TGO Challenge 2013 : planned route

I've published my route on this blog earlier, see this post, but didn't go in too much detail at the time. My route still had to be vetted so minor changes were still possible. The esteemed vetters Les and Issy Silkowski have had a look at my route and returned it with sensible comments and good tips.
Some repairs had to be made and finally my route was approved.

Day 1 : distance 19km and 1950m ascended
My journey will start with a boattrip from Mallaig to Inverie, followed by a nice walk to warm the muscles to Gleann na Guiserein. From there I'll ascend Ladhar Bheinn, one of Knoydart's gems. It has been on my wishlist for years, originally as a daytrip from Barrisdale.
The descent, which looks like a sort of screeslope, is made from point 849 into Coire a' Phuill. At Mam Barrisdale I might meet some Challengers going in the direction of Kinlochhourn or perhaps we'll climb Luinne Bheinn together. Luinne Bheinn is descended to the southeast and camp will be somewhere along the River Carnach.

Day 2 : 19km - 2300m
This day is a bit odd. A classic ridge walk and two crossings of glens, north-south instead of west-east. After crossing the River Carnach it's into and up Coire na Cuairtich to reach the ridge leading to Sgurr na Ciche. Another chance to meet Challengers coming up from Sourlies. After Sgurr na Ciche the ridge continues over Garbh Chioch Mor, Garbh Chioch Bheag and Sgurr nan Coireachan. Then it's due south to Glen Dessarry followed by an ascend of Meall nan Spardan and the Corbett Carn Mor. Before reaching Meall nan Eun I'll be taking a shortcut south to the bealach between Gleann an Obain Bhig and Glen Pean. This stretch is the crux of my whole route, it's steep and can be dangerous.
I've been searching the web for trip reports and pictures from the north side of these glens and found only one account, going up from the bealach.

If a save descent can't be made I'll have to follow the ridge west down to Loch Morar and go east through Gleann an Obain Bhig. A river crossing will then be neccesary and might prove impossible when in spate. See Two Routes' account from 2012.
If all goes well camp will be made near the illustrious named Lochan Dubh, the Black Loch. And black it is in this narrow and rough part of these glens. Might even meet some Challengers. It's really a social route you know.

Day 3 :  23km - 2550m
Another day containing Munros and crossing glens 'the wrong way'. There's a stalkers path up Sgurr nan Coireachan (yes, another SnC but a different one from yesterday) and a ridgewalk east leading to Sgurr Thuilm. Shortly before Meall an Fhir-eoin I'll go southeast and cross Gleann a' Chaorainn and the next, Gleann Camgharaidh, and via Gualann nan Osna up to Gulvain. Southeast to cross Gleann Fionlighe and move further southeast to Gleann Suileag. Perhaps I'll spend the night in Sulaig bothy or go upstream in the direction of Glen Loy before making camp. A lot of going up and down which explains the 2550m of height gain. Only the Mamores on day 5 will have more ascend.

Day 4 : 25km - 350m
After this leisurely start of my Challenge it's time for some relaxing. Through Glen Loy to the Great Glen, avoiding some roadwalking by going through the woods south of Glen Loy and joining the Great Glen Way near Torcastle cottages. The Allt Sheangain goes through a tunnel underneath the Caledonian Canal, a river going underneath a canal. Weird !
Shopping can be done at Fort William and this evening I'll have the luxury of a bed and shower at the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel.

Day 5 : 27km - 2900m
A cracker ! Another 'must do this one day' which I'd planned some years ago but had to abandon due to galeforce winds. Even the old pinetrees in front of the YH were having a hard time.
I'll be following the West Highland Way for a short while and go to the ancient fort of An Dun. From there my journey goes over Sgorr Chalum, Mullach nan Coirean, Stob Ban, Sgurr an Iubhair, Am Bodach, Stob Coire a' Chairn, Na Gruagaichean, Binnein Mor and Binnein Beag before making camp below Sgurr Eilde Beag. A tough day that needs not too much wind and snow, a gentle westerly breeze and some mild sunshine over the cloudless summits would do nicely.

