Sharing the love: A guide to sharing your appreciation of the mountains with your hike-curious friends

He asked for it. Several times when we were at work together. He asked for it again when we were sat in the warm bosom of the pub at Christmas. He wanted to discover what keeps driving me to disappear into the cold, wind-swept mountains, especially in the depths of winter. He begged me to take him on a proper hike, to show him what I saw when I was away from the crowds and distractions of the modern world. He wanted to experience the weather, un-fettered by the protection of the city. He also stated he wanted 'a good workout'. How could I refuse...

Deciding on the right time to go: December, the day after a snow storm dumps fresh powder on top of a fairly slick and compacted layer of old snow. Perfect.

Pointing out the wildlife: When asked the name interesting looking fauna and flora try your best to appear knowledgeable. Hence the on-the-spot christening of 'green stuff with brown polyps' pictured here.

Route choice: Be truthful about the expected difficulty of your chosen path. "Honestly, it's almost entirely flat!"

Timing: "Honestly, it'll take us a few hours. I ran it in a couple in the summer". 4 hours later and we're still going up...

Navigation: Teach your friend to read the subtle, almost imperceptible signs in nature that will aid their progress through the great outdoors.

Stay hydrated: Keeping well hydrated will ensure your brain is alert and crucial decision making will be done with a clear head. This is easily done when the pump in the post-hike pub malfunctions whilst pouring your two pints and you end up with another four for free...

In reality the day was a complete success. My friend really enjoyed himself, even when the weather was less than kind in a few places and even when I suggested that he spend some time breaking trail through the knee deep snow "At one point I nearly lost it, it was just so deep". He shot dozens of photos and used words such as 'Wow' and 'Beautiful!' all day. Despite admitting to feeling very tired and aching legs, if any further proof of his enjoyment was required, he asked "Can we do it again?". Damn, I'll have to make it much tougher next time!

Making the most of it

With the snow sticking around you'd be a fool not to be outside enjoying it at every opportunity so I vowed to get out and ski the local trails everyday while it's here. Yesterday we were blessed with sunshine.

On the far side of the reservoir a lot of the trails were untouched and the deep powder was a joy to ski through.

Lunch stop atop a perfect log chair. Hot blueberry toddy and even more gingerbread kept my fuel tank topped up.

A dead body was found in this valley amongst suspicious circumstances many years ago. I was hoping I wasn't going to be added to the tally when I skied down the path that runs along the edge of the copse of fir trees in the middle of the picture.

The Glove Post - In search of my one true glove...

 

This post came about in response to a comment left on this post where Hendrik asked me what glove system I used after I revealed that I'd spent an entire afternoon trudging through deep snow dreaming about 'my dream glove system'. I started to reply to his comment but an hour later I was still typing so I decided this subject deserved it's own post and then maybe someone would provide me with some answers to questions I still had. I did find this excellent article by Andy Kirkpatrik who, as always, cuts through a lot of the marketing hype and misinformation surrounding technical clothing. It should be noted, however, that Andy's article is based on the needs of a climber whereas my glove system detailed below is for hiking, backpacking, cross-country ski touring and possibly snow-shoeing during the winter in Norway. As always I try to make it simple and light but comfortable and safe as well.

Liner gloves:

I like using liner gloves, it gives you the ability to rotate a couple of pairs, one pair on your hands and another drying and warm in a pocket close to your body. They need to be thin enough so you can do anything you need to (including tricky things like taking photos) without taking them off. Thin gloves dry quicker too. As for materials, I like merino wool and Polartec's Powerstretch fleece. They're both pretty good but as I'm often using poles (ski or hiking) in winter I lean towards the Powerstretch, I find the material is tougher than merino. I've actually worn holes in a pair of Arc'Teryx merino liners during a long weekend of skiing last year. Rab Powerstretch Grips (43g a pair in Medium) are my current favourites. Powerstretch dries quick, is light, super soft, stretchy and keeps you warm when active. It is also great for wiping your nose or the frost from your beard! Rab also do a slightly more wind resistant liner glove called the Phantom in Polartec's Wind Pro fleece that would be a good choice in more mountainous areas, exposed to more bone-chilling wind. I'm quite happy with the liner gloves currently available, there is something for everyone out there. The only variant of Powerstretch liners I would personally like is a pair with a lobster-cut, where the thumb and forefinger are separate but the other three fingers are in a mitt form. That would be pretty cool!

