Keep warm on a summit

Would this be a good way to keep warm on a cold summit, in the winter months,
Just click the link,

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=47715&C=Newsletter&U=08P11-1FP&T=[ID]]

Steve m0sgb

In reply to M0SGB:
Interesting post i know im looking at ways to keep warm if the rain holds off at the weekend. Sean

In reply to M0GIA:

Forgive me if I stick to tried and trusted layering schemes produced by respected companies! :wink:

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to M0SGB:
What band does that tune up on then !!!

In reply to M0EAF:
not sure on the band, but hope the f=layer is ok,

(tonge in cheekefore anyone says anything)

Andy anything that keeps us warm on a cold summit, must Be good but No harm in trying these garments , wonder who will the first sota activator to test it, hi hi,

Steve m0sgb

In reply to M0SGB :

Andy anything that keeps us warm on a cold summit, must Be good

So take some firewood and firelighters then! :slight_smile:

How many watts are they? Judging by reading motorbike reviews, jackets that consume 100W are next to useless. 12V @ 10A = 120W. So, according to reviews, 100W isn’t any good. 200W would be nearer 20A. That’s a big battery. I don’t know about you but I find carrying batteries for the radio heavy enough without having to take more for my clothes!

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

I assume that they keep you warmer by reducing the heat losses by a thermal blanket effect rather than by producing excess heat. Thus the output of the jacket only needs to equal or exceed slightly the heat loss of the body/insulation system. According to the site you switch it on when you feel cold and switch it off again when you have warmed up; they say it gives about 40-odd minutes of continuous heating on one set of batteries. You can get 6 volt SLABs that would power it for longer with a bit of modification.

A motorcyclist expends little energy and will cool down much faster than a walker who is expending a lot of energy, hence the high power demand of heated clothing for motorcyclists. For an activation a heated vest would probably only be needed during the summit stay, if you get cold on the way up after the first half kilometre you can assume that the summit will be really inhospitable and you should really turn back - though I doubt many would!

The price seems reasonable, I bet someone tries it soon!

73

Brian G8ADD

In reply to MM0FMF:
I would have thought that some kind of shelter from wind and rain would be better? If so then what do others use for shelter? Sean

Bothy bags are quite good to keeper warmer and drier while activating. Jimmy hates ours though, and I usually find it is more bearable to be wet and cold than to listen to his constant whinging.

With some degree of wind on the summits, you can usually keep fairly sheltered using whatever is up there - a stone cross-shelter, a topograph (I usually sit with my back to the one on The Cloud in a morning, after assessing the direction of the wind and hence which of the four sides of it to lean against) or a wall.

Without a wall or structure on the summit, the hill itself can be used. We often drop off slightly in lee of the prevailing wind and gain shelter like that.

But the best way to keep warm on a summit, by far, without doubt, is a big litre flask of hot tasty soup! Not chicken or mushroom or tomato, but something way out like lobster or celery & stilton or mulligatawny. Or even (thanks to LA1KHA) Norwegian Fisksuppe!

I’m even thinking of starting to take a small flask up with me up Cloud in a morning for breakfast - it was nippy up there today!

Tom M1EYP

In reply to M1EYP:
I have a Bothy Bag but only use it as a last resort its usually very noisy either from wind flap or the rain bouncing off it. I also have an ex mod poncho which keeps the wind off and is waterproof. If it gets really bad I just pull the hood string tight and duck inside it. It even has eye holes around the bottom edge for tent pegs.
Getting back on topic Susan made a pea soup out of frozen peas yesterday with a bit of basil from the garden. I found it a bit bland until I stirred in some chilli paste. That will certainly keep you warm Tom.

Roger G4OWG

In reply to G4OWG:
Im thinking ahead here with Sunday fast approaching, how does putting a small tent up say somewhere like Gun go down with who ever the land belongs to?
Not wanting to upset anyone i think its best to see how others have gone about it.
Soup oh yes … Chilli paste? I have a tub of curry powder here in front of me it goes in everything. Funny though we have the highest staff turn over in this dept! Sean

In reply to G4OWG:

I agree Roger, Bothy bags are an item of last resort. Mine lives permanently in the rucksack as an aid to survival, not as a shelter during an activation. I must admit to having been tempted on two occasions to use it - once on Foel Goch GW/NW-039 in horizontal driving snow and the other time on The Cheviot G/SB-001 when it was extremely cold with a wind chill of about minus 10 degrees - my pizza froze and lunch had to be delayed until I got off the hill.

Frank G3RMD uses a golfing umbrella which is a good idea, though I have been out in windy conditions when it would have been impossible to get one open. I suppose we should question why we carry out activations under such conditions… all who are guilty say I… well, that goes for me!