Day 6 : 25km - 1350m
It's always good to have a bit of level walking before doing any serious climbing but not today. From the bealach the most easterly Munro of The Mamores, Sgurr Eilde Mor, is just a minor bump with a height difference of only 270m. Nothing compared to Ben Nevis but still a Munro. From the northeastern shoulder of Sgurr Eilde Mor it's cross country in a virtually straight line to Luibelt to cross the Abhainn Rath and follow an easy path downstream to Loch Treig. After crossing the railroad it's up Garbh-bheinn and staying high to reach Stob Coire Sgriodain. Camp will be made at Lochan Coire an Lochain. In calm, warm weather the place can be infested with midges, in that case I'll stay high.

Day 7 : 25km - 2000m
Another Munro, Chno Dearg, first thing in the morning again and southeast to River Ossian. From Loch Ghuillbinn ascend the plateau for Beinn Eibhinn, Aonach Beag and Geal-Charn and north to ford the Allt Cam. I'll turn west to reach the west end of Beinn a' Chlachair and follow this Munro east for 5km.  Wildcamp at Bealach Leamhain.

Day 8 : 23km - 750m
Straight up a Munro, Creag Pitridh, again (who planned this?), followed by another one, Geal Charn, but an easy day nevertheless. Down to Loch Pattack and along Loch Ericht to Dalwhinnie. Bunkhouse, bed, shower and a non-dehydrated dinner.

Day 9 : 33km - 1800m
If I feel really good I might bag the 4 Munros west of the A9 but the initial plan is to go up to the quarry and bag just 1 today, A' Bhuidheanach Bheag. From there east to Sronphadruig and then east from Loch an Duin, more or less following the border, if not the peat hags, to Feith Ghorm Ailleag. This stream will lead me to the foot of Beinn Bhreac for another wildcamp.

Day 10 : 33km - 1950 km
The next few days will be loooong days, especially when the ground is saturated but I have one spare day and can cut some days short.
First thing in the morning will be Beinn Bhreac, a Corbett for a change, followed by a lovely 'ridgewalk' over Carn an Fhidhleir, An Sgarsoch, Carn Bhac, Beinn Iutharn Mor and Mam nan Carn before descending to Loch nan Eun and making camp.

Day 11 : 35km - 2060m
This day the ridgewalk will be continued. An Socach, Carn a' Gheoidh, Carn Aosda, The Cairnwell, Glas Maol, Creag Leacach, back to Glas Maol, Cairn of Claise, Carn an Tuirc, Tom Buidhe and a wildcamp before or after Tolmount. 10 Munros in one day (11 if you count Glas Maol twice) ? Is this feasable ? There seems to be less peat hagsand bog if you stay high. We'll see.

Day 12 : 30km - 1200m
In 2007 I walked Jock's Road from Callater to Clova. Today I'll cross that road on my way to Lochnagar. There's a big chance of meeting fellow Challengers coming from Callater Lodge or Braemar who will all be following the 'trade route' to Tarfside. After Shielin of Mark I'll probably leave this 'traderoute' for my final Munro, Mount Keen. Scotland's most easterly Munro. Wildcamp in Glen Mark before Mount Keen.

Day 13 : 34km - 830m
From Mount Keen it's all downhill, passing Tarfside on my way to the coast. I'll just be popping in St.Drostan's for a snack before moving on to make camp somewhere down Glen Esk.

Day 14 : The final day ? If everything goes according to plan - I love it when a plan comes to work - yes. If not we'll have had some delay underway. Edzell, North Water Bridge, Marykirk, Hill of Morphie, St.Cyrus, the eastcoast and a last plod back up from the shoreline to the busstop.

A huge amount of 45 Munros if the weather is cooperative for 14/15 days. The last few years have seen difficult circumstances weatherwise and plans can or must be adjusted if necessary.

