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How windy is too windy?

How windy is too windy?


Postby Wok de dog » Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:51 pm

After getting blown over plenty of times on An Caisteal today and fearing for my life, how windy does the report have to be before you consider not even attempting to summit a Munro? The term 25mph, for instance means nothing to me relative to wind. I licked my finger and held it aloft (international test of wind velocity) and reckoned it must have been at least 250mph up there.
Seriously, what is the gauge, I.e. 25 go, 45 don't go.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Backpacker » Sun Oct 19, 2014 6:06 pm

For me personally it's 50 and above although it really depends on how exposed you are and plan routes around that. I personally wouldn't attempt a ridge if it's above 40
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby PeatDownMan » Sun Oct 19, 2014 6:29 pm

Good question - I'll be following the correspondence with interest!
Personally. I cancelled my plans to go walking this weekend after consulting MWIS and Yr.no (which actually recognises many individual hill names) weather reports on-line and BBC Radio Scotland's forecast for hillwalkers.
As a skier, I reckon (OK - guess) when you stand, say at the top of the race course at Glenshee (c 800m / 2,650ft), and the wind either holds you stationary or pushes you from a standstill then it's about 40mph - which means there'll be much stronger gusts. That's not fun but OK on a rounded hill, but I wouldn't want to be on anything from which I could get blown off.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Sgurr » Sun Oct 19, 2014 6:29 pm

Wikipedia's illustrations of The Beaufort Scale are quite illuminating

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale

For instance it gives Gale Force at 39 to 46 mph and says "Some twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road. Progress on foot is seriously impeded." Up above that it just refers to object being blown about, and says nothing about being on foot at all :crazy: :crazy:


This Friday I climbed Norman's Law in comfort and went swimming INSIDE today. However, I see the intrepid malky_c was out and about, but even he climbed a Graham from the side the wind wan't coming, and didn't stick his head over the parapet of the Saddle.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby SAVAGEALICE » Sun Oct 19, 2014 7:38 pm

I hate walking in wind ....soon as mountain weather reports "considerable buffeting" ...time to stay clear of hills for me :? ..just don't find it fun ...I know plenty of other folk that are quite happy to be " buffeted" all day ..so I guess its a personal thing!
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby simon-b » Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:51 pm

Backpacker and PeatDownMan make good points about ridges and gusts. Wind that makes a sharp ridge dangerous needn't stop you from attempting a summit via a less exposed route. Gusty winds can be more troublesome than strong, steady ones, because a gust can catch you out before you're braced against it. You can also be thrown off balance when a strong blast of wind, against which you have braced, suddenly stops. I appreciate that probably no amount of bracing would have stopped you getting blown over on An Caisteal, Wok de dog.

As for deciding the maximum forecast wind speed which is acceptable before setting off for the mountains, I think that's something which only experience can teach you. Different people will have different limits - a personal thing as Alice says.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby denfinella » Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:00 pm

An MWIS forecast of (top speed or gusts) 50mph is about my tolerance level for Munros or Corbetts. Lower for hills involving scrambling or exposure. A bit higher for lower hills - with 70mph forecast, went up 200m-odd Traprain Law today in East Lothian today. Fun, but wouldn't really want to be doing it for several hours.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Fairweather Softie » Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:02 pm

Have to agree its probably a personal choice that most people make for themselves, I did the White Mounth circuit yesterday and did the 3 above the Glenshee ski centre this morning on the way back to Glasgow. As you can guess it was windy but I would have not described it as too windy. Would have preferred it not to have been as windy but the guy I seen on a mountain bike between hills yesterday was managing just fine.

Admittedly I did keep back from any edges yesterday :wink:
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Flump » Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:01 pm

Chris (jepsonscotland) and I were out today attempting Ben More (Crianlarich) and Stob Binnein from the North WH route, we knew the weather would be rubbish but decided we just wanted to bag them regardless as we already had pics of the surrounding views from the neighbouring munros to the west.

I've never even been outside in such strong wind and rain before, let alone up a mountain. We'd both been blown off our feet several times, stinging rain in our faces, really having to lean forward and dig my poles in to move.

We made it to about 150 meters from the summit before deciding to turn back, we could have crawled to the summit of Ben More, but getting to Stob Binnein was just too dangerous. May aswell come back and do both some other time.

