GM/ES Winter Activity Day Friday 6th March 2026

This!

I am the same with my older Etrex Vista HCx. I bought one new in 2008 and picked up a used from eBay for coppers 2016 or so. Simply because it did everything I needed for SOTA/walking and I had muscle memory on how to use it. I use the newer one now as the original’s joystick is a bit worn. The only failure is it has a small screen and I have mid-60s eyes so I can’t read it without glasses anymore. Gerald’s @g4oig GPS Map 64 (I think) has bigger most gorgeous screen.

For me it works in atrocious conditions, I can operate it when wearing fleece+Thinsulate gloves, it’s accuracy and speed of acquisition is brilliant. And… it runs for a good 18+ hrs on 2 Ikea LADDA 2450 NiMH cells. No Lithium batteries to loose lots of performance when it’s cold! Garmin produced software updates so both of mine have the latest firmware and will work till 2038 before the dates get screwed up again. I’ll be nearly 80 by then if I’m blessed to still be here!

I have 1:25k HD OS mapping on my phone + OSM maps and it gets used a little in the UK but mainly stays safely in a bag/pocket until I need to spot etc. A phone (previous phone) is used a lot for navigating in Europe as I only do European summits in excellent weather and a phone’s inability to work when damp or with moisture on the screen is not an issue.

It was the wise decision for me to call off but I did miss the post activation meet up. Most looking forward to the re-scheduled event. A momentous week the beginning of March; Monday is a Bombay style breakfast session with my retired colleagues in Edinburgh…may end up with beer later on. :curry_rice: :beer: :india: Something important on the Wed which I’m involved with but can’t remember now :open_mouth: :thinking: and the Braemar event on Friday :mount_fuji: :cupcake: :hot_beverage: :man_walking:

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Even if it stops snowing tomorrow, there will be plenty left for you in March. I haven’t seen a snow pack like this in years.

Driving in yesterday, I did consider what I’d do if the snow gates on the Gairnshiel to Crathie road were closed. I’d have little choice in the time available and was probably looking at a quick ascent of GM/ES-067 Creag Ghiubhais, for the second time in a month!

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This was on a WX forecast last night. The average rainfall for Fraser’s part of the world is around 80mm in January. January 2026 that figure was 250mm, 4x the average. For February the average is 55mm. After 6 days that figure is 80mm. So an unusually wet NE of Scotland this year.

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The winter ES face (in the rain on ES-078)

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Thanks for the S2S this morning, and well done for nabbing Craigendarroch on 2m. No mean feat!

This will be my standard summit selfie until the weather improves:


the ES grimace

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Or were you anticipating the rugby?

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