How to get lost on Ben Lawers - step-by-step instructions

[sloosh]

How to get lost on Ben Lawers

Instructions

• Firstly, make 100% certain you have a map and compass with you. Two maps, three compasses and a GPS are better.
• Pick a day where there is hill fog.
• Follow the signposted path through the woods from the visitor center
• Head up Beinn Ghlas.
• Head up Ben Lawers, arrive at summit.
• Enjoy the small glimpses of view as the hill fog tries to, but doesn't quite, clear (optional).
• Sit on the grass just below the trig point exactly at the spot where the path branches into two very distinct routes, to have lunch.
• Make sure you stare long and hard at the path right in front of you (important for later).
• Decide to do An Stuc, Meall Garbh and if there's time, Meall Greigh, after all.
• Play about with your GPS but don't actually check anything
• Use your map to sit on as it has a waterproof cover but don't actually look at it
• Take your compass out your pocket as it's digging into your leg and tuck it out of sight in your rucksack safely out of harm's way
• Pack everything away after lunch taking special care to stuff the map back into your rucksack
• Important - Tune in to the built in compass / infallible navigational array that exists in your brain - like that of a racing pigeon
• Wave goodbye to the path you had been staring at all the while you were eating and comment that "you wonder where it goes?"
• Head off down the other path that seems like a continuation of the route up, using your infallible inbuilt brain-compass and memory-map to guide you
• Marvel at how little used the path appears to be (optional)
• Drop as much height as you can as quickly as possible
• Enjoy the surprise when the hill drops away on the 'wrong side' from what you remember from when you looked at the map the night before
• Congratulations! You are lost.
• Take out GPS, locate actual position, walk back up Ben Lawers then on to do the circuit, walk part of the route in the dark, get home very, very late (optional)

[canisp]

An interesting read and a valuable experience to learn from, it reminded me of my own near disaster.

The first post below shows how in a few seconds i could have found myself lost. Lady luck was with me that day, although with snow on the ground and cloudy it was not a total whiteout.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=103

Since that day i always carry my map and compass on my person along with my whistle, head torch and mobile phone. EDIT and carkeys

[sloosh]

An interesting read and a valuable experience to learn from

Oh, I learned from it all right. I bought my own GPS in case I do it again.

The first post below shows how in a few seconds i could have found myself lost

A bit unfortunate! At least you got off safely.

Since that day i always carry my map and compass on my person along with my whistle, head torch and mobile phone.

Worth bearing in mind having read about the flying rucksack. I'll maybe just tie mine onto me with a cord.

[mountain coward]

LOVE that post! I'm sure we've all done it... I seem to be more guilty of thinking I'm lost when I'm not though...

[kinley]

Great post

Important - Tune in to the built in compass / infallible navigational array that exists in your brain - like that of a racing pigeon

I was shocked when up on the 'Gorms Plateau I watched my track on a GPS in whiteout - you can't get 20m without curving off track (wind/slope)

I always thought I had a sense of direction til then

[GarryH]

Brilliant! Love the

Wave goodbye to the path you had been staring at all the while you were eating and comment that "you wonder where it goes?"

[LeithySuburbs]

My version was on the Glas Maol 6 (or 5 as it transpired).

Feeling pretty smug about ticking off the first 5 in good time, I descended from Tolmount with the intention of curving round the head of Glen Callater to Carn an Tuirc. Cue the mist and shocking visibility - no more than 20m. I floundered around in peat hags for a while before deciding to head for the trusty fence posts leading back to Cairn of Claise which I ended up bagging twice. From there I tried to navigate to Carn an Tuirc but gave up taking bearings every 20m and headed down to the Allt a' Gharbh-choire where the mist duly cleared . A year later on my way to Braemar I popped up Carn an Tuirc and just about pished myself laughing at what an easy route it looked in good weather. This experience also prompted me to get a GPS.

[Freewheelin]

Happens to everyone at some point in those kind of conditions, Sloosh - whether it's fog/whiteout/whatever. Law of Averages. Main thing is you got off safe.

I saw it happen (on the same hills, funnily enough!) on an absolute scorcher of a day in perfectly clear weather.

I had been talking to 3 (scarlet coloured and very sweaty) guys on the top of Lawers while having a cuppa, and they said they were gonna head back down to the visitor centre as they were knackered and weren't up to going any further. They went out to the point overlooking the corrie for some photos and I made my way over to An Stuc. I had another cuppa there while I enjoyed the sun and the views, packed up, and had just started on the way back down off An Stuc when I met the first of the guys I had spoken to earlier(same colour, just a bit sweatier). I thought he was going to cry when I told him he had came down the wrong side of Lawers.