Mitts:

In winter, up in the mountains, most people like to have a BDM - a Big Dumb Mitt that they can pull on and off as the conditions dictate. Standing atop a wind ravaged ridge, sliding down a fast ski trail or simply for warming up after camp or a break a BDM can be slipped on until you're warmed up or left on in cold conditions. Nothing beats a mitt for warmth in my opinion. The problem I have here is that every company's range of BDMs seem to come with waterproof/breathable inserts. I find my hands get sweaty in these highly insulated 'waterproof' gloves and they take FOREVER to dry out when they do get wet. And they WILL get wet. Sweat and the big hole in the waterproof membrane where your hand goes in means so-called 'waterproof' gloves rarely stay dry inside. Not good if you're backpacking in winter although except for the odd occasion where I face plant into some powder on a steep downhill section of a trail I rarely put my hands in the snow.

I wish I could find a lighter soft-shell mitt. I have a pair of Buffalo mitts who's proven, retro-tech 'Pertex and pile' construction is a good balance of protection and breathability. They are great as my back-up mitts but I feel they need a better palm covering (something like the excellent Pittards Armortan on my Rab Baltoro gloves) and a few other design modifications before I could use them all day. They're also slightly too warm when active. Mardale produce a similar 'Pertex & pile' mitt. The problem with many modern softshell fabrics is that they use a laminate to provide the windproofing and I find that compromises breathability significantly.

So what would my dream Not-So-Dumb Mitts feature?

• Wind resistant but highly breathable stretch woven shell (good DWR to shed snow) with a light 'pile' inner face for wicking and warmth (maybe Vapour-rise, shelled DriClime or Buffalo Lightweight?)
• Long cuff with one-hand operable cord & toggle, no wrist strap
• Tough, grippy palm
• Nose wipe thumb patch!
• Removable security wrist loops
• Sewn-in loop near fingers so they can be clipped to my backpack's shoulder strap the right way up so they don't fill with snow

Let me know if you know of anything even close to this! If not does anyone know a good custom glove maker?! It would be a good MYOG project and mitts are far easier to cut and sew than gloves!

Thinking outside the box BPL do the FeatherLite Vapor Mitt (116g a pair in L) which works on vapour barrier technology. Some people swear by this for keeping warm in seriously cold temperatures but others find it 'sweaty'. It would however be a very light system as it would not require an extra shell mitt.

Shells:

I do also carry a pair of waterproof shell mitts. Carrying the waterproof shell separately from the main mitts means that I'm only subjected to the compromised breathability of such shells for short periods of time and only when necessary. I currently carry a pair of Gore Tex Paclite mitts, the Extremities Tuff Bags, which are great for pulling over the rest of your glove system when things get really dire (driving wet snow, freezing rain) or when doing 'wet work' like digging snow shelters, even if that's just a ditch to get you out of the wind for your lunch stop! They do however get sweaty after a while, something I'm not sure even the superior breathability of eVENT could deal with so they get whipped off again sharpish and stuffed back into my pack. I customised my Tuff Bags by removing the wrist strap which got in the way of hiking/ski pole wrist straps and I felt it was surplus as the cuff cord & toggle was ample for semi sealing and venting. Without the wrist strap they weigh in at 64g a pair in a very generous Large. They also have a tough, grippy palm material which is great for holding onto freezing shovel handles. Other shell mitt options include Haglofs Gram Shell Mitts (50g a pair in Medium) and the MLD eVENT Rain Mitts (just 34g a pair in Large!) as an even lighter but less rugged option.

