Table of contents for January 2025 in Trail

GET 50% OFF Ordnance Survey All first-time Trail Subscribers get 50% off a year of OS Maps, the Ordnance Survey’s digital mapping service. That’s the equivalent of 607 paper maps in your pocket! PAGE 99 FREE STOVE WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TURN TO PAGE 26 Three of the stars of this issue – High Cup Nick, Sgurr na Stri and the Old Man of Coniston – have something in common. All three of them are among the best places to go hillwalking in Britain, and all three are achievable for just about anyone who loves lacing up boots and heading for high places. When I tell non-hikers how much I love climbing mountains, I usually get the same reaction, which is that they’d love to do something similar but are put…

GETTING STARTED First, adjust the height. While holding the pole on the flat, your elbow should be at a 90° angle, forearm parallel to the ground. Slip your hand through the loop from underneath and grasp the handle. You should then be able to put quite a lot of weight through the poles, alleviating it from your joints and giving you more power. Generally, lead with the opposite pole to the leading leg (left pole, right leg), this will offer maximum stability and balance – but use them in whatever way feels most beneficial. TRAVELLING UP AND DOWNHILL Usually, when walking uphill, a shorter pole length will be more useful, in which case either adjust the pole or simply hold it lower down the grip. As on the flat, aim…

■ RELIABLE WATERPROOF PERFORMANCE Montane’s Petrichor fabric offers a hydrostatic head waterproof rating of 20,000mm. While this is not the highest currently available (Gore-Tex’s membranes offer 28,000mm HH), it’s still at the upper end of the waterproof spectrum and more than enough for most uses. Incredibly, the waterproof membrane is thinner than a single human hair, yet because it’s non-porous it’s still completely windproof. The bespoke ‘fabric sandwich’ at the core of the Petrichor technology allows the jackets to move with your body, delivering reliable waterproof performance without restricting mobility. ■ BUILT TO BREATHE Montane explains that Petrichor actively ‘breathes’, so the harder you work, the more it works to move moisture away from the wearer. In doing so it achieves impressive breathability ratings: RET 5 in the Cetus Lite,…

Yaktrax Pro £30 If you’re only walking on fairly level paths of the hard-packed man-made variety, then these Yaktrax grippers are all you need. Available in four sizes – small, medium, large and extra-large – the rubber cradle stretches onto your shoes or boots for a snug fit, while an over-the-top strap ensures they stay in place. Underneath, heavy duty wire coils provide the grip for extra traction on ice and packed snow. They’re not even close to being enough for actual mountain use, but for low-level easy walking they’re a lightweight option. Edelrid Spiderpick £55 Much like the Yaktrax, the Edelrid Spiderpick attach to your footwear with a rubber cradle that stretches into place and comes in a range of sizes (small, medium and large) to ensure a snug…

TRAIL MAGAZINE 1 Eryri (Snowdonia) WINTER RIDGE SCRAMBLE As an introductory scramble, Moel Siabod’s Daear Ddu ridge is peerless. On it, the confident may seek and find challenging moves up airy rock steps, while those of a nervous disposition pick and choose their preferred level of difficulty in relative safety, dodging trickier sections at will. In winter conditions, our mountains take on an ethereal beauty, but also become more serious propositions for those who find joy on their ridges and summits. Again, Siabod delivers, and is an achievable goal for anyone armed with a little winter walking experience and a desire to up the ante. It goes without saying that our winters aren’t what they used to be and those with decades of hillwalking to their name lament the times when…

1 NY543590 From the south-west end of Talkin Tarn’s main pay & display car park, drop to the shore and start a clockwise circuit of the tarn. After 750m – soon after leaving the trees -turn left at a fingerpost for Farlam. The path, on grass at first, passes between the fields and then swings right to skirt the edge of some woodland. After the next gate, the path continues along the bottom edge of a field and then climbs. 2 NY555588 Pass through the metal kissing-gate at the top and, at the road junction in Farlam, go straight across for Boon Hill. The road climbs steeply, later allowing great views over the Solway Plain to the west. Go right at a T-junction and take the next left turn. At…

11 Galloway AIRY CLIFFTOPS 1 NX154304 Immediately below the car park, pass round to right of the turf roofed café to a gate. A small path leads along the cliff tops, with views down into two spectacular rocky inlets. Parts of the path are on sloping ground immediately above very big drops. A kissing gate on the right, if you want, lets you inland to visit the Kennedy's Cairn, a masonry cairn 3m high, on the second bump of the peninsular, Cairnie Hill. 2 NX146305 Return through the kissing gate to continue the cliff top path. After another 1km, a fence runs down ahead. Keep up right to the fence corner and a small gate. Continue to right of the fence along a field edge above West Tarbet Bay, popular…

