Scottish Winter Bivvy 10/12/22

[JimmyG]

All OK Phil, thanks. Just arrived back at my home for the night, my frozen van in Ballater. I’ve finally managed to prise the door open! I’ll post more tomorrow or more likely Tuesday but suffice it to say I’ve just spent my worst two days ever on a bike (or more accurately, pushing it through various depths of snow). I had the bothy to myself in the end. Nobody else daft enough, as my wife has just told me in no uncertain terms! If I had my time again would I have persevered? Er… No, I wouldn’t but once I’d committed and got so far in I had to bash on to the bothy if only just to get my soaking wet kit dried.

[redefined_cycles]

All OK Phil, thanks. Just arrived back at my home for the night, my frozen van in Ballater. I’ve finally managed to prise the door open! I’ll post more tomorrow or more likely Tuesday but suffice it to say I’ve just spent the worst two days on a bike (or more accurately, pushing it through various depths of snow). I had the bothy to myself in the end. Nobody else daft enough, as my wife has just told me in no uncertain terms! If I had my time again would I have persevered? Er… No I wouldn’t but once I’d committed and got so far in I had to bash on to the bothy if only just to get my soaking wet kit dried.

Really reallyglad you're ok Jimmy. Happiest news of the week (even happier than Morocco winning their match and that player celebrating on the ptich with his mum). and I'm so glad I was always taught to 'measure twice, cut once'. Lots of hot cups o tea now that you're back safely mate...

Bloody, 'up north'. Its not easy is it!!

[thenorthwind]

I got within 5km of Carpark by Loch Muick on Sat PM. A couple of 4 x 4s came down swimming through the snow, about dusk. One of them said it took 3 hours to get from the bothy to carpark on foot, they had bikes but said snow was thigh deep. So I camped in 50cm of snow and came down this morning. Glorious scenery . Last night there was a constant flump flump of snow coming off the trees. I went to sleep in a tent and woke in a snowhole. Road ploughed out last night about 6 pm, and again this morning. Lots of stuck cars on the loch Muick road and elsewhere. South Deeside road was single track on Saturday. Got my bike on the Ballater-Aberdeen bus and home safe. Glad everyones OK.

bloody hell. Well you certainly epitomised "winter bivvy".

Glad to hear you're home safe too Jimmy. Well done on getting to the bothy, must have felt like the promised land after the slog in!

[Verena]

That all sounds rather epic from "up there"...glad everyone is safe ...

Speaking of safe, and the awful news of those kids falling into the lake, when we were getting to Trefil Saturday afternoon, there were a few kids messing about with little motorbikes on a frozen pond, or hopefully just a shallow puddle, but still....

[JimmyG]

Really really glad you're ok Jimmy. Happiest news of the week (even happier than Morocco winning their match and that player celebrating on the ptich with his mum). and I'm so glad I was always taught to 'measure twice, cut once'. Lots of hot cups o tea now that you're back safely mate...

Bloody, 'up north'. Its not easy is it!!

Thanks for your concern Shaf. Very kind of you. All’s well that ends well, though. Please go easy on the Morocco praise, though mate. This old guy here has got a long memory and is still smarting from Scotland’s 3-0 defeat against them at the ‘98 World Cup! Seriously, though, great to see an African country pushing through to the latter stages of this year’s WC.

[JimmyG]

Glad to hear you're home safe too Jimmy. Well done on getting to the bothy, must have felt like the promised land after the slog in!

It certainly did Dave. I was actually surprised to find it empty (and no welcoming fire on ). I’d seen two ski tracks heading that way but on arrival at the bothy it became clear that it must have been one skier and he/she had circled the building and headed back the way they’d come!

[oakesme]

Sorry Jimmy G my home safe message was before you were accounted for. Glad you got back OK. Posted in haste while scoffing.

Max

[JimmyG]

Thanks Max but not a problem. Sounds like you had a bit of an adventure yourself. Good effort!

[fatbikephil]

Sounds like one for the history books, glad you are OK Jimmy and looking forward to the tale!
Jan 14th/15th for a rematch? We could even make it a mini Scottish 'winter event'

[oakesme]

First attempt at adding photos...

