winter rigby

[molehill]

Congratulations, great physical effort and show of mental fortitude.

And still many winter months left..........:wink:

[IanDarkpeak]

now uploaded my photos to http://johnfleetwood.smugmug.com/Fel...15110480_rbgQA

this was whilst the weather was perfect. 3 hours after this, it started to rain (freezing supercooled rain) and snow and I was in the clag and blowing mank for the next 40 hours. what a contrast! no pictures of that I'm afraid - too wet and cold and concentrating on surviving.

Fantastic pictures John. I see a potential Calendar in the making!

What camera did you use? Some superb light though.

Was the snow able to support your weight?

[Fnstein]

Fantastic pictures John. I see a potential Calendar in the making!

What camera did you use? Some superb light though.

Was the snow able to support your weight?

Agreed - brilliant photos!

[The Navigator]

Stunning photos John and a monumental achievement in the reported conditions.
Looking forward to the write up.

[IainR]

Stunning, I don't know how you keep going for so long. At least you got a few hours of enjoyment and stunning conditions.

[daz h]

A very well done .
The report will make for a fantastic read I'm sure. Magnificent.

[ChrisU]

Amazing photos and adventure. How on earth did you survive for 54 hours?? Did you take any shelter?

[IWCharters]

Stunning photos, John, just stunning.

Huge congratulations for completing the round but more especially for keeping your wits about you and surviving.

Looking forward to reading your account.

Thought you had been too quiet, recently. ;-)

[Full Moon Addict]

hi chris

yes I stopped at corrour and faindouran bothies for an hour and a half in each. This was essential to get warm. It was desparate at faindouran. I was soaked to my underpants and had no spare clothing part from a wet jacket which had now frozen on the inside. My down jacket was horribly soggy so ineffective. I took all the wet stuff off and shivered uncontrollably for the time I was there, but after 4 cups of hot liquid I restored my core temp a bit.

I then proceeded to get horribly lost on bynack more. I used my poles which was a mistake - you can't navigate properly with poles as I knew, but was careless. my compass was also slightly defective as was proven when I got my second one out and it was much more consistent. the other one had a bubble and sometimes stuck before reverting to where it should be. I just went round and round in circles but couldn't stop - I was too cold. I must have taken 4 hours or more stumbling up and down in the darkness before I finally made some headway. I was hallucinating big time on the second day. I thought that I could see a chairlift station with chalets round about but it turned out to be nothing but heather and rocks. finally located myself once it got light and climbed a grade II gully from strath nethy to get back up to cairngorm. The summit plateau was amazingly rimed up from the freezing rain and the neve was so hard that the crampons wouldn't bite properly. I saw no-one in the whole 54 hours until I hit the ski area, nor any tracks apart from a few old ones here and there. its a pity I couldn't take pictures (getting the camera out wasn't an option by then) as the ice formations were truly amazing - long crystals a bit like a miniature giants causeway. the icicle from my torch was almost 3cm long before I had to knock it off to see.

[Moorlander]

Hi Jon,

Fantastic pics ( the best ) Then what an epic, glad you got back safe.

hi chris

yes I stopped at corrour and faindouran bothies for an hour and a half in each. This was essential to get warm. It was desparate at faindouran. I was soaked to my underpants and had no spare clothing part from a wet jacket which had now frozen on the inside. My down jacket was horribly soggy so ineffective. I took all the wet stuff off and shivered uncontrollably for the time I was there, but after 4 cups of hot liquid I restored my core temp a bit.

I then proceeded to get horribly lost on bynack more. I used my poles which was a mistake - you can't navigate properly with poles as I knew, but was careless. my compass was also slightly defective as was proven when I got my second one out and it was much more consistent. the other one had a bubble and sometimes stuck before reverting to where it should be. I just went round and round in circles but couldn't stop - I was too cold. I must have taken 4 hours or more stumbling up and down in the darkness before I finally made some headway. I was hallucinating big time on the second day. I thought that I could see a chairlift station with chalets round about but it turned out to be nothing but heather and rocks. finally located myself once it got light and climbed a grade II gully from strath nethy to get back up to cairngorm. The summit plateau was amazingly rimed up from the freezing rain and the neve was so hard that the crampons wouldn't bite properly. I saw no-one in the whole 54 hours until I hit the ski area, nor any tracks apart from a few old ones here and there. its a pity I couldn't take pictures (getting the camera out wasn't an option by then) as the ice formations were truly amazing - long crystals a bit like a miniature giants causeway. the icicle from my torch was almost 3cm long before I had to knock it off to see.