Kupilka

 I like titanium pots, pans and stoves.  Light weight aside, I don't like titanium single wall mugs because I know from painful experience what happens when the urge to sip a hot mug of soup, tea or coffee exceeds the ability to wait until the contents are cool enough to sensibly do so.  The burn is painful and the resulting blister on the lower lip is instant and quickly pulls off to leave a raw patch that will last for several days.

Having spent some time canoe trekking in Scandinavia, I always wanted a traditional kuksa but never got round to buying one.  There is a cheaper alternative to beautiful but expensive traditional kuksas,  Kupilka in Finland are gaining a wider reputation for a slightly different take on the traditional carved burl by combining pine fibre with some kind of durable, hard thermoplastic to mold kuksa-shaped drinking vessels as well as plates, bowls and cutlery.

The Kupilka 21 is a traditionally-shaped 'little cup' that holds 210ml, which is just enough liquid for a decent brew.  It weighs around 85g according to the manufacturer, is dishwasher-proof and doesn't retain aftertastes. Ok, by any definition it's simply a plastic cup that has enough recycled compost mixed into it during manufacture to give it some visual camouflage.  However, it works as it should and it's a little bit of relatively inexpensive kit (compared to titanium) that just does it's job with hot drinks and leaves delicate lips intact.

I ordered my Kupilka 21 from Ronnie Sunshines .  Worth a mention because I'd never heard of Ronnie Sunshines until I did some Googling for Kupilka outlets in the UK.  I ordered online and the well packaged Kupilka was delivered within two days, with online tracking. Just a good, efficient service.


My new Kupilka 21. Ikea style minimalist recycled packaging and nothing inside was missing.  Swedes could learn something from Finnish quality control!

A little bit of camouflaged 'tradition'.  It's well made, the molding is good quality with no sharp edges or rough surfaces to encourage anything nasty.

 

Looks the part, from a distance, and does it's job.

Easy and secure to hold.  The handle is much better than the usual camping mug 'fingers through' type, which never seem to be the right shape or size.

Black Sail Hut

I've wanted to stay at Black Sail hut in Ennerdale for many years and finally had the chance to do so this past weekend, meeting up with a few people I have met previously and few I had not.  Well-known guide book author, writer and raconteur Paddy Dillon also joined us for the weekend, bringing his own brand of humour and entertainment to the party.   The weather was wonderful all weekend with some fine walking on Saturday from the hut, along the Climber's Traverse on Pillar to the summit, Scoat Fell and a return to Ennerdale via the ridge from the top of Steeple.  What a fantastic route the climber's traverse is, taking-in great views of mighty Pillar Rock on the way.  I've climbed Pillar on numerous occasions, but this route is by far the best.  Beware, though, it's easy to miss the deviation from the direct route.  It does require a drop in height, but the views on such a day as Saturday are breathtaking.  Crossing via Scoat Fell, the descent from Steeple to Ennerdale is a great way to return to the start, or to Black Sail hut for anyone fortunate enough to be staying there.

Black Sail hut.  Rooms with a view and a plethora of routes to choose from.....

Looking down to Wasdale.  The Climber's Traverse takes a sharp right by a very small cairn from here and drops down sharply before levelling off and gently ascending.......

....up to Robinson's Cairn and that classic view of Pillar Rock where the gradient steepens to an easy scramble up to the summit of Pillar.....

....looking back to Ennerdale, Black Sail hut is tiny.  You can just make it out before the drumlins at the head of the valley.  I noted some great bivi opportunities for future reference along the traverse.....

.....descending the ridge to Ennerdale for a leisurely stroll along the forest track back to Black Sail hut, the views in the opposite direction towards Ennerdale Water were extensive.  The Solway coast was clearly visible.

Focus on Imaging 2012

I shall be meeting up with Andy Howell on Monday 5th March at the UK's largest photographic trade exhibition, Focus on Imaging, to make a second podcast about outdoor photography for The Outdoors 
Station.

