by Kevin29035 » Tue Apr 07, 2020 2:13 pm
Jeezo thanks all for the thoughts, I am very grateful.
Some thoughts on specifics, the Southern Highlands/Glen Coe (up to Loch Leven/Rannoch, 73 Munros) were 22 walking days. Plus a couple days off: one of those was a mental storm end of December. Mega lean conditions meant quick moving, but stormy as well - some walking at night to dodge weather fronts.
Everything else up to the Great Glen was 24 walking days, a combination of no-snow days then these heavy dumps, snow ploughing over the hills that'd melt straight back to bare. Really odd! If there had been any breaks in westerlies at this point it would have been a good time to go to the NW but there were no breaks, so I stayed East, then central, then ran out of east and ended up in Lochaber!
The day I crossed the Great Glen (Loch Lochy Munros) the weather just went ballistic and stayed thereafter. Having had a month and a half of storms since December, I'd been hopeful of some kind of break, but it changed to this persistent polar maritime. Combine that with moving in the NW hills, I lost a tonne of momentum. If the weather had given a couple breaks here and there I would have moved so much faster because you'd be able to get into the meat of the land then move back to Glen Shiel when things went to pot. The breaks just never came, so I chipped away against the coal face: the eight south of Loch Mullardoch took four walking days, though I've ran across these on an October afternoon a couple years ago.
While fitness helps resist bad weather, the NW became about getting anything done under the circumstances. With tonnes of bad weather and bad snow it meant routinely running out of safe travel choices, then down after one summit in a day. Very hard to do many summits like that in any meaningful way. I got a couple weather breaks right at the end for the long trips across Mullardoch, Monar and Fisherfield. A good reminder that the physical capacity was there for big stuff, and a reminder I'd not forgotten how to get across hills, but that I'd simply made conservative travel choices that meant I was still here, hadn't been injured, blown off, avalanches, etc... Hopefully doesn't sound too dramatic saying that, but some of it was one great minefield. If someone was a bit bolder they'd definitely cut a few days off, as I actively lost time avoiding taking some chances.
Biggest gains on any future winter round (in any style, but especially van) would be to have a normal winter of varying airmasses, probably get better at skiing, but massively full-time support. I spent as much time busy not on the hill with the other stuff, the shopping, cooking, cleaning, forecast watching, making plans to meet folk, cancelling because weather changed for tomorrow again, driving because weather's changed again. Etc.
Should also say I bloody loved it and just want to say a big thanks for the thoughts from everyone.
