Latest News From Mountain Innovations
Improvements at Fraoch Lodge.
Granite Cladding
We are presently having the gable end of the property clad in granite so it’s in keeping with the older part of the property. It’s all coming together very nicely. Andy has planed down some old railway sleepers for the lintels.
Improving our Green Credentials.
With 80% of our courses and holidays running from Gold Award accredited accommodation we are already one of the most environmentally responsible walking holiday companies operating. Both Mountain Innovations and Fraoch Lodge have achieved GTBS Gold Awards yet conscious of the fact that so much is dependant on oil, we are always striving to be greener.
We have now installed a waste food digester. Our Green Johanna allows us to compost cooked food without the worry of attracting animals like rats. It’s basically a completely enclosed compost bin with an insulating jacket to retain the heat to allow the more rapid breakdown. Innovatively the old crumbling lime mortar that came along with the granite has been added to the Green Johanna. This should neutralize the acids that result from the breakdown process and further increase the rate of breakdown. It also means the mortar doesn’t need to be transported off site to be dealt with.
We have also teamed up with local waste reclaim company Ritchie’s.It has allowed us to increase our recycling to include e.g. a greater variety of plastics, treated and composite timber waste, etc. The added environmental benefit is that recycling activities have a lower carbon footprint.
Highland Council are also now providing the important facility for recycling low energy light bulbs as they contain mercury compounds.
Of course the vast majority of our heating (water and room) is provided by wood fuel through our wood pellet boiler, wood burning stove and open fire.
“Using wood to heat homes and businesses in the Cairngorms National Park could cut fuel bills by up to two thirds, boost the local economy and shrink residents' carbon footprints. A new website www.lowcarboncairngorms.org which highlights ways in which the Park's abundant natural wood resource can be harnessed more effectively, has been given the thumbs up by local businesses and sector leaders.”
Late availability:
Midsummer Cairngorm Backpacking – escape football, escape to a Mountains.
If you’re fed up with all the hype around the World Cup, want to totally escape the hullabaloo of modern day living and really immerse yourself in the mountain wilderness, then this might be the trip you’re after.
Surrounded by mountains throughout the day, you see them at their best in the soft light of early morning and in the setting sun of the long evenings. Self sufficient and independent, we’re able to venture deep into the Cairngorm National Park for some of the best high level wilderness backpacking Britain has to offer. Our 3 day route takes us over the high mountains of Ben A’an (Avon) and Beinn a’ Bhuird.
Find out more…
New Holidays & Courses:
Mountains & Malts
Grade 2, 5 days walking, arr Sun 26th Sept, dep Sat 2nd October 2010.
Whilst others make a beeline for the highest peaks we venture onto some of the best, yet ignored tops of the Cairngorm National Park. This is where we have grandstand views and the mountains to ourselves. These innovative routes take us up hidden glens, Cairngorm “Shangri-La’s”, the very places illicit stills were once secreted away. The idea with this holiday is that you have the opportunity to finish each day with a malt whiskey in front of a roaring fire. The week starts with a
tasting and a visit to a distillery. To find out more …
Night Navigation Weekend - give your mountain navigation a real boost
For many, when it comes to mountain navigation, it’s bad visibility they fear. Getting lost is usually the result of an error in either distance or direction becoming greater than the range of visibility. The result is the objective is missed and with no idea of how they’ve gone wrong and hence how to proceed on, they feel lost.
This course provides an excellent equivalent to operating in bad weather making it well suited to both those who are planning to take a mountain leader assessment as well as those who want to be confident in the mountains come what may.
All the important compass and distance estimation skills (timing & pacing) are covered and improved but there is also an emphasis on contour interpretation skills where a lack of visibility might encourage you to ignore these vitally important techniques.
So why are understanding contours so crucial?
It greatly increases the number of features (way-marking points) you can recognise. The more of these you can recognise the shorted your legs (section of route between way points) can be and in so doing any error tends to be kept to within the range of visibility.
It’s also contour interpretation that invariably gives early warning that you’ve drifted off your bearing or whether you have gone far enough.
This well balanced course, approaches accurate mountain navigation from 3 directions:
1. employing a number of techniques and skills so there is less reliance on the absolute accuracy of a few,
2. to increase the accuracy of the individual techniques and skills,
3. use of techniques and methods that reduce the effect of error on your overall navigation accuracy.
The result is a rapid increase in your confidence and ability
This course has been scheduled to run on the first weekend in December so as to avoid late nights & disruption to your sleep pattern.
So come and join us for the 4
th & 5
th Dec, learn to navigate in bad visibility and give yourself a great boost in confidence.
Find out more
Cairngorm Ridge-walking (26th – 30th July,2010)
If you want to get high and see the Cairngorms at their most dramatic then read on. We trace the natural lines of the Cairngorm Massif: high plateau edge, mountain ridge, skyline traverse. We follow them all, starting and finishing at different locations.
Find out more …
1 last place on Superlative Skye (5th – 10th September)
Skye offers some sensational walking besides the scary ridges of the Black Cuillin. This trip takes in the bizarre landscapes forming the backbone of the Trotternish Penisular. We visit the famous areas of the Quirang and the Old Man of Storr as well as the Red Cuillin for the most dramatic mountain scenery Britain has to offer. We have now booked the
Kilbride House, near Uig for this holiday. Find out more…
Putting Something back: Wildlife monitoring.
Winter round up
This last winter was a remarkable one on a number of fronts up here in the Highlands. We had a whole heap of snow of course, about 6 -7 feet in total down here in Boat of Garten with a lot more up on the mountains. It accumulated to a depth of over 3 meters high up on the ski slopes with an incredible depth in some of the snow-hole sites. In fact there are a number of places where the snow is going to last until next winter and as we approach the longest day the ski season has only just finished on Cairngorm! It has been the best ski season for 20 years.
We also had a lot of fine weather and combined with a deep carpet of snow on the ground and trees many days did have a winter wonderland feel to them. Compared with recent winters it was also notable for its light winds. Combined with the extended periods of very cold weather it did make movement hard work at times as the snow remained powdery and unconsolidated. Great if you were on ski’s but not if you were on foot. As the season progressed it did firm up with ideal conditions for walking by the middle of Feb.
So the big question is; is this cold winter set to repeat itself? Well over the last couple of years journalists have been asking whether the low activity on the sun’s surface is linked to colder winters? The answer was repeatedly no until fairly recently where a research team now recon there might be a link. They didn’t think that it masked the overall effect of global warming but from what I could understand, the reduction in the UV levels entering the Stratosphere was having an effect on the position of the meanders of Jet Stream. It’s these meanders that initiate the low and high pressure weather systems and with the UK and much of Europe lying under the Jet Stream during winter months we seem to be part of the globe most effected.
Certainly the high pressure did seem to be more common than previous years and there was a definite lack of lows bringing in raging SW winds. With the snow bearing weather invariably approaching from a Northerly to SE’erly direction it did mean the Cairngorms got more than their fare share of snow.
So you have been warned! If you missed out on last winter make sure you don’t miss next.
We do hope we have the opportunity to catch up with you during 2010.
Regards,
Andy and Rebecca
