Ben Lomond

Dato:

19.04.2011

Forcan Ridge

Dato:

17.04.2011

Five Sisters of Kintail

Dato:

16.04.2011

Did this route with James Yip and Andy Laing on a rather dull and damp day after coming back from Svalbard. Still, I'd had a good night's sleep at the Ratagan youth hostel compared with the other alternative of camping in the rain, so it wasn't all a bad start! The route has a reputation for being a really fantastic high level ridge walk with great views and an airy feel about it, but I don't think we really got to appreciate it's finest moments with the weather we had. Only after we'd left Sgurr Fhuaran and were well on the way to Sgurr na Carnach did it start to brighten up a little - enough to actually see the loch at the eastern end! But by no means sunny. It was overcast but not quite as misty, and the descent down the steep and wet grassy slopes into Glen Lichd wasn't that pleasant either >>>

Hiorthfjellet

Dato:

26.03.2011

© Hannah Vickers One of my most memorable days on Svalbard ever. Hiortfjellet had been one of the iconic mountains of all my visits to Svalbard since being a UNIS student in 2007, but somehow I'd never found people to do the trip up there with. But finally, during the week leading up to the hike, I found some students who were also interested in taking a trip to Hiortfjellet as well and quite fortunately some of them had snowmobiles, which made getting across Adventdalen a lot quicker! We had the perfect weather for it too. Another very sunny and warm day, although you'd never have guessed it was still -22. Anyway, a group of us - around 8 altogether, scootered out and over the fjord to Hiorthhamn and parked up beside one of the cabins. From there we followed the scooter tracks up to the TV station. I guess >>>

Trollsteinen

Dato:

16.02.2011

Turtype:

Fottur

© Hannah Vickers Fantastic trip up Trollsteinen with Robert, Mari and a bunch of other friends from Svalbard to see the sun come back out from behind the mountains. It was a very cold (-20) day down in town, and I had some reservations over whether my Scarpa Charmoz boots would be much good in keeping my toes warm for several hours out hiking in the snow, but I kept with them anyway and crossed my fingers that they wouldn't get too cold. I met up with the other students at about 8.30 at the barracks, and from there we took the usual way up Larsbreen toward Trollsteinen. Plenty of other locals and students out today too, so it was by no means a quiet day out. It was a great atmosphere though. Everyone was super happy about the terrific weather and views, and we were all super excited about the prospect of seeing >>>

Sarkofagen

Dato:

29.01.2011

Turtype:

Fottur

© Hannah Vickers Trip up to Sarkofagen with the Aberystwyth students; Hannah, Frances, Andrew and Stuart. We had -9 down in the valley and not a lot of daylight to work with, but we made pretty good progress up Larsbreen. I felt a little too warm in fact, and eventually decided to take off my synthetic jacket. The others seemed quite happy to keep their clothes on though. The wind had been quite OK down in the lower part of Larsbreen, I guess we had been quite sheltered. But higher up, as we approached the ridge between Sarkofagen and Lars Hiertafjellet, it got extremely windy. I put my jacket back on as well as my insulated trousers over my waterproof trousers. It really was *that* cold! Despite the less-than-ideal weather no one suggested we give up and turn so we ended up continuing to the top of Sarkofagen >>>