Kinder Scout, the Boxing Glove Stones

 Most outdoor pursuits enthusiasts, especially bloggers, have an interest in photography.  It's how I started on the road to becoming a professional and I guess there will be a few outdoor bloggers at Focus.  If anyone sees Andy and myself fondling expensive photographic equipment, please stop by and say hello.  It'll be good to see you.

 Who knows, you might save us both a small fortune!

Black Hill

The lowest temperatures of this winter were forecast for Friday night, so a return to Black Hill was on for yesterday.  I've been planning this trip for a while to collect stock images.  From past experience, Black Hill can be a bit of a physical challenge as well as a good test of a walker's navigation skills when the weather is poor, and that has how it has always been for me on previous excursions here.

My theory was that the remaining snow from last weekend would be frozen hard enough to walk on, thus making the going easy by normal Black Hill standards.  I was wrong, of course!  Despite the arctic conditions the snow was not of the load-bearing type and every second footstep seemed to go crashing through the frozen crust anywhere up to mid-thigh, depending on what was covered.  This made for a good strenuous walk!


I arrived in Crowden carpark around 8am and the sky was clear, promising a clear, sunny day. By the time I turned to cross Sliddens Moss higher up the valley, clouds had formed their usual grey blanket.  Looking back over to Bleaklow and Kinder Scout, the conditions seemed brighter with a clear sky for most of the day.

Coming across some of the wreckage of two Gloster Meteor jets that flew straight into the peat of Sliddens Moss in 1951, I spent a while thinking about Flt Lft David Leach and FO Anthony Hauxwell and then moved on.  It was good to have this vast frozen wilderness to myself, I saw only three other walkers all day and they were a good distance away.  It was cold all day, as forecast, but good to take in what Black Hill and it's surroundings have to offer again.

Plenty of interest along the valley.

Further up, the ravine narrows.

Looking towards Torside and Bleaklow, the sky seemed clearer!

Some of the wreckage of two Gloster Meteors that crashed on Sliddens Moss in 1951. Holme Moss transmitter mast in the distance.

Black Hill trig point.

An impressive cairn.....

....but needs a little tlc!

The Roaches, Lud's Church and Hen Cloud

It's been too long since I last walked in this area and Martin Rye's recent post on his excellent Summit and Valley blog gave me enough inspiration to put an overdue return to rights.

This is an easy 8.5 mile circular walk starting from one of the lay-by's in front of Rockhall Cottage. The weather forecast for last Friday was for high pressure, clear skies, no wind and cold temperatures, and so it turned out to be.  Climbing up through the front garden of Rockhall Cottage and on to the upper tier,  The Roaches is a typical Peak District ridge walk.  The air was clear, the views were extensive and the sun shone all day.  If there was a downside, I missed the 5-6" of snow that fell on the following day but that would almost certainly have meant that my car would have been snowbound for up to 24hrs (that has happened to me before in the Peak District!).

Lud's Church was very Harry Potter-ish with curtains of icicles hanging from the walls of the silent ravine.  Being there early meant that I had this interesting feature to myself and I watched as a shaft of sunlight pieced a hole in the rock and illuminated an area next to me.  There was something rather megalithic about watching this patch of sunlight grow in intensity and then gradually fade as the earth turned.

Leaving Gradbach Mill Youth Hostel behind me, the walk passed through a farm onto Goldsitch Moor and then through farmland.  It's rare that I need to resort to an OS 1:25000 map for route finding in the Peak District.  Most of the guide books are detailed enough and I never need anything more than the likes of Mark Richards or Frank Duerden's excellent route descriptions.  However, this seems to be one area where footpath signs and stiles are vague in places, if not missing completely.  I hesitate to blame anyone such as local landowners, but the area around Eleven Steps did cause a bit of head scratching at one point and it would have been too easy to stray from the route onto private land, something I prefer to avoid.

The temptation to sit on top of Hen Cloud to eat a late afternoon lunch was too great.  Despite the sub-zero temperature, it was good to sit in the sun and share my food with the ever-present flock of Jackdaws that perform their noisy aerobatics around the hill. It was good to be back.


A dead tree and Hen Cloud.  They could both tell a story....

Doxey's Pool on ice, looking toward Roach End.

