Age’ and the giant-slaying expeditions of the last century, he began climbing while young. Early challenges on the cliffs of Beachy Head saw Crowley establish dangerous first ascents on Etheldreda’s Pinnacle and Cuillin Crack. Neither was repeated for over 70 years. Both have now collapsed. “Chalk is probably the most dangerous and difficult of all kinds of rock,” he would write. “Often one has to clear away an immense amount of debris in order to get any hold at all. Yet indiscretion in this operation might pull down a few hundred tons on one’s head… It is… a matter of the most exquisite judgment.” He was also a regular on Lakeland climbs, boasting with conceit: “I… made the first solitary descent of the Ennerdale face of the Pillar Rock, a feat at that time considered theoretically impossible.” Notably, a route on legendary Lakeland spire Napes Needle is known as the Crowley Route, named after its first ascender. These are no mean feats.
It was not long before the Alps were calling. Before and throughout his career at Cambridge he would regularly head south to the mountains. But having arrived in Tyrol “with a deep reverence for the Alpine guide” his mood quickly soured. Perceived incompetence of the local climbers (“superstitious and ignorant peasants”, as he described them) disgusted him. He swiftly decided to teach himself to climb on snow, as he had done on rock. Between 1894 and 1898, he chronicled several technical ice-climbs that would be considered challenging even today. One episode on the Vibes Séracs saw him balanced on his partner’s shoulders (in crampons, no less) in order to cut hand- and footholds in an overhanging ice wall. Once that was overcome the pair raced to the safety above before ice falls obliterated the path they had cut. With typical humility he declared himself a Wunderkind, possessed of an “original theory of mountaineering”. The Eiger, Jungfrau and Ortler (“It took me six and a half hours to reach the summit. My arrival created a profound sensation”) would all surrender to his skill. He began to see himself in the same light as Alpine pioneer Albert Mummery, with whom he shared a correspondence. “I found that I could go pretty well anywhere without the least danger or difficulty,” he would later write, “whereas all the people I met were constantly on the brink of disaster. I began to think that solitary climbing was the safest form of the game.” To this end, he trained himself to solo-traverse glaciers, unroped, claiming his experience on chalk allowed him to effectively “estimate the breaking-strain of rotten material”. Amazingly, he survived a number of Alpine seasons this way. “The ordinary way up any Swiss mountain is little more than a scramble,” he would declare, his confidence fed by a partnership with the equally talented and outspoken Oscar Eckenstein. In 1900 the two tackled
‘They reached 6525m on K2 before malaria, poor weather, gunplay and lack of equipment drove them back...’
the Mexican peaks of Iztaccihuatl, Popocatepetl and Colima, the latter an active volcano on which their boots began to melt. Riding this wave of ambition two years later, the pair sought out K2 (or ‘Chogo Ri’ as they called it). Ascending via the north-east ridge the six-man team – their three tons of supplies carried by an army of porters – reached a height of 6525m (21,407ft) before a combination of sickness (malaria in Crowley’s case), poor weather, gunplay and lack of equipment drove them back. Crowley was undeterred. He was, he claimed, immune to sunburn and had been untouched by altitude sickness, experiencing “no discomfort whatever” in the Himalayas. It was the apex of his climbing career. His fall was severe. A ruinous attempt on Kanchenjunga in 1905, minus Eckenstein (who had developed serious reservations regarding Crowley’s temperament), eradicated his credibility as a mountaineer. The porters under his care were ill-equipped. One died. He physically threatened the others. There was a confrontation at 21,000ft, soon after which Swiss climber Alexis Pache and three porters were killed in a fall. Crowley, piqued at his loss of control, denied all responsibility. “The catastrophe was the direct result of mutinous disobedience to my orders,” he would later say. His reputation lay in tatters. In the expedition’s aftermath Crowley devoted himself more and more to the arcane, carving a fiercely split reputation. Some saw him as a champion of spiritual and sexual liberation, others as a degraded eccentric of rare perversions. But whatever direction his life would take, he maintained his brutal selfconfidence, saying of Mallory’s 1922 Everest attempt: “If I had been there the summit would have been reached and no one would have been killed.” Mountaineering was his first love, and remained a passion that he praised with his trademark blend of sensitivity and sadism. A climber, he wrote, needs “a high degree of spiritual development, a romantic temperament and a profound knowledge based on experience of mountain conditions”. “Insane impulses and hysterical errors,” he claimed “overwhelm the average man.” T
16 Trail december 2012
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BEHIND THE PICTURE
ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS/ OSCAR ECKENSTEIN (?)
