How has hillwalking changed?

[ChrisButch]

One incidental benefit of modern gear, specifically clothing, is that it enables you to continue hillwalking to a greater age. If at my age I was still limited to the Hebden Cord breeches, wool shirts and Blacks cotton cagoule of my youth, I simply wouldn't be able to do it. Then I could ignore or override the discomfort and the endless cycling between too hot, too cold or too wet. I no longer have the reserves to be able to do so: but with modern gear I can (within limits) control these things, and I can carry on. (Something similar also holds true of cycling gear).

[rodderss]

[quote="Marty_JG"]

If' you've tech-tailed a bloke fiddling with a compass for however many KM it has taken to approach the summit but haven't overtaken the wellie-wearer, I'd say it's time to get some exercise mate. /quote]

Has been known on many occasions for me to be lying in heather blowing out my backside being passed by elderly gentleman.Too many pies I'm afraid

Not got the hang of this quote thing yet it seems

[madprof]

There are quite a few people that I've met while walking who just love to tell others that they have the latest gear, and will change their gear every time something supposedly better comes out.

There aren't too many of those people, or maybe they just don't talk to me?

Anyway, would you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour Paramo?

[Border Reiver]

There are quite a few people that I've met while walking who just love to tell others that they have the latest gear, and will change their gear every time something supposedly better comes out.

There aren't too many of those people, or maybe they just don't talk to me?

Anyway, would you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour Paramo?

I do keep hearing about Paramo, but haven't tried their clothing yet. I'll look at it next time I need something. My problem (if it is a problem) is that whereas I do buy quality gear, I do not upgrade until the old stuff ceases to function, hence I have fleeces, base layers, mid layers and waterproofs that are over 30 yrs old and still doing the job. Both my wife and I like to buy British, whether it's food and drink or walking kit and it's a shame that most of the quality gear that used to be made in the UK is now made in the far east. I still have some North Cape clothing in use and I used to buy Karrimor and Berghaus when it was made here, but now it's hard to find UK manufactured gear, although I do make a point of buying stuff from Keela at their factory shop.

[Verylatestarter]

Completely randomly I clicked on this old discussion; being ancient I have a tendency to look back with fondness but I think an argument about whether it was better back then or now misses the point. It's what you make it! Now has got to be better; not only can you affect what you are doing now but you have much greater choice in what you can do and how you approach 'the hills'. There is so much more available information on walks, access, equipment etc. etc. but it's up to you how you use it - I used to spend weeks finding and pouring over maps and poor quality guidebooks, now it's walk reports and blogs but in the end I choose and walk the route. Likewise, the number of people in the hills - it's not too difficult to find hills where you can be on your own (e.g. I can't believe that Beinn Dearg Torridon has so few visitors) or hills where there are loads of people who stop and share the time of day with you; I can't think of a single unpleasant person I've met on a big hill walk.

Make your choices and enjoy it whilst you can.

John

[BigTed]

The biggest change is the available information. Both more books and huge amounts of stuff online. Nav skills are no longer so important. Before satnavs I frequently had to use pace counting/timing when navigating trackless hills in the mist. These days, if on easy terrain I just go in roughly the right direction and check my position with my phone every so often if I need to.

I started hillwalking in the 1970s. Kitwise, suprisingly little has changed. Best improvement is Goretex. My first cagoule was fully waterproofed coated nylon with zero breathability. ept the rain out but you were soon wet from condensation anyway. On the legs I used tracksuit bottoms. In cold conditions I wore unproofed nylon overtrousers. They were very breathable. The combination worked pretty well. These days I use Ron Hill Tracksters in the warm half of the year. Not much different.

I used leather boots then. Still do now. Some of my friends hillwalked in jeans. Pictorial evidence.

Ben Alder Cottage. May 1980. My pals, John and Kevin in the middle. The other two guys from Dumbarton. The ladies were part of a Braes of Fife MC group at the bothy that weekend. 18 people in on the SAturday night.

[Ewen1966]

Interesting discussion.
When I started it was pull on cagoules that sweated and woollen breeches, plaid shirt and jumper. Went on to goretex jacket, newfangled pile and fleece and rohan breeches in the 80s. Still used 3/4 shanked leather boots for year round and placcy boots in the winter for technical stuff.
I still use dachstein mitts but the itchy balaclava has gone and breeches are well gone. The gear is better and some of it is lighter but I don't think it is aš Eco friendly aš the stuff we used to lug about.