PHOTO COMPETITION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FUJIFILM BASECAMP 1st place GEORGE ROBERTSON A waterfall of cloud into LOCH CORUISK on a Cuillin wild camp, Isle of Skye. "The image was taken in the twilight hours, very early on a summer morning, from the summit of Sgurr na Stri on Skye, looking over to the Cuillin Ridge. The weather forecast was looking good for a few days, with the possibility of an inversion, so I set off on a solo camping trip from Kilmarie to Camasunary and the climb to the summit camp. When I got out of the tent in the morning the conditions were perfect. A long exposure time helped to emphasise the motion of the clouds rolling down the slopes of Druim nan Ramh towards Loch Coruisk below. Just a few…

STRIDING EDGE This Grade 1 scramble is not something to be taken lightly, or one suitable for Dads with a fear of heights. As I learnt when I climbed it with both Mum and Dad in 2007. It was all high fives and smiles at the pub afterwards though. CLIMBING ON TRYFAN Another first – trad climbing in Wales. This photo (right) that I took of Dad halfway up Milestone Buttress got me in a lot of trouble when I put it on the front cover of our local Mountaineering Club magazine back in 2008. He still says it was one of the most memorable moments in his life though. INTRODUCTION TO HILLWALKING The Prison Band is not the only grand way up the Old Man of Coniston (803m). The…

SNOW BUNTING PLECTROPHENAX NIVALIS FIND THEM: Flitting around the tops of the highest mountains, commonly Ben Nevis and in the Cairngorms. ID: Small and sparrow-like with a white chest, brown upper parts and a slight sandiness across the face and throat. HERE’S A FACT: Though mainly seed-eaters, these hardy birds supplement their diet with small, unfortunate insects that have been blown up the mountains and got stuck on patches of snow. ATLANTIC SALMON SALMO SALAR FIND THEM: Leaping upstream in cold, clean rivers, especially after heavy rain. Most likely in Scotland, Wales and northern England. ID: Big – up to 1.5m long and 40kg. They have silvery scales with a scattering of spots across the back, but you’re most likely to just see a leaping silhouette. HERE’S A FACT: While…

Dare 2B Mountain Series Waterproof Jacket £140 The ARED 30K/30K fabric used in this jacket has some truly impressive stats. Its hydrostatic head (HH) measurement of 30,000mm and its moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) figure of 30,000g/ m²/24hrs are all the more remarkable given its wallet-friendly price tag. Rab Kinetic 2.0 Waterproof Jacket £220 Less like a hard shell and more like a highly waterproof soft shell, the Proflex fabric in the Kinetic 2.0 offers a perfectly adequate, if not performance topping, 10,000mm HH, but its 35,000g/ m²/24hrs MVTR figure makes it one of the most breathable waterproofs out there. Berghaus Ridge-Roamer Softshell Jacket £270 Although labelled as a soft shell, and as breathable as that suggests, the Ridge-Roamer nonetheless has an HH rating of 10,000mm, putting it alongside Rab’s…

In winter you’re typically going to be carrying a fair amount of extra hillwalking kit; burlier waterproofs, thicker gloves, a Buff and beanie, a chunky insulating layer, not to mention crampons and an ice axe. You might want goggles too, plus plenty of energygiving snacks and a flask for when the cold bites. Then there are the mountain essentials to consider, like a map and compass, first aid kit, emergency shelter, headtorch and spare batteries. It's tricky to cram all this into anything less than a 40-litre pack, which means a standard daysack isn’t going to cut it. Instead, opt for a dedicated mountain pack of between 40 and 50 litres – the sort of alpine-style sack generally used by climbers and mountaineers. As well as giving you extra carrying…

7 North Pennines ROOF OF THE PENNINES 1 NY638312 With your back to Blencarn village hall, turn left and, when the road bends right, keep straight ahead, through a gate. Fork left along the rough track; keep left at the next fork. The path generally stays close to the wall on the right beyond a small farm shed, but patches of gorse force it to deviate from this line occasionally. 2 NY658316 About 500m beyond the house at Wythwaite, a series of gates lead on to open land at the base of the fells. On a wide, grassy path, walk with Littledale Beck on your right. Quickly ford this and continue upstream. At the base of Grumply Hill, ignore the steep path to the right; stay on the clear bridleway.…

