u/wolf_knickers

Yep. This is a pile of shite. This "competition" is clearly a ruse to harvest email addresses and other information.

And it's especially upsetting seeing this continued use of shitty AI content in organisations that are supposedly "outdoors", when we all know how harmful AI data centres are to the environment.

Helvellyn is usually pretty busy but there are hundreds of other fells to choose... Get to Ambleside, take a bus to Langdale, go up Mickleden and up to Bowfell, make your way across Eskdale and into Wasdale, and take the Wasdale bus back to somewhere where you can then get onto some connections to home.

Are you wanting to stay in England? Lake District would be a good choice. You can easily spend a few days in the fells.

Why are you so aggressive? Have you considered that social media discussions might not be a good use of your time if you're going to get so upset about what other people say?

I provided my own experiences as a use case for the fact that down products are perfectly fine for damp environments and you decide to get all pissy about it? You’re upset that I’m suggesting you don’t know what you’re talking about when the wording of your post strongly suggests you’ve never actually used down? In which case, how exactly is that an informed opinion?

Love how you make all these assumptions about how I don't have the same experience as you. I've been camping for 35 years, on three different continents. I can't be arsed wasting my time arguing with online tough guys hilariously calling me “bairn” when, in all likelihood, I’m probably older than you; I am certainly too old for that too.

Whereabout in the UK?

I am a kayaker (a rather wet activity at the best of times) and hiker and I go on damp adventures all year round, especially in Scotland. I use down jackets and down sleeping bags and quilts and down socks and whatnot and have never had any problems. If you look after and pack and store your gear properly you won't have an issue. 

I genuinely find it bizarre how many people claim that down causes all these problems. Have you ever actually used it or are you just imagining these scenarios? Because it sounds like you’ve never actually used a down sleeping bag. So why suggest someone doesn’t use it?

Also worth mentioning that many good down products have a hydrophobic treatment too.

It's quite normal for down products to shed feathers from time to time. The way to deal with them is to reach around from the back side and pull them back in, instead of pulling them out.

I wouldn't necessarily say they're superior in wind, but they're brilliant for long days on the water. I still prefer a Euro paddle for rock hopping and other situations where you need immediate acceleration, but for everything else, Greenland paddles are my favourite! I'm always surprised to see folks who don't know what they are, I'd have thought they're reasonably well known in sea kayaking and touring circles by now!

That was my first reaction to the list too! I wouldn't even call it a hike and I certainly wouldn't camp there.

Excellent! Some stunning views there and such a beautiful time of the year to be in the Lakes :)

You’ll probably want the MV. I’m 5’5” and 154lb and I love the LV but previously did own an MV. It was too big for me but I managed. I sold it due to lack of space and because I decided I wanted a Scorpio instead but I’d definitely buy a LV if I was to buy another one.  

The Virgo is actually quite a wide kayak with a large cockpit. 

It certainly sounds like a shitty day but my local club’s motto is “if you’re not getting wetter, you’re not getting better”. This is because getting wet is part of progressing 🙂 So even though unexpected swims can be psychologically tough to deal with (it’s totally normal for them to feel frightening in the moment, especially when you’re new), they are inevitable when you’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and when we’re pushing ourselves like that, well that’s when we learn new things!

At the end of the day, you were safe. It sounds like you were with a supportive group that were able to assist, which is important. 

With regard to stability, you’ve not mentioned much about the boats you’re paddling or the environment you were in (although it sort of sounds like you might be learning white water kayaking?),  so it’s hard to know for sure whether the stability issue may be being exacerbated by your kayak, or whether it’s water features like eddy lines that are causing you to feel unstable. 

I’m a kayak instructor myself and generally, with beginners, the main reason for capsizes is the paddler being too stiff and anxious, instead of staying relaxed and allowing their body to move with the boat. Remember, a boat floats by design! Staying relaxed, especially in your core, is key to remaining stable in a kayak. Keep your hips loose so that when the kayak moves, you remain stable. It’ll come in time 🙂

Realistically, your chances of getting hired in a US studio after graduating are pretty much zero. No studio is going to sponsor a visa for someone with no experience. 

Also, nobody cares where you got your degree. Your reel is the most jmportant thing. I thought everyone knew this by now. So choose whichever school appeals to you personally. 

Here in the UK, I’ve worked with a lot of artists who went to Gobelins. 

You’re repeatedly arguing with me for no reason whatsoever.

I didn’t say “the Met Office doesn’t take altitude into account”. I specifically referred to the two examples the OP posted. One is for a town (taken from the Met Office), and one is for a hill (taken from an unspecified mountain forecast site). I explained why the “mountain forecast app/site” of the hill summit showed different conditions than the town. The difference between the two locations is one of altitude. 

The OP seems to think it’s just the Met Office website that has different forecasts. I pointed out the Met Office actually has an entire mountain weather section, which can help you find mountain forecasts. 

And yet you keep replying to me as if I’m somehow wrong. 

Just stop. Please. 

I’m honestly confused by the way you seem to be picking an argument with me. 

The OP is asking why a “mountain weather” app tends to have different conditions forecast compared to the Met Office, and posted a comparison where the Met Office screenshot shows the forecast for a town, not a summit. I explained that a “mountain forecast” forecast generally shows more adverse weather since it takes the altitude into account. 

Here in the UK we do not have any high altitude towns or cities, so the elevation of those forecasts is negligible. Coalville here is a low lying town in the Midlands, whereas Bardon Hill, the other forecast shown, is at 278m high. So the conditions are a little different. 

When you search Ben Nevis on the Met Office website, it’s giving you the summit forecast. Going to the Mountain Weather-specific section of their website shows you all the summits it has forecasts for. It’s just a different way of looking at them. 

Why are you arguing with me?

No, the Met Office forecast there is for Coalville, which is a town. You need to go to their specialised Mountain Forecast section to get mountain weather:

https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/specialist-forecasts/mountain

Mountain forecast takes altitude into account. Wind is therefore significantly stronger. 

I hope you hear from them soon!

Most reasonably experienced paddlers paddle around 3mph. Paddling against 2mph is doable but difficult to maintain for long periods while 4mph is something most paddlers will find almost impossible for anything longer than a minute or two.

Evri is useless. This is something that Merrell has to resolve for you though; because you've made a purchase with them, your consumer contract is therefore with them, not Evri.

Rab Valiance. Sometimes places like Trekitt have last season’s colours significantly discounted. 

I had an Elixir 2 for a while and my ex and I would happily share it. Not sure I’d be wanting to share it with someone I wasn’t intimate with though!

Happens to us all :)

Huh? I was responding to the poster’s suggestion that there’s no such thing as too much wind or rain, not talking about this weekend’s weather specifically. 

I respectfully disagree :) Walking in windspeeds over 40mph becomes very difficult, and when it's raining, that kind of sideways rain gets into everything. I remember a terrible hike up Helvellyn in those sorts of conditions, and my leather Gore-Tex lined boots literally filled with water, my waterproof gloves soaked right through, etc. My top half did stay dry (the one piece of gear that didn't fail was my Rab jacket). On the summit I had to walk at an angle just to stay upright, and every step was hard. We were getting buffeted terribly by the wind. I was shaking uncontrollably for about seven hours after getting back to where we were staying. Point being, there is such a thing as too windy, and too wet. Different people may have different tolerances, but there's definitely a point at which safety becomes a risk, especially when you factor in windchill. If you have an accident of some kind in very arduous conditions, your risk of complications (eg hypothermia) significantly increases.