Peak District this weekend

[Fenlander]

Hello everyone,

I have a friend who is in the US Airforce and we are spending this weekend in the Peak District. He will be teaching basic survival skills.

This is an invitation open to anyone who would like to join us.

There is no formal plan for the weekend, but we will be in the area around Hathersage.

If anyone is interested, please PM me before 10pm Friday and I will provide details of a location for us to meet-up.

Rappleby2000 is now joining us.

[RAPPLEBY2000]

i did my SPA rock climbing training on the rockclimbs around hathersage, spent many weeks in the nearby campsite, very nice area!

hilly, rocky, moorland and some woods too!

[Squidders]

I also spend a lot of time there... I climbed my first E6 at Stanage plantation and the bacon rolls at the Outside are lovely!

[RAPPLEBY2000]

squidders,

"E6"!

are you a spider or something? that's like climbing up glass!

my highest ever graded climb is "sport" 6a+ very hard!
equevellent to E15b! the only time i've ever feared for my life during a climb! "25 foot up 5ft above a ankle twisting back breaking ledge and the last bolt, on tiptoes, and fingertips tired from the first crux, bolt 6ft up and 6ft to the left" it was a very scarey moment! and that was only half way!

[Fenlander]

The journey took three hours (including breakfast at “The Outside”). A mild stomach bug made it an eventful journey for me! We drove to a small village near Hathersage, left our vehicle and then walked for a couple of miles until we found a large conifer plantation.

After clearing 8-10 inches of snow, I set up my hammock and tarp, and then we constructed a couple of different styles of shelters. At this time the snow on the trees was thawing, so it was like being in heavy rain. This made tracking impossible, but we leant how to make a variety of traps.

At dusk, we dug a fire pit and managed to get a fire going using standing dead wood and Paul (our instructor) set up and demonstrated his stove. I attempted to demonstrate a wood burning stove I am developing…..but failed (bit more work needed). The other guys cooked some food, but my digestive system was still too delicate for anything more substantial than a cup-a-soup.

Having dried out some of our clothes and melted and purified snow, at about 9pm we decided to head for our sleeping bags. This was my first chance to try my new ajungilak sleeping bag and silk liner. Even with two sets of thermals, I had a VERY cold nights sleep. We later found out that the temperature had dropped to -6 in the area we were in!

By 6am we were up and moving around to try and get warm. With the fire and my digestive system restored, I cooked breakfast for everyone. We then broke camp, and headed home at about 1pm.

[Fenlander]

I also spend a lot of time there... I climbed my first E6 at Stanage plantation and the bacon rolls at the Outside are lovely!
Thanks for the tip about the Outside....great breakfast. Cheers!

[Squidders]

Fenlander, no worries... it's a nice convenient place to stop as there's loads of parking behind the petrol station. Sounds like you had a good weekend... Are we going to see this stove of yours in action then?

RAPPLEBY2000, It was pretty scary because the first 30 feet are unprotected and the landing isn't that great (at least it's flat)... the thing about climbing at the mid to high grades is that you tend to have a few shots at them first on a top rope before going for the lead. In this case, I had a few top ropes, fell off twice, made it once and then went for the solo... V.Scary!

The route is called Ulysses' Bow: http://www.rockfax.com/databases/results_route.html?id=573

[bambodoggy]

Hey Fenlander....glad you had a good time....told you that you'd at very least survive with your sleeping arrangements.....and as I said, a good learning curve....good on ya Mate :biggthump

Did you sleep up in your hammock or on the floor? I've not used a hammock in really cold weather but from what I gather from people chatting on here, unless you're very careful about how you set up they can be much colder than sleeping on the floor.

Just one small tip....when you melt fresh snow, provided it hasn't been contaminated by what it's landed on it is pure and would not require purifying. How did you melt it....in a billy? in an old t-shirt?

Anyway, now you know that if push came to shove, you can at least live through the night outside at -6..... nice one! :super:

[Fenlander]

Hey Fenlander....glad you had a good time....told you that you'd at very least survive with your sleeping arrangements.....and as I said, a good learning curve....good on ya Mate :biggthump

Did you sleep up in your hammock or on the floor? I've not used a hammock in really cold weather but from what I gather from people chatting on here, unless you're very careful about how you set up they can be much colder than sleeping on the floor.

Just one small tip....when you melt fresh snow, provided it hasn't been contaminated by what it's landed on it is pure and would not require purifying. How did you melt it....in a billy? in an old t-shirt?

Anyway, now you know that if push came to shove, you can at least live through the night outside at -6..... nice one! :super:
Melting snow....he demonstrated that just putting snow in a billy over the fire wouldn't melt efficiently. We put a small amount of our drinking water into the billy, heated it and then added snow a bit at a time, and it melted very quickly....soon had a billy can full of water!

[bambodoggy]

Melting snow....he demonstrated that just putting snow in a billy over the fire wouldn't melt efficiently. We put a small amount of our drinking water into the billy, heated it and then added snow a bit at a time, and it melted very quickly....soon had a billy can full of water!

Nice one :o):

Have you used the t-shirt method? You tie off the neck and arms, stuff as much snow as you can in the body and then tie off the waist too....then hang it up near and to the side of your fire and place a container under it...the fire melts the snow and it drips into the container....you can leave it doing this while you get on with other things and there's zero chance of burning the bottom of your billy :biggthump

[Fenlander]

Not the way my t-shirt smelt :nono: The water would definately need purifying :rolmao: I would use my Milbank bag for the same purpose.....melting the snow I mean :lol:

[bambodoggy]

Not the way my t-shirt smelt :nono: The water would definately need purifying :rolmao: I would use my Milbank bag for the same purpose.....melting the snow I mean :lol:

Ideal my friend.... Almost made for the job one could say lol :rolmao:

Pity you can't join us later in the week... are you coming to the next Ashdown moot? There's a thread on here about it if you want to know more and then just ask JP if there's room on the pitch so you can join and bob's your uncle :o):

[Fenlander]

Squidders "Are we going to see this stove of yours in action then?"
here they are....
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/photopost/data/502/1445Wood_burning_stove.JPG
This was the basic design, using a stainless steel sugar storage tin reduced to £2.50 at Homebase.
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/photopost/data/502/1445Wood_burner_candle.jpg
I drilled 10mm holes around the base and a large hole to feed fuel into. A also drilled small holes around the top.

I then inserted a mesh hearthed floor to allow air circulation from below and to prevent the 10mm holes being blocked by ash.
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/photopost/data/502/1445WB_top_of.jpg
Using two bars cut from an oven shelf, i made a pot stand. These can be rotated into two different positions
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/photopost/data/502/1445WB_pins_down_and_up.jpg
Down for smaller cooking equipment such as a cup (i can insert a candle into the stove to boil a cup of water)
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/photopost/data/502/1445WB_with_cup.jpg
or up to support the billy can above the stove top
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/photopost/data/502/1445WB_with_Billy_2.jpg
It currently takes 19 minutes to boil a ten centimeter billyt full of water, but i feel sure with a bit of experimenting I can reduce this time.

my instructor gave me his Sterno stove with an empty gel fuel container. I have now converted the container into a methylated spirit burner and it works well. http://www.bushcraftuk.net/photopost/data/502/1445Sterno_stove.jpg

[hootchi]

I like it. I always fancied making something similar to one of those. Sort of a more versatile kelly kettle. Proper job. :biggthump

[Squidders]

Yup... looks really nice, is it much work to get it from place to place?

[Fenlander]

Yup... looks really nice, is it much work to get it from place to place?
Not quite sure what you mean :?: I will put a couple of spare candles and a bag of tinder in it, when carrying it in my rucksack.