We always look forward to hearing from our customers, especially if they have been out and about and taking time to enjoy the natural world around them. We were delighted to hear from Garry Dutfield who braved a night out in the snow in the Lake District earlier this year.
Hi there, here are a few pictures from a wild camp on a snowy night in February. I drove up to the lakes on Monday arrived at High Row car park at the end of the old coach road in Matterdale with the intention of ski touring and camping for 2 nights via Great Dodd - Watsons Dodd - Stybarrow Dodd - Raise - Whiteside - Lower Man - Helvellyn and returning the same way; fantastic!
I left the car late afternoon skied for about 1.5 to 2 hrs up to Matterdale Common and camped at Randerside (approx 700m) just below the summit of great dodd i had checked the weather before leaving it said snow showers minus 3 and 25 to 30mph wind so slightly windy but not a problem as had all the right gear etc so pitched the tent had some food etc and settled down early to get some rest for the big day tommorow well by midnight it was blowing 50 to 60 mph with blizzard conditions total white out and minus 8.5 degrees got out to check the tent it was all fine all pegs holding by 2:30am it was between 70 and 80 mph at this point the tent was really really being battered then a peg came out one corner so I had to go out and fix it I tried 6 times to get pegs in to hold it to no avail so rammed my ice axe in which was fine as long as no more pegs came out !!! then the door whipped open after breaking the clip holding the zip together then another peg out then another TIME TO RE-THINK THIS I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW ( MINUS 8.5 DEG WIND SPEED APPROX 75MPH WIND CHILL MINUS 30 ) I dived back in the tent took a compass bearing back down fastened it to my wrist with rubber bands ( did this so I could see which direction to go as I could only see about 3m in front of me )packed everything in 5 mins flat emerged with all my gear on over trousers down jacket under my goretex jacket ski goggles etc got the tent down eventually which was not easy picked up my rucksack and clicked my skis on im off down I moved about a metre and was blown straight to the floor
(ouch) ok got my rucksack off got back on my feet lets try again rucksack back on were off again got about 4m this time then whack straight to the floor again !!!! ok maybe I'm not going to ski out after all no problem fastened my skis to my rucksack and started to walk down it took me 3.5hrs to do 3.5km and I was blown to the floor approx 25 times before reaching the car then had to dig the car out and just managed to drive along the lane to the main road !!!!!!!!
A NEW MEANING TO WILD CAMP
sorry, no pictures of the blizzard or the tent it was the last thing on my mind !!!!
Cheers
- Garry Dutfield
Hi there, here are a few pictures from a wild camp on a snowy night in February. I drove up to the lakes on Monday arrived at High Row car park at the end of the old coach road in Matterdale with the intention of ski touring and camping for 2 nights via Great Dodd - Watsons Dodd - Stybarrow Dodd - Raise - Whiteside - Lower Man - Helvellyn and returning the same way; fantastic!
I left the car late afternoon skied for about 1.5 to 2 hrs up to Matterdale Common and camped at Randerside (approx 700m) just below the summit of great dodd i had checked the weather before leaving it said snow showers minus 3 and 25 to 30mph wind so slightly windy but not a problem as had all the right gear etc so pitched the tent had some food etc and settled down early to get some rest for the big day tommorow well by midnight it was blowing 50 to 60 mph with blizzard conditions total white out and minus 8.5 degrees got out to check the tent it was all fine all pegs holding by 2:30am it was between 70 and 80 mph at this point the tent was really really being battered then a peg came out one corner so I had to go out and fix it I tried 6 times to get pegs in to hold it to no avail so rammed my ice axe in which was fine as long as no more pegs came out !!! then the door whipped open after breaking the clip holding the zip together then another peg out then another TIME TO RE-THINK THIS I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW ( MINUS 8.5 DEG WIND SPEED APPROX 75MPH WIND CHILL MINUS 30 ) I dived back in the tent took a compass bearing back down fastened it to my wrist with rubber bands ( did this so I could see which direction to go as I could only see about 3m in front of me )packed everything in 5 mins flat emerged with all my gear on over trousers down jacket under my goretex jacket ski goggles etc got the tent down eventually which was not easy picked up my rucksack and clicked my skis on im off down I moved about a metre and was blown straight to the floor
(ouch) ok got my rucksack off got back on my feet lets try again rucksack back on were off again got about 4m this time then whack straight to the floor again !!!! ok maybe I'm not going to ski out after all no problem fastened my skis to my rucksack and started to walk down it took me 3.5hrs to do 3.5km and I was blown to the floor approx 25 times before reaching the car then had to dig the car out and just managed to drive along the lane to the main road !!!!!!!!
A NEW MEANING TO WILD CAMP
sorry, no pictures of the blizzard or the tent it was the last thing on my mind !!!!
Cheers
- Garry Dutfield