This is not just a Challenge or The Challenge. It will be full of challenges along the way.

January record

Just 4 days ago a period of 13 days of continuous temperatures below zero ended and last night saw a recordbreaking 13 degrees above zero. A January record including daytemperatures !
We had a reasonable amount of snow but I've never seen it disappear so quickly.
Of course winter isn't over yet, we'll have to wait and see what's instore for us the coming weeks.

Practise makes Perfect : a 30km walk

I had the very rare opportunity of walking for as much as I wanted yesterday. Snow had fallen two days before and it was below zero so I decided to stretch my goal for the day a little bit.
Het Voetstappenpad is a nice circular walk around Hilversum (The Netherlands) through heath, forests and a bit of Hilversum itself.
The lenght is 25km and parking north of the walk the total lenght of the walk would be 30km.

Het Gebed-zonder-End

The temperature was minus 5 degrees but luckily there was hardly any wind so there was no windchill. I was carrying my backpack stuffed with jeans and filled waterbottles to reach the weight of 14kg. I was wearing a North Face Gore-tex trouser over synthetic longjohns, an Icebreaker Merino baselayer and midlayer and my Paramo Alta jacket together with Scarpa SL3 boots and a cheapish pair of walking poles and a thin fleece hat and gloves.
I never felt cold at all and sometimes even had to open the jacket to cool down a bit.

Bussummerheide

I started at 9.30 at a leisurely speed. There were a lot of tracks of small deer and rabbits in the snow. The human footprint you can see in the picture is the waymark of the Voetenpad, originally established in 1938.
I had my SatMap Active10 gps with me to test the batteries in cold conditions. I used rechargeable batteries that weren't freshly charged but all bars were shown on screen. The path is very well waymarked but I thought it was best to use the gps anyway. I had it turned on all the time in energy-save mode and the batteries only ran flat 600m before reaching my car again. During The TGO Challenge I will only turn it on when needed so I think I can get at least 2 full days walking out of 3 normal AA-sized batteries.  

Westerheide

Despite the lack of sunshine I was enjoying myself. I kept saying to myself this was all f...king fantastic, having decided to do this only 12 hours ago. The company was great (there was nobody around) and the views were stunning.   

Charolais cows

I didn't meet any Highland Coos, instead I met some Charolais cows who thought I was bringing something nice to chew on. I tend to ignore cattle, and in exchange they ignore me, but this time they followed me for a while at very close range. I had my poles ready to scare them off but didn't get the change (?) to test the theory.  


Dr.Albert Schweizer forest road

Kilometre after kilometere passed and I kept feeling good which was a bit of a surprise to me because I had injured my right knee 15 days ago. Despite the terrain being difficult to walk on from time to time - months of rain had turned the paths into deep mud and tracks of mountainbikers and walkers had frozen solid to form a sort of boulderfield - I didn't experience any pain in my knee. 

Hilversum's Wasmeer viewpoint

After walking for three hours I took a lunchbreak of 15 minutes at the Hilversum's Wasmeer viewpoint, south of Hilversum. As I was packing to leave two elderly men entered the viewpoint. One was obviously being 'guided' by the other and the newbie remarked this was a nice flat area. I thought : "It better be otherwise the Laws of Physics don't apply around here. It's a lake for God's sake !", but I kept my mouth shut.

The Hoorneboeg

Another 2 hours 15 minutes of walking on 'boulderfields' started to take its toll and at 3 o'clock I had another 15 minutes break. Calves, knees, hips and shouldermuscles were making clear they'd had enough of it but I still had to walk another 6km.


Me, Halvar Icebeard, getting a bit knackered 

I simply put one foot in front of the other and ending in my neck-of-the-woods meant I could split the remaing km's in manageable pieces : the pond, the left-turn at the road, three oaklanes, the campsite.... .

Spanderswoud

Eventually I reached the car having walked 30km for which I needed 7 hours. Time moving was 5hrs35mins, average speed was 4,3km and moving average was 5,3km/hour.