Crowley on the Deosai Plateau in northern Pakistan, following his 1902 attempt to climb ‘Chogo Ri’ (K2).
DECEMBER 2012 TRAIL 17
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Where? Glen Lyon, Scotland What? A quiet Munro ridge epic
On Meall nan Tarmachan, and loving it! Beyond: Meall Garbh (left), Beinn nan Eachan and an already distant Meall Ghaordaidh.
20 Trail december 2012
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Lyon taming
Some climb Ben Lawers; others tackle the Tarmachan Ridge. When it comes to Glen Lyon, Trail wanted more. Join us for a spectacular two-day traverse of Scotland’s ‘other’ great glen. Words dan bailey PhotograPhs tom bailey
december 2012 Trail 21
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Where? Lake District What? A mountain revisited
HIGH
Why climbing a mountain twice in two days makes WORDS BEN WEEKS PHOTOGRAPHS TOM BAILEY
40 32 TRAIL TRAIL DECEMBER DECEMBER 2012 2012
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Descending the rounded nose of Gray Crag on the western side of High Street.
STREET u v à Déj far more sense than it sounds...
DECEMBER 2012 TRAIL 33
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Where? Switzerland What? Walking the Eiger Trail
44 TRAIL DECEMBER 2012
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A glimpse of the north face of the Eiger from the Eiger Trail. You can get even closer than this...
THE
EIGER
FOR EVERYONE It may be the most infamous rock face in the world, but you don’t have to be a climber to get up close and personal with the Eiger. Trail goes for a short walk in a long shadow. WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS SIMON INGRAM
DECEMBER 2012 TRAIL 45
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GEAR HALL OF FAME 53 OUTDOOR CLASSICS THAT RE-WROTE THE RULES
BERGHAUS
DEUTER
GARMIN PARAMO
KARRIMOR
TRANGIA
TERRA NOVA
SIGG GRIVEL
gear cover.indd 1
LOWE ALPINE
22/10/2012 10:47
GEAR HALL OF FAME
TOP TEN KIT A classic Petzl Myo 5 from 2003.
PETZL headtorches The Petzl company was created by French cave explorer Fernand Petzl in the mid-1970s. From 1981 the Petzl Zoom was the iconic headtorch for walkers and mountaineers. Petzl developed its first LED headlamps in 2000 under the model name Tikka, and today Petzl continues to be the leading brand for hillwalkers, with its Myo (pictured) incarnations proving particularly popular. www.petzl.com
KARRIMOR KSB In 1980 Karrimor launched the KSB (Karrimor Sports Boot), the first footwear to combine shockabsorbing Sorbothane material with a synthetic upper and a new sole unit. The sole unit was made from nylon and PU (polyurethane), and it was bonded to the upper, rather than being stitched with heavy metal stiffening shanks. This made the KSB the pioneer of both fabric boot construction and lightweight boot construction – an achievement whose significance can’t be overemphasised. It wasn’t waterproof, though, until a Gore-Tex lining was added in 1990. Karrimor KSB boots continue to make great-value buys to this day. www.karrimor.com
One of the UK’s first Jetboil PCS units, from 2004. Read a review of this particular stove on page 98.
JETBOIL PCS
A modern, eVentlined Karrimor KSB boot.