There are plenty of rock formations to explore around Roach End.

Lud's Church icicles.

A patch of sunlight to remind me we're never still.

Goldsitch Moor.

The top of Hen Cloud is a place for quiet contemplation.

Rockhall Cottage and rising moon, in memory of Don Whillans.

 

Venture Ranger 14 Open Canoe Outfitting

Back in October 2011, I blogged about what I intended to do with my new boat.

Now that Christmas is gone and today's weather forecast was dry and sunny all day, I decided to work on my Venture Ranger 14 outfitting in preparation for white water.  The job is fairly straightforward, the only frustration was in not being able to fit the new, and very nice, wooden seat hangers.  The seat hangers are sold as a kit with four 6" stainless steel bolts with washers and nylock nuts.  What should be a simple swap for the ready fitted alloy hangers is an impossible task.  The bolts are about 2" too short.  Taking the depth of the gunnel and seat frame into the equation, the ends of these bolts will not extend through the seat frame!  This is absolutely absurd, these kits are widely sold by UK canoe suppliers and a bit of searching on the right canoeing forums revealed that the problem is well-known.  What is worse is that the same bolts in a longer length (I need 8") are not available, and yet this kit is being sold when it is clearly unfit for it's purpose.

The only work around that I can see is to buy threaded bar and cut it to the required lengths.  This will mean using nylock nuts above the gunnel and below the seat frame.  This is not what I want, aesthetically it would look silly and four nuts protruding above the gunnels would be waiting to skin knuckles and damage clothing and equipment.  No thanks, I'll have my money back.  If anyone reading this is thinking of replacing their seat hangers with these wooden kits, beware.  Make sure that the supplied 6" bolts are long enough!

So, back to Seat Hangers Plan B.  As this is to be a solo boat, the as-sold bow seat will be the seat.  This seat is angled for tandem paddling.  It was a simple job to unbolt the alloy hangers and turn them around to angle the seat in the opposite way for solo paddling.   The existing bolt holes through the gunnels miraculously lined up with the reversed hangers and no drilling was needed.

The front seat assembly was removed and stored away as it is not needed.  I made up a new varnished ash thwart to retain the structural integrity of the hull and fitted this, using the 'wider' pair of seat hanger holes.

Next was to drill the deck plates and pop-rivet 0.25" 'P' clips underneath to tie-in the airbags.  I have used a 60" airbag in the bow and a 48" airbag in the stern.  This leaves a good mid section available for carrying kit and camping gear.  I found it best to attach the pointed end of each bag first and then partially inflate the airbags to work out where the two wide-end eyes would be.  This is quite important, you need to work out where the last pair of 'P' clips should be to match the eyes of the airbags.

Once I had determined that, I pop-rivetted 'P' clips along the underside of each gunnel at 4" apart.   Although more common in practice and probably less fiddly, I am not a fan of drilling the hull and threading line through the holes to lace-in airbags.  I think it spoils the aesthetics of the boat and to drill multiple holes in an otherwise perfectly sound and seaworthy hull seems silly to me.  I prefer lacing the bags in by using 'P' clips under the gunnels because they are out of sight, despite the added work of riveting the clips.  Each to their own!

Seat hangers apart, I've turned the Ranger 14 into something I wanted to get back into paddling white water again.  A little heavier and a little slower than other canoes, the Venture Ranger 14 in polyethylene is more durable and a more reasonable cost option.  I'll probably have to play around with the seat position, it may need moving forward a couple of inches.  If so, the yoke will be removed as it is as close as I want it with the seat in it's present position.  Time will tell.

Seat assemblies removed.

'P' clips for airbag lacing pop-riveted under the gunnels, out of sight.

Seat hangers reversed and seat assembly re-fitted, new ash thwart fitted and airbags laced-in: 60" bow, 48" stern.  Good to go!

An Ideal Buffalo Day

I had planned my traditional pre-Christmas walk around Kinder Scout for 23rd December, but the forecast was bad with warnings of severe weather.  I've spent too many days on Kinder in the past when the weather has been so bad that any real enjoyment gained by being there only comes later with the satisfaction of beating (surviving, even) the elements over a pint in the Nag's Head in front of a roaring fire.
The forecast for Christmas Eve was better, mainly dry but with strong winds.  The forecast was spot on.  It was mainly dry and the wind was steady all day.

