Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Meets, places, trips and reviews => Topic started by: 666_pack on March 29, 2010
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Headed of from Donard park about 630pm and the weather was great with no clouds over Donard or Commedagh. I took the usual route to the summit and was really pleased to have such a mild evening.
I peeped into Donard wood (N.I.-Wild HQ) but it was empty and headed on my merry way. I reached the saddle just as I was getting dark and the cloud was also rolling in steadily so it was on with the headtorch and the final push to the summit. I topped out at approx 845pm and and scouted about for a suitable flat area to pitch up which was easier said than done but I finally settled on a spot near the summit cairn.
The wind really picked up as I was pitching my tent and I was a bit of a struggle but I got there in the end. I had planned to have a hot meal once I got settled but worsening weather kept me in tent but a yorkie and flapjack really hit the spot. I checked in with home and crawled into my sleeping bag with a copy of new scientist and some rum and settled in. As I sat inside the tent I soon realised that it was full of cloud and was glad I’d brought the bivvi bag as the tent started to get really damp. But the rum soon worked its magic and I hit the hay (or down in this case)
I was woken about 3am to find that my tent a came down and the wind blasted overhead for the next 3 hours I pulled all the gear that was stored in the porch inside the tent and held on. There was no way I was getting out as I think I was the only thing keeping my tent on the hill.
Come 6am the wind had calmed enough for me to chance leaving the tent so still wrapped in bivvi bag and pipedream I sat on the summit to watch the sun rise and soon any memory of the previous night’s turmoil was gone. I was still bitterly cold as I put my tent back up to prep breakfast. My shoes were frozen solid, the inside of the tent was lined with frost even the olive oil I brought for my sausages had set. I even had to get slightly intimate with my fuel bottle to get my meths up to temp to get it lit.
All in all well worth it and you do learn a hill off a lot more from your failures than you success and it will take a lot more than a collapsed tent to ruin a night like that.
There are no pics as I had a camera malfunction but this was only a trail run and I will give it another blast soon.
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Sounds awesome, even with tent issues. Was it a problem with the tent or just more wind than it could handle?
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sounds like a great trip, I'm gonna have to get one now, but how to beat donnard.... ;)
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Sounds awesome, even with tent issues. Was it a problem with the tent or just more wind than it could handle?
No A pole just slipped out of it housing at the peg but was easy to sort out. I really should have put rocks on the corners to add extra weight but will know for the next time. More a wind issue than a drastic kit failure the tadpole will live to fight another day ;)
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sounds like a great trip, I'm gonna have to get one now, but how to beat donnard.... ;)
This could get interseting ::)
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Has to be a Donard bivvy
sounds like a great trip, I'm gonna have to get one now, but how to beat donnard.... ;)