Integrating the pan and burner into one performance-orientated design can lead to more efficiency, and Jetboil took this concept to new heights with its Personal Cooking System (PCS), which hit the UK in 2005 and has been extremely popular ever since. Jetboil has since developed many versions of the stove, including the superb Helios for group use. www.jetboil.com
28 TRAIL GEAR HALL OF FAME DECEMBER 2012
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POLARTEC fleece GOLITE Jam GoLite launched its first products in 1999 and reinvented what it meant to have lightweight gear with its stripped-to-the-bone, nononsense range of rucksacks. The GoLite Jam soon became a classic lightweight pack; and while every brand is now making lightweight rucksacks, the GoLite Jam 35 remains a benchmark of the genre. www.golite.com
Polyester fleece, developed by Malden Mills in the USA during the 1970s, first appeared in 1980. Relatively smart compared to its predecessors, it was also warm and fast-drying. The new Polartec fleece soon became an outdoor essential and it formed the insulating layer over a wicking base layer and under a waterproof layer. Patagonia had been promoting its own Synchilla fleece (pictured) 18 months before Polartec was released and had already proved it was a success, so when Polartec emerged every brand in the outdoor market grabbed it with both hands. Today most clothing brands make some form of fleece garment, and Polartec comes in a wide number of incarnations. www.polartec.com; www.patagonia.com
Synchilla by Patagonia: a highly regarded pioneer of synthetic fleece.
CASCADE DESIGNS Therm-a-Rest The first self-inflating mat for backpackers was the Cascade Designs’ Therm-a-Rest, which appeared in 1978 – and today it remains the quintessential lightweight sleeping mattress for backpacking and wilderness camping. The mattress consists of an airtight nylon fabric envelope filled with a sheet of lowdensity, open-cell polyurethane foam and it’s inflated by simply opening the valve to allow air to enter the fabric envelope. The latest version of the design is the Neo Air Xlite, which weighs just 350g. www.cascadedesigns.com
Then and now: the classic Therm-a-Rest Ultralite and the radical Neo Air.
DECEMBER 2012 TRAIL GEAR HALL OF FAME 29
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GROUP TEST
3-4 SEASON BOOTS 3-4 season hooves can be used on winter snow as well as summer rock. But buying a boot for all seasons needs careful thought... TEST GRAHAM THOMPSON OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHS TOM BAILEY STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS GRAHAM THOMPSON
WHAT WE TESTED Berghaus Trezeta Alt-Berg Mammut Lowa Scarpa The North Face La Sportiva
TARAZED GTX TOP EVO MALLERSTANG APPALACHIAN GTX TICAM GTX SL ACTIV VERTO S4K GTX TRANGO ALP GTX
£160 £160 £190 £200 £220 £225 £230 £250
68 TRAIL DECEMBER 2012
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3-4 season boots
december 2012 Trail 69
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Portree
Shiel Bridge Aviemore
Inverie Invergarry
Mallaig
Aberdeen
Braemar
Fort William
MULL
13 ROUTE SNOWDONIA Oban
JURA ISLAY
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Berwick-upon-Tweed
ISLE OF ARRAN
Ayr
Jedburgh
Ballantrae
Dumfries
Newton Stewart Stranraer
onderry
ALWAYS TAKE A MAP OUT WITH YOU ON THE HILL
CLASSIC ROUTE
FACTS
Belfast
Newcastle -upon-Tyne
Carlisle Penrith
Keswick
Cadair Idris rises above Middlesbrough Llynnau Cregennen.
Kendal
STRENUOUSNESS Windermere ■ ■ ■■■ NAVIGATION ■ ■ ■■■ TECHNICALITY ■ ■Lancaster ■■■
Northallerton
Ingleton Bentham
York
Skipton Leeds
Liverpool Rhyl
Dublin
Manchester Sheffield
Bodelwyddan Betws-y-Coed
Llangollen Derby
Barmouth Aberystwyth
Peterborough
Birmingham Hay-on-Wye
Cardigan
Distance 9.2kmBrecon (5¾ miles)
Gloucester Oxford
Pembroke
Total ascent 970m Swansea
Time 4-5 hours
Cardiff
Bristol
Start/finish on the Minehead B4405 at SH729113 Southampton
Terrain access track, Exeter steep woodland path, steep mountain side, Bodmin Plymouth craggy corrie, steep rocky path, narrow ridge, exposed col, and stony summit ridge
Brighton
Poole
Maps OS Landranger (1:50,000) 124; OS Explorer (1:25,000) OL23; Harvey Superwalker (1:25,000) Snowdonia South; British Mountain Maps (1:40,000) Snowdonia South Accommodation Kings (Dolgellau) Youth Hostel 0845 371 9327; Corris Youth Hostel 01654 761686 Tourist info Dolgellau (01341) 422888; Machynlleth (01654) 703675 Public transport Traveline (buses) 0871 200 2233; National Rail Enquires 08475 484950 Guidebooks Ridges of Snowdonia by Steve Ashton, pb Cicerone; The Classic Walks by Ken Wilson, pb Baton Wicks
GRADIENT PROFILE
1400 1200 METRES 1000 ABOVE 800 SEA 600 LEVEL 400 200 MILES KILOMETRES
© CW IMAGES / ALAMY
aterford
Conway
Cwm Cau
Start
1 0 0
2
Craig Cwm Amarch
3
4 5
1 1
2 2
3
Cadair Idris
Mynydd Moel
6
7 3
4
Finish
8 4
5
6
7
5 8
9
138 TRAIL DECEMBER 2012
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D A I R I C A D R Penygadair I S 6 Mynydd Pencoed Mynydd Moel
5
SH729113 The start on the B4405 lies 200m away from the 400-year-old Minffordd Hotel, which originally was a drovers’ inn. The initial part of the walk through the trees lulls you into a false sense of ease as it is very gentle, and this will soon be dispelled by the steep gradient that kicks in after a few hundred metres. After the trees the path continues steeply and swings around into the mouth of Cwm Cau.