Today I expected to have sore and stiff legs (I remember coming down the stairs at Glenbrittle YH after a long day in The Cuillin) but that didn't happen. I actually feel good.
Some more of these walks and I'll be ready for the Challenge in May.

Gear : Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xlite Regular

A couple of days ago it was my birthday so I thought it was a good idea to buy me a present. I needed a replacement for my leaking Exped Down Air 7 mattress.
I visited BeverZwerfsport , a Dutch outdoorshop, to test the T-A-R NeoAir Xlite Regular. A very light mattress at 350 grams compared to the Exped at 900 grams. I've been happy with the warmth and comfort of the Exped 7 - I'm a sidesleeper - and thought I'd give the NeoAir Xlite a try in the shop.

My hips didn't touch the floor, even when deflated a bit for softness, but it's a bit 'noisy' when turning from one side to another. I don't mind. I'll be using earplugs.
Couldn't test the warmth but the R-value is stated as 3,5. I'll have to do some fieldresearch for that.
I left my cash at the shop and took the NeoAir home. I was happy.

Rule 1 : Vetters are always right, Rule 2 : ...

On the last day of last year, or the first day of the first week of this year if you prefer, I received an email from the Almighty Coordinator in Settle containing my Route Sheet and the comments of the honourable Vetters Les & Issy Silkowski. There was work to be done.
I'd made some unexplainable typo's, forgot some FWA's, planned a lot of looooong days and my route contained several dangerous spots, not to mention the sheer madness of planning 45 Munros.

I didn't call it "Rising the 45" for nothing , did I ?

Actually Les & Issy gave me some sound advice and some good tips and I know I'll have to improvise in May due to weather- and groundconditions (my physical condition will be topnotch).
I've made some re-calculations, improvements and added a FWA here and there and send it in this afternoon. Let's hope it gets the Vetters' approval this time
  

Nichts neues im Westen (no news from the West)

I've send in my route 44 days ago and haven't received a vetter's comment yet. I've contacted the Dog at HQ in Settle by email after the advised 21 days of silence but he said to be patient.
Of course I'm willing to be patient but after checking my mailbox multiple times every day for weeks on end I'm turning into a mental patient myself.
The only therapy I'm doing is to research anything there is to find about my route on the web.
I'm using Geograph and Google to find pictures and tripaccounts. Isn't that taking away the adventure once you're there, I here you say ? Perhaps, but it's also fun to do the research beforehand. And believe me if I say circumstances will be different in real life. People don't tend to make pictures in really bad weather and in zero visibility it's good to now a bit about the terrain that lays in front of you.
Pictures say a thousand words but taken from a different angle a seemingly steep ascent or grade I scramble can turn out to be an easy stroll  into the sky. And vice versa of course.
I also found a warning about midges near Lochan Coire an Lochain (Chno Dearg), better make camp on the ridge if there's no wind. I hate the little monsters but they like me very much.

I've booked a bed at the Mallaig Backpackers and Glen Nevis Youth Hostel but haven't received a reaction from the Dalwhinnie Bunkhouse so far. Traintickets Montrose-Mallaig, Mallaig ferry and leaving the car at the Montrose campsite (if possible) still have to be arranged.
And receiving the devastating comments from my vetter of course.

Winter has arrived.

Yesterday and the day before saw the very first snowfall this season. Only ten days ago the last leaves were blown from the trees. Yesterday the ground was still sodden from previous rainfall but today molten snow was frozen solid on firm surfaces making walking difficult from time to time.



 

The temperatures are around zero and a little rise is expected for the next days, followed by a colder period. I was cosy in my Paramo Alta jacket and the dogs, Atilla and Djengis, enjoyed the snow also. 

 

Part two of the treefelling that started the previous winterperiod has restarted a few weeks ago and some of my best friends have been chopped down. Beautifull Douglas Fir with 4ft wide trunks.
I don't like it.