I must sympathise with Jaakko. Based on “all 2pt hills and above
have a bonus”, from London it would seem I would now have to
travel at least 360 miles return trip to obtain a winter bonus.
Not so, Alan, you have forgotten the two Clee Hills. M40 - M42 to Bromsgrove, A488 to Kidderminster, A4117 through Bewdley to Clee village, 250 miles round trip plus distance from your QTH to the M40, 10 points total. Another 25 miles or so each way for Church Stretton and a drive on to near the summit of the Long Mynd is about 300 miles by that route, and of course another quarter hour or so gets you to the Stiperstones…and not too far after that you have Corndon Hill. An overnight in a B&B or hostel in the area and you can return home with 25 points.
A little more than your 360 miles but via the M4 and A470 gets you to the middle of the Brecon Beacons…
Yes, I was thinking that Dunkery Beacon SC-001, which I have done, was the closest 2-pointer. I’m about 10 miles from the M40 which makes a 270 mile round trip. So with petrol plus overnight stay, say £30 makes a total approaching £80 just to access 2 pointers…I’ll think I’ll probably just stay and sulk with my ‘local’ 1 pointers until my twice-yearly trip to the Yorkshire Dales comes round. (You just can’t please some people)
A couple of further points (no pun intended). Dunkery (a 2-pointer)in summer was a pretty ordinary sort of wander up to a quite pleasant summit although I am prepared to admit it might be a different kettle of crampons in the winter. Compare it to say Chanctonbury Hill SE-009 (1 pointer) which can be a pretty stiff climb up to the AZ. So comparing 1 and 2 pointers for the winter bonus does not really compare their accessibility. However as I appear to be a minority of one (point) on this topic I will not pursue it any further.
The other aspect is that perhaps we should be anyway considering and encouraging slightly more green approaches to SOTA (viz G3CWI and his bike) rather than burning up oil-wells to get to and from summits. I am not a ‘warmist’ and for some it must be an unrealistic option but trying a generally more ecological approach I have activated both Wilmington SE-011 and Cliffe Hill SE-014 travelling to the nearby towns by train. Indeed, Wendover Woods CE-005 is just two train stops beyond the end of the London Underground. Just a thought for 2011.
So with petrol plus overnight stay, say £30 makes a total approaching £80 just
to access 2 pointers.
Last March: Livingston>Kinlochbervie>Kyle of Lochalsh,Sconser>Arnish>Livingston + touring about 730miles. Petrol avg £1.24/ltr, 31mpg = 107ltr = £132.50. Hotels,food,beer = £274, Ferry £16.50
Total for 4 uniques and 5 points = £423.
But the cost is nothing compared to the fun I had!
Lots of mountains up here in GM-land compared to London. Lots of jobs, opportunities, transport infrastructure etc. in London compared to GM-land. Similarly Wales, Lake District etc.
You makes your choice where you live and you live with the consequences of your choice
MC&HNY to all, especially those in the prominence challenged regions of the world.
Andy
MM0FMF
(1/2 a day of work to go before time for a dram or three!)
One green approach is to join your local climbing club: if they are like the club that I am a member of, they have weekend meets in various mountain or climbing areas every fortnight or so, and members do a car share, splitting the cost of the fuel. It gets you a cheap weekend, too. I will be staying at the Barrow Clubs hut in the Coppermines valley near Coniston, right under an 8-pointer, and the cost will be £30 for 4 nights. They regard SOTA with tolerance as a harmless eccentricity - which I suppose it is!
Your point about comparing Dunkery Beacon and Chanctonbury Hill illustrates the difficulty of devising methods of scoring hills. If we went beyond mere altitude and started computing the difficulty of every summit then the AM or his assistants would have to personally inspect every route on every summit before allocating a score, which in a large Association could take a very long time!
Seriously OT: you can stop reading now as it’s not to do with Winter Bonus.
PS Andy - Slantje Mhath!
Just did a stock check considering that the shops are shut for 2 days. Lagavullin (16yr), Laphroaig (10yr), Balvenie (doublewood 12yr), MacAllen (10yr), Glenfarclas(10yr), Glen Livet (10yr) & Bruichlaiddich Rocks (non-vintage single malt). Mrs FMF just gave me a bottle of Southern Comfort and I gave her a bottle of Disaronno and a bottle of Tia Maria (special offer in Sainsburys)
I guess we’ll cope!
Serious time: the liqueurs will end up mainly in cooking and if 10% of that lot gets consumed over the 11days I have off then it’ll be because we’ve had guests.