[Caberfeidh]

Better gear was available when I started out but due to poverty it was stuff from army surplus shops for us. An RAF greatcoat was nice and warm in winter, but the hem at the back did tend to catch my crampons. Dachstein mitts are great for keeping your hands warm, but take them off to do something fiddly (like extracting your crampons from the hem of an RAF greatcoat) and your damply sweaty hands freeze suddenly and painfully in sub-zero temperatures. Also Dachstein mitts freeze solid. In the Clachaig I was lurking with my pint in a corner while Goretex-clad athletes ignored me. After I had chucked my frozen-solid Dachsteins on the bar with a 'clunk', one of them made a comment that I looked as if I lived up there (on the high tops of wintertime Glen Coe). The Goretex crew weren't ignoring me, they were impressed. Hah!

[al78]

I wonder if the development of ever more sophisticated gear has had any unintended consequences in the form of risk compensation. People feel safer with more advanced gear so are prepared to take greater risks.

[rockhopper]

I wonder if the development of ever more sophisticated gear has had any unintended consequences in the form of risk compensation. People feel safer with more advanced gear so are prepared to take greater risks.

Perhaps oddly, I feel safer with my 1980s longer and heavier ice axe than I do with my shorter and lighter modern axe. Similarly with my old, steel and heavier 12 point crampons than I would with the modern, lightweight versions.

[AyrshireAlps]

Maybe as you were 30 odd years younger then too?

[jupe1407]

I'm only 10 years in so changes in terms of gear aren't all that massive. The only change I can think of that is particularly noticeable is the proliferation of Instabams

[CharlesT]

Principally in the equipment and accessibility of the hills I'd say. I was brought up in North Lancashire and started walking and climbing in 1958/9 through a local youth club(I was 13 or 14). I already had some knowledge of the Lake District as we were fortunate enough to own a car and Sunday trips to the Lakes or Dales were frequent. Complaints about crowding and traffic were common then, so naught changes.

All my clothing was cotton or wool, none of it very weatherproof and to the skin soakings part of business. Cast off tweed jackets,woolles and jeans were the norm for climbing and we went out in all weathers. My first climbing rope was a second hand half weight hemp of dubious quality. I led some hard routes for those days on that.
Flake belays and rope runners using the limited gear we could afford saw us through. No nuts, cams or other aids then. Long run outs were not uncommon, and I think the story of Pete Crew's 100 foot non-runnered run out on Clogwyn was not apocryphal.

I certainly wouldn't go back, the modern gear is far superior and safer. Belaying a half competent second up a steep ice pitch using my wooden hafted axe as my only anchor is not something I would wish to repeat.

[BigTed]

My first climbing rope was a second hand half weight hemp of dubious quality. I led some hard routes for those days on that.
Flake belays and rope runners using the limited gear we could afford saw us through. No nuts, cams or other aids then. Long run outs were not uncommon, and I think the story of Pete Crew's 100 foot non-runnered run out on Clogwyn was not apocryphal.

My dad started climbing in the late 1940s. So not much earlier. Similar story. No runners unless you got a sling over a spike or threaded it round a natural chockstone.

One thing he said which looks different from now was that as a consequence the ability to downclimb was more important. When on practice outcrops they didn't tend to top rope but and did a lot of downclimbing.

The modern improvement which was double edged was vibram soled boots. He said that in mixed conditions for winter hillwalking nailed boots were better as they gripped on ice. Leather soled nailed boots were colder though.

The biggest difference other than gear is numbers. On the Easter weekend 1948 my dad and three pals spent the weekend in Glen Coe. They did the Aonoch eagach Ridge and Crowberry Ridge Direct on the Buachille. Over the whole weekend they never saw another hillwalker or climber.

[AyrshireAlps]

The biggest difference other than gear is numbers. On the Easter weekend 1948 my dad and three pals spent the weekend in Glen Coe. They did the Aonoch eagach Ridge and Crowberry Ridge Direct on the Buachille. Over the whole weekend they never saw another hillwalker or climber.

And that's great in my book, I love seeing folk out on the hills, all shapes, all ages, all abilities. Sure at times I want some solitude, but tbh someone a couple of hundred yards ahead or behind doesn't really affect that in the grand scheme. And we all have to start somewhere in terms of kit, even the instabams, you just hope that when these newbies get into it, they learn a bit of hillcraft, improve their kit and carry on into their later years.

It's all good.