The Glen Muick Road as I joined it after camping out. The hump in the road is the underside profile of a VW Transporter 4motion.
Sunday AM, 9 in the morning, about 1 km down the public road from the carpark.
IMG_20221211_101120 by max oakes, on Flickr

The same location showing my footprints from my campsite at the edge of the woods:
IMG_20221211_101125 by max oakes, on Flickr

I guess it was below minus 5 at the time.

I might have tried for the bothy if I had known it was going to get snowploughed on the Sunday, but got more worried about not getting out than getting in. Can you get inflatable snowshoes?

I'd rather camp in crisp clean still snow than mud and rain any day.

[Taylor]

https://smallfoot.eu/
OMG I didn’t know these were a thing!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Can't help thinking I'd be away and out of control on anything resembling a downward gradient - sounds like great fun

[ScotRoutes]

Yeah- a crampon adjacent to an inflatable bag. Can't imagine anything going wrong there.

[Verena]

First attempt at adding photos...

The Glen Muick Road as I joined it after camping out. The hump in the road is the underside profile of a VW Transporter 4motion.
Sunday AM, 9 in the morning, about 1 km down the public road from the carpark.
IMG_20221211_101120 by max oakes, on Flickr

The same location showing my footprints from my campsite at the edge of the woods:
IMG_20221211_101125 by max oakes, on Flickr

I guess it was below minus 5 at the time.

I might have tried for the bothy if I had known it was going to get snowploughed on the Sunday, but got more worried about not getting out than getting in. Can you get inflatable snowshoes?

I'd rather camp in crisp clean still snow than mud and rain any day.

Wow, that looks impressive!!

[fatbikephil]

Brilliant Max. Definitely a ski job though....
I'd end up stabbing those snow shoes with my walking pole. Nice idea though. Maybe better off with a carbon tennis racket head and some cable ties!

[JimmyG]

I’ve finally found time to write up my Scottish Winter Bivvy experience. And an experience it certainly was. As mentioned earlier in the SWB thread, I arrived in Ballater the day before the planned bothy meet. I then drove to the Spittal of Glen Muick car park and walked the 3 miles in to the bothy to stash a bag of dry firewood nearby. At that point there was a good covering of snow but it was barely a few inches deep.

Ballater Yarn Bomber strikes again by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Back in Ballater, the temperatures dropped as the evening wore on and after a belly-warming meal in the town’s Indian restaurant, I spent the night buried under two winter sleeping bags in the back of my (non-insulated) van. As it happens, I actually enjoyed a pretty comfortable night’s sleep.

Ballater Bedroom by Jimmy G, on Flickr

In the morning I emerged to find a lot more snow had fallen overnight. After breakfast in a local caff I sorted myself, my bike and gear out in the comfort of the centrally heated public toilet! As I said in a previous post on this thread, I had my fat bike stolen a month ago so had no choice but to go with my hardtail MTB and its 2.2” tyres. In other words, I was just about to take a knife to a gunfight. Oh well…

Soon after the start by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Brief lull in the snowfall by Jimmy G, on Flickr

I set off later than intended, at around 1 pm, and apart from a brief lull after a couple of hours, it snowed incessantly until I finally reached the bothy at 9.45 pm. Initially the going had been reasonably OK as long as I was riding on the A road from Ballater and then the minor road on which Glen Muick residents had recently driven. However, once I passed the last estate gate before heading into the glen proper, it became obvious that no vehicles had passed that way and I knew I had a long push (literally) ahead of me. It was at this point I began wishing I had my snowshoes and poles instead of a bike with me. That option would've actually been quite pleasant!

Un-Aero Wheels! by Jimmy G, on Flickr

At around the 10-mile point I arrived at the northern end of Loch Muick and the boathouse that I knew from my previous visit to the area. I had my first real rest here and took a load of food and liquid on board. I also put on my Endura primaloft gilet under my Goretex jacket because as the temperature plummeted, I was starting to feel cold for the first time. Given that the snow showed no signs of abating and if anything was getting heavier and wetter, I did briefly consider spending the night here but it was too open to the elements and I really wanted to get to a fire to dry out my jacket, etc. In any case, I reasoned, it’s only another 2 miles to the bothy – how hard can it be? In the event, it proved to be very hard indeed.

