Planning on going to the Hen mountain camp with NI-Wild, my buddy told me he was thinking about trying his new Terra Nova Voyager Superlite so torn between the two I waited to see what would happen.
As it turned out I didn’t do either as my buddy likes this strange game called futball and something was happening that was really interesting to do with management and new players and a host of other things that obviously matter if your into it and that team, so he was out and I couldn’t juggle my timings to enable me to get down to Hen before dark as I wasn’t really keen on parking the car at the designated carpark and although Im in no way adverse to a little night nav I didn’t really fancy it.
So that left me with a dilemma… Should I go out solo or as all the kids were now in my sisters for the evening, stay and have a quiet night in with the wife? A swift conversation with the wife that indicated she would appreciate a quiet night alone with a bar of Turkish Delight and the TV remote decided it, well that and the fact my buddy told me I could take his new tent which started a whole new dilemma.
Should I take his new tent or my trusty Laser Comp? When I started to think about it, it felt wrong. I was going to pop the tents cherry surely it should be his to pop…But the lure of that virgin silnylon was too great and it was swiftly packed into two XS drybags. It wasnt until I was trying to decide which bag had the inner did I realise I could have put them in corresponding coloured bags for ease of identification.
With a summit camp in mind I decided Commedagh was calling and made my way to Newcastle, hoping I could get up and pick a decent site in daylight instead of my usual kerfuffle in darkness.
With this in mind I pushed up through the forest and into the open at the Ice house I spotted a group of people in the distance heading the same direction but with no gear and cavorting over the rocks and boulders. Thinking they would soon be turning back they continued on and I overtook them as we left the trees and hit proper open ground. Perhaps it was this or they were conscious of the fact it would be dark soon that spurred them on as they kept pace with me until I stopped to gather myself for the ascent up the steps towards the saddle at which point they passed and continued up. By the time I hit the saddle it was snowing and the wind was blowing pretty hard, the group had started the trek up Donard and I had a thought for them as they only seemed to have the clothes on their backs and I actually considered calling them and asking if they had a headtorch or some form of light as the sun was soon to set. I decided that they could easily have everything they need in their pockets and I could just as easily get told to go abuse myself so I started my own trek in the opposite direction up Commedagh. It wasnt long before the going got pretty slippy as everything was just solid snow and ice and as I climbed higher the wind got stronger.
On reaching the summit ( took me one and a half hours with my full pack which I’m pretty happy with) and crossing over the wall, to get out of the worst of the wind, I could feel myself
swiftly cooling down. Now was the time to test my new Rab Infinity down jacket, I’ve used it a few times (and been very happy with it) but not in these sort of conditions. As soon as I pulled it on I instantly felt warm and my reservations about the hood both inflating like a sail and pulling off in strong wind (as it cannot be adjusted or tightened and feels loose around my face) and acting like a tunnel to direct the wind down my back were quickly dismissed. In fact I started to wish for a decent pair of warm gloves to accompany it as by the time I setup the tent my fingers were numb but my body was toasty. I retreated to the shelter of the tent after a quick photo and got my neoair and sleeping bag sorted all the while listening to the wind growing gradually stronger.
Contemplating eating dinner, something that didn’t appeal at all, I thought a quick snuggle in my bag would be just the ticket as it was still really early and the idea of spacing dinner and dessert out over what was going to be a long evening certainly appealed. Unfortunately it was too cold to read my kindle, my plan to pass the time scuppered I stuck my earphones in and tried to listen to it over the wind. After a short time I thought I’d better check to see if I had a mobile signal and if so text to say I’m safe and sound( a formality as I always say I will only get in contact if I have a signal). A not so swift round of texts to my wife and my buddy who owned the tent left my hands numb again and I could now feel the cold coming up through my mat.
The tent was already frozen inside and my platypus had slush developing on the surface of my water. The idea of dinner still didn’t appeal, the idea of drinking my Mojito was right out the window and the wind was getting stronger and had started to blow snow under the fly (which was pretty close to the ground). I started to think this was a bad idea…
I knew the tent could take any of the wind I could expect this night, but it wasn’t my tent so I think I worried about it a little more.I knew I had a good sleeping bag and my insulated jacket had proved top notch earlier, but I couldn’t help thinking I was in for a cold night due to my mat.I’m used to having a form of entertainment as if I’m alone I read my kindle or muck about outside until I’m ready to sleep and I was already feeling a little bored as I couldn’t do either.
I’ve never before had a moment when I thought I should head back, but with all the things above and the fact that I go out to enjoy myself in the great outdoors, something that didn’t really seem that likely huddled in my sleeping bag with the wind howling outside, I decided to pack up my gear and head for the car.
Everything was swiftly shoved into my rucksack and with just the tent and down jacket to go in I stick my head out to find a mini blizzard underway and had to wait a few minutes until it abated. My next obstacle was breaking down the tent as the ends of the poles had developed large knobs of ice on the ends that prevented me sliding the eyelets belonging to both the fly and inner off them. I had to use a tent peg (glad I had brought my Alpkit Y-Beams) to break them apart.
With the tent ‘packed’ into my rucksack I elected to keep my down jacket on until I dropped down a bit and started to produce some internal heat. It wasn’t long to the saddle and the trip down the steps which became a mini adventure in themselves as the wind knocked me off my feet twice. Apart from the incessant horizontal sleet the rest of the trip to the forest was uneventful and Donard carpark seemed almost tropical even though the car said it was 1 deg.
Getting up on Sunday morning to a beautiful day I did have regrets about coming down but although I’m not glad I did, I sort of think it was the right thing to do. I do think I would have stayed if I was in company as it provides that bit of support both physically and mentally but the combination of all the little things decided it for me. I was totally gutted to see one of the guys at the Hen camp say the wind had dropped later on 
but I did get an uber long Sunday lie-in that almost made up for it….
I’m really happy with how my Rab Infinity Jacket performed it really did keep me enveloped in a cocoon of blissfully warm air even with the worst of the wind outside and my buddy’s Terra Nova Voyager Superlite was pretty amazing. At the time I thought it was pretty breezy as I had my head at the end and my feet at the door of the inner (how I like to sleep in most tents) but looking at the floor plan I was lying the wrong way as, and a bit of common sense 
would have told me, its all mesh at the end my head was at and this end was facing into the wind so I’m a bit of a muppet really. My new Mountain King Carbon walking poles were really light and comfortable and I’m certain made a huge difference on the way down for my knees, they were also a very reassuring thing to have in hand when something broke twigs behind me going through the forest and scared the poop right out off me. I think as I like to be warm and I detest being cold that I would need to bring a bit of foam mat to supplement my NeoAir in cold conditions like those I encountered on Saturday, maybe something just big enough to do from my shoulders to hips would suffice. I’ll only know when I get back out there 