Spare and camp hand-wear:

I like to carry a pair of Buffalo mitts as spare/back-ups. It's good to know that if you lose a glove or get every other glove wet that there is always a dry spare set waiting in your pack. Nothing else I've used so far is as good at warming and drying cold, wet hands as the Buffalos. They're light (84g a pair in L) and cheap too. The only additional gloves possibly worth thinking about would be a pair of simple, highly compressible down mitts, such as the super warm PHD Mera Down Mitts (96g a pair), for camp/sleeping duties but I think these would only be needed in extreme conditions like high mountains or -30C forests in arctic central Scandinavia.

So there you have it, my ramblings after spending way too much time thinking about this subject and possibly being too fussy just to buy a pair of expensive, over-insulated, GoreTex-lined Big Dumb Mitts like everyone else. My ideal gloves probably don't exist and I'll be forced to compromise or buy a sewing machine, learn to sew and try to source some materials.

Let me know how you get around keeping your hands warm.

A game of two halves

Well after watching my homeland get a dusting of the white stuff last week it was about time my adopted city of Bergen got it's fair share of this rare weather. Like England Bergen is usually kept damp and frost free by the Gulf Stream while the rest of Norway is wreathed in ice and snow. The snow started gently on Friday evening but by Sunday morning the view from my bedroom was very festive.

I decided to have a gad about the reservoir not far from my apartment. My regular running trail was hidden under almost two feet of snow and while a few people were out running and hiking there were just as many who had the right idea and skimmed along on skis instead.

At the other end of Svartediket I decided to take the path that leads up to the second reservoir and see what the weather was like above the tree-line. Trudging up through deep snow my mind wandered to nerdy subjects like dreaming up the ultimate winter glove system...

An hour later I reached the second reservoir and stopped for some hot berry drink and a handful of peanut M&Ms. The wind was fierce up here and it blew the fine snow about, almost blotting out the orange sunset that was desperately trying to make an impact on such a monochromatic day. With daylight fading fast it was time to head home. Hood up, goggles down and I stomped my way back down to the relative comfort of the lower reservoir and then home. I would have a quick pit-stop, refuel with a cup of tea, some soup and bread and then back out into the snow to give the skis a go.

A change of base layers and boots was also required. It felt really good to be skiing again so soon after our weekend away in Ustaoset. If you have a car and a hytte then you can ski in the mountains most weekends but for us a weekend away skiing is a real treat so to be able to put my skis on right outside my front door and slide past the neighbours car felt really good, if a little weird. The trail around Svartediket is not prepared like the cross country routes in the mountains so the going was slow but enough people had been out on skis to start cutting a firmer track through all the powder. It was slower than running but easier than the hiking earlier. It was a lot of fun on the small hills too, as long as I didn't end up flying down one of the embankments and into the freezing black waters, never to be seen again. The weather forecast is for more sub zero temperatures so hopefully the snow will be around for a few more days at least. With no work for the next couple of weeks my skis are leant up against the front door, ready for another run out tomorrow!

"Just looking at it is giving me diabetes"

Spending an evening indoors trying to enter into the spirit of the holiday season was worth missing one running session. As the sunset played out a candy-floss finale to a bitterly cold day we hunkered down in the kitchen and cracked open some Christmas beer and a indulged in the traditional tradition of decorating a gingerbread house.

First task was repairing the broken prefabricated gingerbread sections that didn't make it back from the supermarket in one piece. What better confectionary cement to use than caramel...

..and if you've made a batch of caramel then why not use it to build the whole house?

On the wall that faced the prevailing winds I decided that the gingerbread could do with some reinforcing so I opted for a stone-wall of peanut M&Ms held together with icing.