1
7
Craig Cau Craig Cau
4
Mynydd Pentre
Llyn Cau Llyn Cau Craig Lwyd
3 Pat h ddd ath
Cwm Cwm Amrach Amarch
Pd
fror
2 8
yn -ll
-y
l Ta
inifnfof MM Moelfryn Moelfryn
1 Minffordd Minffordd
START/ FINISH
A4
87
N
NO RT H
the mountains Cadair idris (Penygadair) 893m/2,930ft Mynydd Moel 863m/2,831ft Cyfrwy 811m/2,661ft
SH716119 The crest of the ridge up and around Craig Cwm Amarch is pleasantly exposed on both sides, but the path is quite wide so it should not cause any problems if you don’t like drops.
3
Mynydd PenCoed 791m/2,595ft
tom hutton
SH719123 Cwm Cau is regarded as one of the most important wild places in Wales, so much so that it was one of the first to be classified as a National Nature Reserve. It has also been described as the most perfect example of a glacial cirque in Britain. Cwm Cau is worth exploring, even doing a complete circuit of the llyn (lake) if you have time. It is also worth catching your breath as the ascent onto the ridge is steep and rough. From Cwm Cau the Minfford Path climbs a steep course onto the ridge on the south side of the cwm.
2
Craig Cwmrhwyddfor
B440 5
Penygadair seen from Craig Cau.
SH710121 The path follows the crest of the ridge and pops out onto a subsidiary summit that looks out over Craig Cau and Craig Cwm Amarch. This lofty perch is a fine spot to take a rest and appreciate Cadair Idris and its surrounding crags and corries. Craig Cau has a stunning array of big mountain-style rock-climbs; sadly though it is very much out of fashion and vegetation can be a problem. If you only attempt one route then it has to be Pencoed Pillar; it’s a magnificent 210m Severe route that would not be out of place in the Alps. Also within view is Taly-y-llyn, a famous trout fishing venue. If you fancy your chances, permits and boats are available from the Ty-n-y-cornel Hotel. A short descent north leads to an exposed col below the summit slopes of Cadair Idris.
4
SH709124 From the col the path makes a final steep ascent onto the western shoulder of Cadair Idris’s summit ridge. As it reaches the ridge the path joins the Pony Path (bridleway) and follows it east to the summit.
5
SH711130 The summit is marked by a trig point and summit hut. Huts in one form or another have occupied Cadair’s summit since the mid 1800s. The original was built to �
6
sunrise at Llyn Cau.
6
D
N NORTH
n NNaa
t C
CA
Penygadair
IS DR R I I A
Mynydd Pencoed
Craig Cau
2 Moelfryn
3 4
Minfford
Craig Llwyd
8
d
1/2 Mile
Minffordd Hotel
h Pat
1/2 Kilometre
rdd ffo Min
Craig Cwm Amarch Amarach
Pencoed Pillar
Llyn Cau
Pa th
5
nt
Bwlch Cau
a dair Cada ir
© Steve LewiS ARPS / ALAmy
Mountain Refuge
Minffordd camp site
1
40
B4
START/ FINISH
december 2012 Trail 139
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