Clothing wise, a layering system must be optimum. An impervious outer layer is essential, but even the best of breathable materials seem not to be fully effective. I am looking to replace my old, tatty and regularly rewaterproofed anorak, so any recommendations would be welcome.

As for soup, generally it gets left in the car due to the weight of the flask… perhaps it should be decanted into a lightweight insulated container before ascent, leaving some for a top up on return to the car.

Gerald

In reply to M1EYP:
In my experience there are not many hills with stone cross-shelters or topographs, cairns are more frequently met with, but they can be a substantial structure one year and a spread of stones another year, and the same goes for ring shelters - it seems that there are quite a few people with philosophical objections to man-made structures on the top of hills! Sheltering in the lee of the hill subjects you to flukey and powerful gusts which can come from any direction including straight down!

Frankly, if the wind is strong enough to make it difficult to stand up in it, it will probably produce the occasional gust that you just cannot stand up in, I have been blown flat on a number of occasions, and on one occasion on Aran Fawddwy I was blown down and rolled across the ground by a severe gust, fetching up against the fence above the crags. In such conditions I wouldn’t even stop long enough to make a smash-and-grab activation with a handheld (if I owned one!)

One thing I take issue with, Tom; years ago I tried hot soup and after a few outings abandoned it. The problem is that soup then contained a quantity of salt, perhaps it still does, and with plenty of the day left and more summits to traverse I found myself a martyr to thirst! It seemed better to carry a litre of hot tea and get my calories from the humble butty! Of course, with the usual chain of activations linked with car journeys this might not be a problem, but I definately would not recommend it on a sustained mountain expedition.

73

Brian G8ADD

I am looking to replace my old, tatty and regularly rewaterproofed anorak, so any recommendations would be welcome.

In reply to G4OIG:

I can recommend waterproofs from Paramo - I`ve never had a leak yet. The water beads up on the outside of the jacket. When you get back to the car, shake the jacket, the water falls off then its dry enough to throw in the car boot.

Steve.

Exactly how many spice junkies are there in SOTA then? Jimmy has a jar of dried chilli pieces on the dining tables, and he puts it on virtually everything.

The tent - if it was a small and temporary thing (ie, like an antenna is), I imagine it would be OK on Gun, which is hardly the busiest of places. You couldn’t do it on The Cloud, which is National Trust, or Shining Tor which often has National Park rangers passing over it on a Saturday. A bothy bag would probably be OK on those though.

I might go down Camp 4 on Saturday morning to see if they have any 4-man bothy bags in, that would more comfortably accommodate Jimmy and myself than our current 2-man. Macc are at home Saturday afternoon, so like you, I’m looking at Sunday for doing some SOTA in the CQWW SSB.

Again, we could have two stations running, mine on 80 and 40, yours on 20 and 15 and periodically swap over. Jimmy can take his own logbook. I doubt Liam will be coming, unless he’s better and it’s a really nice day. Will Tash and Dan be with you?

Tom M1EYP

In reply to G8ADD:
Aldi somtimes sell those gell hand warmers a couple of those in your jacket would work and they last around an hour, the beauty of these is they can be reused many times and only a couple of quid for two of them, they should be stocking then shortly apparently.

rich (M0EAF)

In reply to M1EYP:
In that case i have a fairly old 2 man dome tent that has a small foot print and i will check it out before hand. 2stations would be good but i think the DX would be on the higher bands. A 2m/70cm would be a good idea as we could monitor repeaters etc to see what stations are where on the bands.

Got some of those hand warmers yes there very good im sure with a good hot soup and tub of Madras powder i could send smoke signals as well as RF.
Daniel is at camp with Cubs but Tash might join us i know she gets on well with Liam, play it by ear. Sean

In reply to M0EAF:
Aldi somtimes sell those gell hand warmers a couple of those in your jacket would work and they last around an hour, the beauty of these is they can be reused many times and only a couple of quid for two of them, they should be stocking then shortly apparently.

rich (M0EAF)

Hi Rich M0EAF,

A couple of years ago me and M3DNC, uesed these gell warmers, i still have some in the attic, once used you boil them and the crystals desolved and can be used again, think i will go and root around and put them on flickr.com then onto hear, for everyone to see,

Steve m0sgb

In reply to M0SGB:
just uploaded a photo of my pocket hand warmers in the photo section on here for you too look at, (chuckle)

Steve m0sgb

I just did some checking and these hand warmers are too cheap to not have some in the armoury. I was also curious about the chemistry so I found this…

Steve GW7AAV