We were both in agreement, "*$@# it, let's go to Tiso in Perth". The rain was really lashing it down the whole way back, I was soaked through.
It was a fun experience though, we were pretty much in hysterics the whole time at just how ridiculous it was. I didn't take any photos/vids as I couldn't be bothered getting out my camera, although Chris took an amusing video of me attempting to walk on our way down. :D

I'm not sure of the wind speed, I think the forecasts were about 50mph with gusts up to 70mph.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby snowgoose » Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:22 pm

In my limited experience it's definitely too windy when you can't stand upright without being blown over and have to crawl on hands and knees to be able to get anywhere as happened on West Lomond and Traprain Law a while ago, which is why I gave up about two-fifths/half-way up Schiehallion last month before it got to that stage. The weather report didn't suggest it would be all that windy. As numbers don't mean anything to me yet maybe I should carry boulders in my rucksack to be on the safe side.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Lightfoot2017 » Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:17 am

For me, this weekend past was TOO windy.

I had planned to go out both days, but the prospect of walking in the gales forecast did not appeal.

As I've posted elsewhere on this forum, a fortnight ago, I was up Bynack More, where it was fair gusty. I checked the Met Office website the following day, and found that I was walking in 60mph winds with gusts of up to 76mph. As the forecasts yesterday were for even stronger winds, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour.

Prior to last weekend, the windiest I have ever experienced on a summit was also atop Beinn a’Chroin. I tackled the last 2-300M my hands and knees and was buffeted about like I was in a mosh-pit at a punk concert. Great fun. Not.

PS: Massive respect to Fairweather for doing the White Mounth route in those conditions on Saturday.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Dave Hewitt » Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:16 am

Windspeed and manageability was discussed yesterday during (and particularly after) a Ben Lomond ascent for a friend's Munro completion. It was certainly a pretty foul autumnal day with a wind blowing and rain lashing for much of the time, but the general feeling seemed to be that the wind was unpleasant rather than unmanageable. The assembled group had done a lot of stuff over the years (it was the hardcore grizzled Marilyns crowd - eg Rob Woodall was there), and one or two people commented that although there was an occasional need to pause in a gust, we were never having to stop and properly brace ourselves and never seemed to be in any real danger of being knocked over. That's the next stage, I think, and the stage beyond that is crawling - a few people mentioned having had instances of that over the years (eg I've ended up crawling half a dozen or so times).

The stage beyond that is when you're crawling but then get pinned down - I've had that twice (on Ben Chonzie and Skiddaw - coincidentally both big dome-like hills of 931m in height). The Chonzie incident in particular was quite alarming and interesting, but eventually you manage to extricate yourself out of necessity (or at least you hope you do). I reckon once you've had something like that - or at least a proper crawling episode, which most regular hillwalkers will eventually experience - then you tend to use that as the reference point and compare backwards from there. Yesterday, at least on a hill of just under 1000m, was several notches on the tolerable side of that.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Bonzo » Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:31 pm

If I reach a height where I'm being severely buffeted and the terrain is rocky I turn back. You have no real control of your stability in these conditions so the possibility of turning an ankle or smacking your head on a rock is high. I've been on hills where the wind has fired small stones at me which isn't the best situation to be in.

If I'm on a wild open moor I usually battle on as being blown over isn't as serious when you land on soft watery peat.

Unfortunately too many people think that battling on in these conditions is a test of bravado.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby IamAJMiller » Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:37 pm

The wind forecast never used to bother me and as a result I rarely checked it. Then myself and a friend found ourselves on Beinn a Chochuill in a storm which was gusting at 90-100mph (according to the reports when we returned). That was the most unpleasant and terrifying experience of my life as were getting picked up in the wind and dropped about five metres away by the gusts. We panicked and abandoned the wide ridge to stumble down an open hillside, got briefly lost and returned extremely bruised and battered with no summits to show for our effort! As such I don't go out anymore unless the wind forecast is below 40/50mph, less if I'm going to be somewhere exposed.
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Re: How windy is too windy?

Postby Dave Hewitt » Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:09 pm

Bonzo wrote:Unfortunately too many people think that battling on in these conditions is a test of bravado.

I agree up to a point, but the complication comes when the wind picks up more strongly than expected on the return leg - eg on that Ben Chonzie day I had, when I was pinned down for quite a spell, the main problems came after I'd been to the summit and before getting to the edge of the plateau. I wanted to get down but couldn't, at least in the short-to-medium term, find a way of actually getting down.

It's similar to the the winter thing of snow/ice conditions on a slope changing behind you - in summer the ground is almost always the same if you just retreat, but that's often not the case in winter, and needs to be factored in. Another example is river levels rising through the day, so that an easy morning boulderhop can be a thigh-deep job come the afternoon.

I'm no fan of strong winds - and being 6ft8 means I'm always very aware of getting legs trapped between rocks or simply being toppled. But I think it's something that needs to be practised, at least to an extent, from time to time, as prep for when you're ambushed by a sudden big gale. Plus, for all that the really big winds I've been out in felt mental at the time, they were very vivid experiences and memorable in retrospect (eg it's five years since that Chonzie day and I can still recall it very clearly). The trick, I guess, is to experience the hectic/vivid stuff but also get home safely to your bed.
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