12 Galloway WALK TO ‘THE WICKER MAN’ ISLAND 1 NX431366 A wide, enclosed path is signed for St Ninian's Cave. It leads around Kidsdale farm, crossing a farm track to a wider, concrete one. Across this, a wide dirt path is signposted for St Ninian's Cave. This leads down the wooded little Physgill Glen. Where path divides, the right-hand one beside the little stream is slightly nicer. A signpost stands at the shingle foreshore. Turn 1 right for 400m to visit St Ninian's Cave. 2 NX422359 Return past the signpost and continue another 100m to where a small but clear path winds up to the top of low cliffs. For the next 1.5km the path continues between the cliff tops and a fence just above. In places it's close to…

This month’s cover star has to be seen in person to be truly believed – and here are some more reasons to stick it on your bucket list. CLIMB A STAR OF THIS ISSUE P34 WALK IT High Cup Nick is a geography teacher’s dream. It doesn’t matter how many hours you spend drawing diagrams of U-shaped valleys or watching AI-generated flythroughs – if you want to truly understand the awesome force nature plays in shaping a landscape, then get your walking boots on and seek out the spot above. High Cup Nick sits in that nice sweet spot when it comes to icons of the British countryside, in the sense most people have heard of it but few could tell you where it actually is. That’s because it isn’t…

THERE’S A REASON WHY, of all the 8 billion people on this planet, only 64 people have ever climbed to the top of the world’s 14 tallest mountains over 8000m. The chances of losing your life just on Annapurna 1, is one in three. Nanga Parbat has a death toll of 20%, K2 around 14%… So even if you do have the extraordinary physical ability required, the mountain skills, the dedication, drive and funding to face the world’s most extreme conditions, the chances of surviving it are stacked against you. It’s an extreme feat of endurance and survival. But aged just 23, Adriana Brownlee has become the youngest female and the first British woman to achieve it. A dream is born From childhood Adriana had set her sights on the…

Just imagine what Nature might think of us. Luckily for you, I have. Welcome to the world of humans. One of the obvious perks of working in the outdoor industry for very nearly three decades, is that you meet some fascinating characters. I trawled my book of contacts for help with this feature, and I thought I’d start at the top, by trying to get a few words out of Mother Nature herself. Me: “Mother Nature, good to see you again, I feel like I’ve known you forever. Do you get that response a lot?” MN: “To be honest Tom, no I don’t. While many of your wonderful people are interested in my various tribes – be that birds, butterflies or even lichens – not many of you consider that…

A hat for life The North Face Class V Reversible Bucket Hat £32 I love the mountains, for all sorts of reasons. But one you wouldn’t necessarily guess is because high up in the hills you can get away with wearing silly hats, there being few people around to laugh at you. Being a Gen X-er means I have a guilty fondness for a bucket hat. So imagine my delight when I found The North Face does a technical one. The best thing about it is that it doesn’t look technical, it just looks like quite a cool bucket hat. Style-wise I’m happy. I wild camp a lot, and hats are a useful tool for covering up tent hair. This hat also has the clever advantage of packing down into itself (it…

8 North Pennines HIGH MOORLAND 1 NY615373 From the village centre and with the Shepherd’s Inn on your left, follow the minor road south towards Ousby and Culgaith. When the road bends right, turn left along a dead-end lane. In a further 800m, this lane swings right – for Gale Hall. As it does so, keep straight ahead on a rough track. You eventually go through a gate on to access land and then climb, still on the clear track, to a gate in a wall. 2 NY637376 About 110m beyond this gate, the track bends sharp left (this bend is easy to miss). It then re-crosses the wall via another gate higher up the fell. About 180m beyond this gate, you crest a rise at Gate Castle. Turn sharp…

10 Galloway CASTLE, CLIFFS & HARBOUR 1 NW996542 From 16 Oct to 7 Feb you are requested to phone 01776 810219/810364 before accessing the Dunskey Glen wildlife conservation area at the north end of the route. Start at the north end of Portpatrick’s harbour (or large car park at its south end). Concrete steps lead up leftwards, then follow Southern Upland Way markers along cliff tops to descend on bare rock to the sandy beach at Port Mora. Here a wide path leads inland from the back of the bay. After a few steps, turn left on a narrow path around the steep slope above the sea to the shingle beach at Port Kale. 2 NW991552 Turn inland at a signpost, forking left on a wide path to right of…