evening…
i am planning on doing some solo winter stuff this year (next month) hopefully in the snow, nowhere particularly tech (dark peak) as its my first winter outing for a few years and it’ll take a while for all the skills to filter back… so apart from the glaring obvious equipment what are your top tips for essential items on the hills in winter?

Cheers

Tell us what you count as glaringly obvious and it’ll be easier to make suggestions

A Teddy Bear! Candelabra. and a tablecloth! Everything else is glaringly obvious safety equipment and pretty mundane.

Ham, pease pudding and mustard sandwiches and a flask with nonalcoholic mulled wine in. Spicy bell peppers stuffed with cheese also good. Buff, spare gloves (mitts are way better when cold, with very thin liner gloves underneath). Bubble wrap/cut section of foam mat to sit on.

this is stw so i was hoping to avoid the tent, sleeping bag etc. i will be taking depending on conditions… all the usual solo camping/hiking stuff. if its snowy i will take my ice axe (possibly crampons if its been very icy) and extra insulation etc. just wondered if you lot had any pearls of wisdome! i do like the flask of non alcoholic mulled wine idea… tho i will likely do mulled apple juice!

Rusty Nail and good gaiters

Flask of course with favourite tipple be it hot tea or toddie

Sit mat!

Spare pair of dry socks just in case, can make all the difference on a very long walk.

Peanut butter sandwiches.

probably falling into a trap here.. Rusty nail???
Malvern rider.. as a postie one of my winter mantras is “warm dry socks” kind of goes through my head as i do my deliveries 🙂

I find a compass and map to be vaguely useful, particularly when you can’t see your hand in front of your face. But you might not need one if you “know” where you’re going 🙂 (someone actually said that to me as I tried to stop them walking down gardyloo gully on the Ben.)

I’d not go hill walking anywhere without a map and compass, even if i dont look at it and it says in my bag there is always one there. besides i love looking at maps

More spare batteries than you expect for head torch.
Spare thin gloves and socks – you will get wet hands and feet. Lots of gloves.
Goggles on windy days – the ability to snug in under hood/hat/buff without exposing skin is ace.
A water bottle you can put hot water in, wrap your wet socks round and use a hot water bottle, and drink the w water next day.

Get some clear sticky-backed plastic and “laminate” your map with it. It’ll stay in one piece when wet and is easier to handle than a mapcase. If you don’t mind the expense cut up your map into smaller sections that need less folding (I print all mine of OSGETAMAP these days).

Get a clicker/counter/tally wheel. Either attach it to your compass or have it handy in a pocket. Use it for helping to keep a track of paces (one click per 100 metres).

I’d not go hill walking anywhere without a map and compass, even if i don’t look at it and it says in my bag there is always one there. besides i love looking at maps

This.

Recommended on here a while back, as a result of which I bought a couple, this is essential:
https://airdrierambler.wordpress.com/reviews/gear-reviews/on-the-go-flask/
Not sure if they still have them, but really worth a look. Amazingly efficient, if you use just off boiling water, it stays blisteringly hot for ages; I put a green tea bag in mine and fill it from our boiling water tap at work at 8am, and it’s still perfectly drinkable six or seven hours later. I put cold water in the other one in the summer.
Unbeatable for the money.

Scotroutes just reminded me, I also have some wee Naismiths rule/timing/pacing charts laminated and with spare compass, for days when my brain stops working…

good call on the batteries, i always forget them. as for laminated maps i dont really like them but use them in winter, and ive never got on with clickers or tally thingys

I also take old karrimat to go under thermarest for hp warmth boost.

Spare batteries? For a walk in the Peak?

overnight in the peak… its dark up there, plus i’ll have my kindle without backlight!
i was going to take my z-light… bloody useless on its own but good under the thermarest

overnight

Fairy nuff.

I find the bought laminated maps far too inflexible and bulky. That’s why I do my own. DO you have any tricks for remembering pacing numbers in lieu of a counter (some folk use knots on a rope or sweeties in a pocket).

Hot water in the flask. Trivial extra chore to add coffee or chocolate from a sachet but you get to choose and if you don’t drink it all you have some warm water if you fancy a wash at the car 😆

DO you have any tricks for remembering pacing numbers in lieu of a counter

Fingers.

Overnight – apart from all the regular nav, insulation, sleep and shelter essentials there is only one thing I wouldn’t be without:

Freeplay Companion wind-up radio/torch

Best birthday gift to date (along with Victorinox Swiss Champ!)

not really a trick, just a trick mind… i always know where north is and i can pretty accurately judge a k to a few meters. always could do it and it annoyed the crap out of he scout leaders and ml instructors when i did!!

Fingers.

You don’t walk very far, do you? 😉

I can count on 1 hand the number of times I’ve had to pace more than a few hundred metres.

5 cord locks on the lanyard of your compass also works.

+1 for that little flask that count zero linked. Find it hella handy. Picked mine up from Morrisons in Swansea for three squids, still going strong after a year.