The finished house with gingerbread bouncers, peanut M&M rockery in the garden, Non-Stop solar panels on the roof and a dusting of icing sugar powder snow. Eagle-eyed readers will also notice the Seigdamer. That's right, they like jelly babies but they're jelly women with jelly boobs...

My teeth hurt just looking at these photos.

Finding your feet, losing your fear

First ski trip of the season. A chance to loosen skiing legs and reacquaint ourselves with the sensation of gliding and grinding our way across beautiful landscapes. We based ourselves at Ustaoset (1000m), a couple of hours east of Bergen and stayed in a friend's apartment. This early in the season a lot of the trails were still unprepared and the weather promised to be cold with plenty of snow and a biting wind. Alighting at Ustaoset train station on Friday night we left the soporific train carriage behind and stepped into a winter wonderland and -15C. Blimey, that blew some cobwebs out. A short walk to the apartment and we were soon sitting down to some great food and looking forward to get out for a quick after dinner whizz around the resort.

The first few glides across the car park behind the hotel were nervous but surprisingly we all seemed to find our skiing feet quite quickly. This may have had something to do with the fact that we were skiing by head-torch light in the dark and unable to see some of the gradients we threw ourselves down. We were also insulated from any sensation of speed, ensconced in our hoods, hats and goggles, ducking out of the way of the cutting wind and driving powder snow. Feet found we retired to the apartment, sat in front of the fire, ate more food and headed to the bunk beds early.

The plan on Saturday was to head out to a nearby hytte out in the surrounding mountains but soon after passing the outer marker of the resort in a blur of wind driven snow and low cloud the visibility closed in to around forty metres and venturing further into the murk would have proven folly. We had reached our decision point. Instead we spent an enjoyable day around the resort brushing up on our skills and taking breaks for food in the comfort of the apartment. Somehow over the summer, despite having not been on skis, I have lost my fear of descending and gained the ability to turn - both useful skills when skiing I'm sure you'll agree. The post-dinner late evening ski session was sponsored by Johnny Walker and the apres-ski shenanigans lasted long into the night.

Sunday arrived far too early for some but the weather was slightly brighter so we decided to try again for the hytte we failed to reach yesterday. There was still a fresh breeze and some snow falling. As we left the resort behind and the power lines vanished the terrain became tougher. After an hour we came across a climb of soft snow masking big rocks below. I foolishly decided to take my skis off and try to hike up it but instantly sunk to my hips. Trying to put skis on that are three feet above your feet is hard and to add to my difficulties ice then built up in my bindings leaving me swearing and flopping around in an ever deepening pit of snow. I eventually managed the extricate myself and we were able to resume our day.

Cresting the climb we were greeted by views across the slowly freezing lake to the south of the train tracks. The wind was vicious, stripping body heat from anywhere left unprotected. The conditions and the fumbling caused by wearing two pairs of mitts meant my camera stayed in it's bag much more than normal. Visibility was improved over yesterday but the light was flat and that just meant we could see nothing but whiteness for longer. The undulating trail and variable snow conditions made for an interesting traverse around the mountain and when we discovered a collection of remote summer hyttes we decided it would be a good place to shelter from the wind for lunch and drink some hot chocolate and coffee.

Pulling off warm insulating jackets and leaving our sheltered spot for the head-on freezing wind was not desirable but totally necessary. In silent single file we retracted into our hoods and retraced our steps, trying to maintain a good clip to keep warm. Soon we were at the top of the difficult climb we had faced earlier. Now our problem was how to get down. The snow was too deep and soft for snow-plowing so we opted for a zig-zagging attack, trying not to smash into the boulders hidden just below. We all took tumbles but thankfully no one was hurt. Back inside the outer marker and we eventually picked up prepared trails again and dropped into the more sheltered lower elevations. The descent into the resort was amazing; smooth, empty and effortless. We made excited plans about coming here again in January and headed back to the apartment. We rewarded ourselves with a huge meal and caught the evening train back to the city. Sleep. Sleep was all I cared about now.