I left it him to break the good news to his two cursing and panting friends who were 10 or 15m below, giving them a nod as I passed.

[sloosh]

Thanks for trying to be kind, Freewheelin. I know just how those red-faced walkers felt.

One thing I was reminded of though - you can have as many maps, compasses, GPS units, mobile phones, whistles, torches or whatever else you like but they're only any use to you if you actually use the darn things!

[MartinMeredith]

Virtually the same thing happened to me in thick fog on the top of Ben Lawers earlier this year! I'd come over from the An Stuc direction and saw some guys heading off down this obvious path in the supposed direction of Beinn Ghlas so of course I followed them. A couple of minutes later I bumped into them coming back up. It turned out that they wanted An Stuc, while I wanted Beinn Ghlas -- and we were both on the wrong path. Bizarre. So, there is a mysterious and very obvious 3rd way off the top of Lawers which is near enough to a continuation of two paths supposedly going in opposite directions! I suppose the ridge doesn't have to continue in a straight line through the summit...

Martin

[benno]

Something similar happened to me on Beinn Fhada back in April. Reached the plateau to find a whiteout, snow on the ground, no fun. Still, summit fever set in and I pressed on up, occasionally checking my GPS between the massive gusts of wind. As I approached what I believed to be the summit, there was a brief clearing in the whiteout, and I caught a glimpse of the 'true summit' further round the top of the cliffs. With a sigh, I carried on, battling the relentless wind to eventually reach the 'true summit'.

Upon arrival, I was surprised by how small the cairn was. However, mercy! The snow cleared for a few seconds, and I saw the real 'true summit' a few hundred metres further on. I headed down towards it, then had a marvellous idea: why not CHECK THE GPS to see how far the summit truly is - distances can be deceiving in a whiteout.

My reaction was firstly confusion, followed by disbelief, followed by marvel at how STUPID I had been. The 'true summit' I was looking at later transpired to actually be Sgurr a Dubh Doire, at the far Eastern end of the mountain. I had overshot the summit by almost a mile, in a whiteout, without a huge amount of daylight left.

As I'm sure many of you who have had these experiences know, it can be harrowing. The bottom line is, as Sloosh rightly pointed out:

you can have as many maps, compasses, GPS units, mobile phones, whistles, torches or whatever else you like but they're only any use to you if you actually use the darn things!

NB - and if in doubt about the weather, TURN BACK

[Paul Webster]

Yes, getting lost by laziness is a hazard I think we've all done it, "Can I be bothered to get the map out... No, I'm sure it's this way..."

[lenster]

I once made the mistake of giving away my map and my compass on a mountain. What's more I was also wise enough to swap my lovely warm jacket for a body warmer at the same time. Ah the lessons we learn. I was in Peru acclimatising for a trip to Cordillera Blanca. I'd picked up a cold several days before and having made an iffy decision to go on a two dayer made it to the base camp of a volcano called El Misti and was feeling okay. We started the ascent at middnight. I got to about 5,000 metres and couldn't stop coughing. That was about an hour into our bid for the summit and I decided to turn back to the tent. Of course, I gave my map and compass to my pal and overly generously gave my jacket to the guide (it was colder than he'd expected!) and very quickly after wishing them well ended up completely and utterly lost at a temperature of about 1 degree. I ended up grubbing for bushes and lit a fire. I knew I was at the height the tent was at from my watch but completely baffled as to where it was. At 6am the sun came up and I was about 100 metres away and very cold. My pal arrived back at 7am to tell me how lucky I was to have got to sleep! Yeah right. Good tale to tell now, very scary at the time and a big learning experience .

[Caberfeidh]

On a day of low cloud and drizzly mist I set off into the hills with three others. We gradually separated into two pairs. I was in the pair ahead. We gradually gained ground, leaving the others behind. As we hiked on up over the moor through the curtains of drizzle, we were surprised to see two men coming towards us. We were even more surprised when they turned out to be our companions, and we realised we had done a complete U-turn ! Moors seem to be worse for this, as at least on a hill you know which way is down. On a moor you could walk in circles and get nowhere.

[John Burgess]

I managed to do the same thing on a fairly well defined ridge. It was in mist but it's a simple descent, no need for the map and compass. Wanted to drop off the right hand side of the ridge which means up is on my left hand side. No problem. Lose height gradually until I see the expected burn below me. Fine. Carry on. Suddenly a nagging thought breaks through. That burn's flowing the wrong way
On a flat section of the ridge I'd managed to turn through 180 degrees without noticing and ended up going the wrong way on the wrong side of the ridge so, of course, up was on my left hand side

There are times it's best to be alone

All the best,

John