The trudge along the lochside track seemed interminable and was made worse by wind-driven damp snow making it difficult to see very far. In places the snowdrifts were almost up to my knees. Anyway, I finally reached the bothy at 9.45 pm, a rather tired individual.

I should mention the ski tracks I’d seen ahead of me on the trail, left by one or maybe two skiers. However, on arrival at the bothy I saw that the tracks veered off to the right towards the tree line. I remember thinking “Surely they’re not camping in the woods instead of the bothy?” It was only the following morning that I saw that in fact one skier must have gone all the way round the lodge and skied back the way they’d come.

As I got closer to the bothy it became clear that there were in fact no tracks at all heading to the entrance, a discreet doorway down a little alley towards the rear of the royal lodge. So with me being the first to arrive, the welcoming fire I’d been looking forward to wasn’t to be. On the plus side, having the place to myself did mean I could festoon my kit all around the place in an effort to get everything dry. The wood provided by the estate turned out to be damp but I was able to get the fire started with the dry wood I’d brought in two days before. It wasn’t quite so easy next morning, though, when I’d used up my wood and had to battle for a bit to get the provided wood to catch alight.

Got there eventually! by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Next day I still had to finish drying some kit (which took a while) plus basically I was reluctant to leave the comfort of the bothy!

Glas-Alt-Shiel Lodge in the morning by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Loch Muick by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Loch Muick by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Grinch! by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Fortunately no more snow had fallen but nevertheless it took me 5 hours to trudge 3 miles to the Spittal of Glen Muick car park. I’d seen the snow plough the previous evening and reasoned that the road to Ballater option had to be at least easier than the snow-bound track I'd gone in on. It was a slow, laborious trek, involving being almost waist deep in virgin snow near the boathouse at the northern end of the loch. Unlike the day before, I was determined not to get a sweat on and content myself with just making gradual progress.

Here we go again... by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Reached Terra Firma by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Finally, as I’d hoped, I arrived to find the car park public toilets were open and felt to me like an oasis in the middle of the desert! I lingered there for ages taking full advantage of the hot water and hand drier! As luck would have it, I exited the toilets at just the right time to bump into two friendly cops who happened to be there to investigate a fallen tree at the car park entrance. They offered me a lift back to Ballater and I’m not ashamed to admit I didn’t battle long with the dilemma of whether to accept or not. “Yes, please” was my answer!

When I got back to Ballater the eating places had unfortunately closed but I was happy to make do with a couple of pints and a couple of packets of crisps in a pub. After that it was another night spent in my van. Not too bad actually and I was surprised to learn that the overnight temperature in the area had dropped to -15.

Well, that all certainly made for a bit of an adventure to round off this year BAM series. In summary, that’s 12/12 for this year and 60 consecutive BAMs. I’ve no reason to stop there and my intention is to crack on with more of the same next year.

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks for writing that up Jimmy. Loved the pics which feels like 'postcards from the edge'. Solid effort, determination and stupidity...

[JimmyG]

Yep Shaf. That’s me!

[Verena]

Quite the epic!!

[sean_iow]

What a trip! I'm am both jealous of the conditions you had and grateful we didn't have them in equal measures. Looks amazing but tough. Would a fat bike have made it much easier?

[JimmyG]

Good question Sean. I’d certainly not have been reduced to walking quite so soon but as the snow got deeper and damper I’d not have been able to keep riding it all. However, even if I’d have been forced to push the bike, the fatter tyres would’ve been much less likely to dig in. Right now I’m having flashbacks of my loaded front end and it’s ‘skinny’ tyre constantly wanting to nosedive into the snow as I tried to move forward. Oh, and I will be buying a replacement fat bike when funds permit!

[benp1]

That looks epic!

Literally had no snow down here, very jealous

How on earth did you fit yourself and the bike in with the police? Was it a van?

[thenorthwind]

May not have been the best ride, but it's quite the story! When was the last time your night out ended up with a trip in the back of a police van?

[JimmyG]

How on earth did you fit yourself and the bike in with the police? Was it a van?

It was a long wheelbase Landrover. Had to take both wheels off but well worth the effort!

[JimmyG]

May not have been the best ride, but it's quite the story! When was the last time your night out ended up with a trip in the back of a police van?

No comment!