Two new items of kit went with me for their maiden outing.  The first and most interesting was my new OMM Cypher smock which didn't get used at all, so I can't comment other than to say that it is a very close fit in comparison to my old Berghaus PackLite smock.  I'm 5'11" with a 46" chest and my XL size Cypher is a good fit for me across the shoulders.  The sleeves are a perfect length but the body is only just the right length for me.  For anyone a couple of inches taller, the XL might be a touch too short.  Try before you buy!  The volume adjustable hood is good and deep to allow a cap or beanie to be worn underneath, has a wired peak and is shaped to give good all round vision.  The Event laminated fabric is quite stiff and noisy.  After using a Paramo Velez smock the Cypher feels a bit like a crisp packet but it is very light weight, so I'm happy with the trade-off.  It goes well with a pair of Kamleika pants to provide a comfortable, close-fitting and lightweight waterproof outer shell. I was a bit sceptical about the Lycra-bound thumb loops in the cuffs, being more used to conventional Velcro adjustable tabs to close the sleeves around wrists and gloves.  The thumb loops worked really well and the sleeves are cut for a close fit.  Time will tell if the Event material and Lycra edge binding is durable enough to last the course, especially when the wearer also uses walking poles.  I would be a bit miffed if the jacket was eventually let down by any such weakness in the thumb loop design.  The last thing I'd want in a £150-£190 smock would be worn-through baggy sleeves that cannot be closed down without using duct-tape! As said, time will tell.  

Half way up Crowden Clough at 8.30am, I pulled on my 25 year-old Buffalo Big Face DP shirt!  The fact is, it didn't rain so I didn't need the Cypher.  Dry all day but that wind coming from the south was bitingly cold, so this was an ideal Buffalo day.

The other virgin item of kit worn all day was my new Montane Bionic long sleeve zip neck top.  Close-fitting and combining merino wool on the inside with polyester on the outside, the Bionic top was a runaway success.  I never thought I would get enthusiastic about a base layer.  Let's face it, they are all pretty much the same: tight in the body and short in the sleeve even if they aren't meant to be, and invariably smelly after a day or two.  One day isn't enough to be able comment on the stench factor of this top, but in every other way the Bionic did all as claimed by Montane.  It's warm, well-fitting, wicks effectively and actually feels good to wear.  Combined with the geriatric Buffalo it kept me comfortable all day, from sitting on a rock watching the Kinder Downfall become an upfall in the teeth of the gale to working hard when putting Crowden Clough behind me, the Montane Bionic is a top quality base layer and can be had for around £29.99 if you do a bit of Googling.

Strangely, on a day when I expected to see plenty of people, I saw only 10 people all day: 6 fell runners and 4 walkers but not one other person along the entire length of the northern edge.  I felt that I had Kinder Scout to myself on Christmas Eve!  My descent back into Edale was via Grindslow Knoll, a tactical move thus allowing Kinder Scout to spit me out straight into the Nag's Head and that pint in front of the fire. Better still, there were no hyperactive children in the bar for once!  A mellow and cosy end to a perfect Christmas Eve.

Good old Buffalo.  Good old Kinder Scout.  Good old Nag's Head.  Good old 2011.  Life is good!

Not as much water coming down Crowden Clough as I expected.  The torrential rain of the previous day seems to have been soaked-up by the peat above.

 This fall just below the short scramble to the top of Crowden Clough always fascinates me

Not a lot of water going over the downfall, either.  The blow-back was nothing like I expected.

Above Fairbrook, reflecting on 2011.  An amazing year for me.  Becoming a grandfather and building on the successes I've created for myself over the past two years. Those who know me well know the full story.  Not smug, just happy!

Low sun drops under the cloud layer as the day draws to an end. 

I'd never noticed this holed rock near Ringing Roger before.  Mental note to self: go back and photograph it properly next time!