My thanks to Gibson McGeachie for sending me the above image of an avalanche. This was taken on the 12th January this year in the relatively low-lying hills of the Ochils, north-east of Stirling. I think this image well illustrates the fact that avalanches can occur in any hill range and not just on the big hills.
Only a few days before I saw this photograph I watched a hillwalker traverse below an obvious area of windslab on Ben Wyvis in Easter Ross. Thankfully he didn’t set off an avalanche but he was lucky. I recall being avalanched myself away back in the 70’s in Coire Laoigh Mor in the Cairngorms - not an experience I’d want to repeat.
I wonder if the current generation of hillwalkers are largely unaware of the potential avalanche danger, mainly because of the run of mild winters we’ve experienced recently? Here in the Scottish highlands we’ve had a return to proper winter weather and, while I welcome it, I’m aware I’ve had to brush up on some old skills. Yesterday I was making a television feature for BBC Scotland’s Adventure Show and I had to wear crampons for virtually the whole ascent, and descent, of Ben Wyvis in Easter Ross. While the cold weather undoubtedly brings risk, here’s hoping it continuous for a while longer…

So far so good. To date we’ve had the best winter in Scotland for years and I’ve been making the most of it. Last weekend I climbed Meall an Fhudair, a Corbett near Crianlarich, in pretty mixed conditions. I intended staying in the area overnight but torrential rain moved me on so I drove up to Braes of Foss in Perthshire and spent the night in my old camper van below Schiehallion. Next morning the conditions were unbelievable. Clear skies, bitterly cold and snow on the hill from tip to toe! It was fantastic. On the upper reaches of the hill it felt quite ethereal walking among the weird wind sculpted shapes and as I left the summit I was treated to a spectacular Brocken Spectre - the sun casting my shadow on the mists below creating a great multi-hued halo effect. I made a short video on that climb and you can find it on the TGO website at www.tgomagazine.co.uk. The photo is of Loch Tummel and the distant Atholl hills from Schiehallion.
Yesterday was another amazing day of clarity and snow covered hills. I went to Ben Wyvis in Easter Ross and climbed the hill in some of the best snow conditions I’ve walked in for years. There will be another video uploaded on to the TGO site later this week.
Don’t get too excited by these reports though - as I write it’s pouring with rain and the snow is being washed off the hills like suds in a car wash. Having said that, the Met Office is suggesting it might snow again during the week - and I’m off to the Lake District tomorrow for a couple of days, although the immediate forecast is for rain, not snow!

Ten years after it was first broadcast by BBC the first series of Wilderness Walks is currently being repeated on UKTV Gardens - Channel 258.
Today (Tuesday) the first of the programmes, in which I travel to the Isle of Mull with erstwhile MP and Munro bagger Chris Smith, has been shown four or five times and tomorrow the programme with Polar expert Matty McNair on Canada’s Baffin Island will be shown several times. I assume the rest of the series will be broadcast on consecutive days this week.
If nothing else I guess Wilderness Walks gives UKTV Garden viewers an opportunity to see some wilder landscapes than their backyards, and some might say offers an alternative to their normal compost!

I’ve been really impressed with the Caldera Cone meths stove from AntiGravity Gear, an American company. The stoves can be bought at Winwood Outdoor in Keswick.
Many years ago I was an affirmed Trangia user and while these Swedish stoves still offer great value for money they are pretty heavy in terms of the lighter weight gear we expect today. One of the great joys of the Trangia was that you could use it in windy conditions and that it operated without the industrial roar of petrol stoves. The Caldera Cone operates in much the same way.
A sheet of aluminium is coiled round into a cone shape and clips simply together to make the windshield. The pot is then placed into the top opening (you can get different sizes of pots and cones, but they must fit each other). I’ve been using AntiGravity Gear’s 700ml non-stick aluminium pot.
The stove itself, a simple cola-can meths stove, sits inside the cone and when lit heats up a litre of water in pretty quick time. The last time I used it, the temperature was about -2C and 500ml of water took about 4 minutes to reach boiling point. You can’t really simmer with the Caldera Cone but using a pot cozy allows food to cook effectively.
This is a very lightweight unit - the stove itself weighs a mere 15g and the Cone weighs about 32g. You also really need a pot grab to lift the pot from the Cone and it’s worth bearing in mind that meths is comparatively heavy and expensive compared with other fuels, but not restrictively so.
I carry the Caldera Cone with the Cone flat against my back in the pack - I slide it down inside the rehydration pouch – and I carry the stove unit inside the pot, inside a pot cozy, inside a plastic bag.
I’m told that Antigravity Gear now sells a plastic mug in which you can roll up the Cone inside. Other developments that are on their way from AntiGravity Gear include a stove that burns twigs etc.
In short, the Caldera Cone meths stove is efficient, lightweight and simple. It burns silently and effectively and I guess it’s become my stove of choice now.

I wonder what 2008 will bring? I’ll certainly be hoping for better weather. Last year was memorable for being a complete wash-out, although my wife Gina and I walked from Fort William to Cape Wrath in wonderful weather. I think we only had two hours of rain in two weeks. That walk reinforced a notion that I’ve held for some time – in good weather Scotland is the most beautiful country in the world.

I had a bit of a global warming conscience in the past year and didn’t travel abroad too much - only a week in Jordan’s Wadi Rum in the spring, but I’m afraid I’ve badly missed my annual Autumn trek. I think I’ll be heading to Nepal next autumn – some friends are planning to climb some trekking peaks. All going well I’ll join them.

We certainly have big plans for TGO Magazine for 2008 too – more podcasts and more videos on our website, and plenty of good ideas on the go for the magazine itself. Some good new writers on board too - Dan Bailey, a young mountaineer who writes extremely well and ultralightweight enthusiast Eddy Meechan whose base pack weight is normally less than 5 lbs - and that’s in UK conditions, not the dry, warm conditions of sunny California.

On top of that lot I’m hoping to make a few DVDs featuring Scottish walks, as well as making some more DVDs in the Lake District for Striding Edge as I’ve been doing over the past couple of years. And I’ll be continuing my Wild Walks slot on BBC Scotland’s Adventure Show.

On another level I must make an effort to complete my third round of the Munros; get on with the Corbetts book project I’ve been working on for ages and, hopefully, climb a 20,000+ foot peak in Nepal. Also hoping to work on a big television project. Can’t say too much about that at the moment as it’s still at the proposal stage but it’s a project that will certainly test me in more ways than one!

The only challenge left is to keep this website up and running and on that note many, many thanks to all of you who have contributed and commented over the last year. You’ve no idea how encouraging it is to know that someone is actually reading the stuff, listening to the podcasts and watching the videos. Have a great year yourself and may all your outdoor ambitions come to fruition.