Worst night out ?
- Thread starter cathyjc
- Start date
Heltrekker
Section Hiker
As a student geologist, my entire class got gastric flu, symptoms started exhibiting on a field trip to Mam Tor. I and many others left our calling cards all over the Derbyshire countryside. Don't worry, it was 1985, so it should have washed away by now.....
If you're allowed a second go at this and to raise the tone a little...
I once attempted to walk the Sierra Nevada ridge with a buddy. The forecast was 100 mph winds and snow after the first 24 hours.
We persuaded the hotel owner to drop us of at the top of the land rover track (about 5,500 ft) but he left us in no doubt he felt we were barking mad.
Around mid afternoon the weather started to deteriorate and we headed for the nearest hut marked on the map.
What we found was 4 stone walls about the size of a large garden shed with a corrugated steel roof and a steel door that had got the better of its hinges several years previously.
We got inside and propped the door in the doorway. Thankfully the wind was coming from the other direction.
For 48 hours we were pinned in there whilst the storm raged. It was blowing so hard the snow was making its way through the dry stone wall construction and we erected our tent inside to keep the snow off our gear and to reduce the draughts.
After 48 hours the wind subsided and we emerged to a whiteout. This was in the days before GPS and given the 300+ days of blue sky there a year, the maps weren't good enough to move safely in those conditions.
After an hour of trying to find a safe way off the flat area the hut was on (approx 1km sq.) and with the weather deteriorating again we decided to head back to the hut which it took us 2 hrs to find.
Thankfully the following morning we woke to blue skies. We found our way off the little plateau and spent most of the day working our way through waist deep snow before conditions started to improve when we reached the treeline.
After an overnight camp it took us another day to get back to the hotel and a withering look from the hotel owner who had been worried for our safety.
Somehow I managed to survive being young and foolish but given that I was about 40 when I did this trip I didn't wise up very fast did I!
I once attempted to walk the Sierra Nevada ridge with a buddy. The forecast was 100 mph winds and snow after the first 24 hours.
We persuaded the hotel owner to drop us of at the top of the land rover track (about 5,500 ft) but he left us in no doubt he felt we were barking mad.
Around mid afternoon the weather started to deteriorate and we headed for the nearest hut marked on the map.
What we found was 4 stone walls about the size of a large garden shed with a corrugated steel roof and a steel door that had got the better of its hinges several years previously.
We got inside and propped the door in the doorway. Thankfully the wind was coming from the other direction.
For 48 hours we were pinned in there whilst the storm raged. It was blowing so hard the snow was making its way through the dry stone wall construction and we erected our tent inside to keep the snow off our gear and to reduce the draughts.
After 48 hours the wind subsided and we emerged to a whiteout. This was in the days before GPS and given the 300+ days of blue sky there a year, the maps weren't good enough to move safely in those conditions.
After an hour of trying to find a safe way off the flat area the hut was on (approx 1km sq.) and with the weather deteriorating again we decided to head back to the hut which it took us 2 hrs to find.
Thankfully the following morning we woke to blue skies. We found our way off the little plateau and spent most of the day working our way through waist deep snow before conditions started to improve when we reached the treeline.
After an overnight camp it took us another day to get back to the hotel and a withering look from the hotel owner who had been worried for our safety.
Somehow I managed to survive being young and foolish but given that I was about 40 when I did this trip I didn't wise up very fast did I!
cathyjc
Thru Hiker
cathyjc
Thru Hiker
JKM
Thru Hiker
that was your 5th of the afternoon and you were adamant it wouldn't wait
turning back walkers coming the other way on striding edge? i may as well try and hold back the tide.
or was it a different incident you were thinking of? honestly, there were so many that i loose count...
Baldy
Thru Hiker
TinTin
Thru Hiker
Reminds me of a hole in the floor toilet in Kerkyra Town bus station in 1976/7 (memory loss). The hole had clearly been blocked some time ago but it had continued to be used and a perfect multi coloured, browns and ochres mainly, pyramid of human excrement had built up, probably 700mm high and weighing, I estimate a good 60-100kgs. Needs must ...This is not a worst night out story but is pretty gross. When I was thirteen I went on a school cruise. We docked at Malaga and took a coach journey inland to visit Granada and the Alhambra (which was fantastic). The coach trip out was ok because it was cool in the morning but the trip back in the afternoon was stultifyingly hot in a coach with no air conditioning plus the road was pretty twisty. Not surprisingly, some boys felt quite sick. However there was only one large communal sick sack at the front of the coach. You had to rush up to front and vomit into a large paper sack. Needless to say, it wasn’t up to the job and after a while the bottom got soaked and started to split leaking the contents onto the floor of the coach. Going up and down hills, there was a river of puke going up and down the floor of the coach. You had to keep you feet clear of the floor so your shoes didn’t get covered
rikdon
Summit Camper
maybe it's time for The Best Night Out thread
MikeinDorset
Ultralighter
Not a hiking story but I once fell out of a canoe downstream of a village privy (I was in Guyana at the time). Long story short, nearly died of cholera.
PM me if you'd like to hear what it's like to have a lifetime's bouts of the runs *all at once*! (Fun snippet: when you feel the fistful of immodium tablets fall straight out the other end, things are not going well...)
PM me if you'd like to hear what it's like to have a lifetime's bouts of the runs *all at once*! (Fun snippet: when you feel the fistful of immodium tablets fall straight out the other end, things are not going well...)
TinTin
Thru Hiker
Luxury! When I were a lad ...
Heltrekker
Section Hiker
I worked on an exploration project in Burkina Faso on the Niger border - miles from anywhere on the southern edge of the Sahara. For our crew of 20, we had a loo pit the size of a bus that we dug out of the ground and covered with a concrete cap. Hole in the concrete with a seatless chair over it, and woven reed mats around the perimeter for privacy - the height of luxury. Our steward used to throw a sack of quicklime down the hole and spray a tin of industrial strength insecticide into it once a week - killed all the nasty insects and no smell. Trouble is, the steward delegated the responsibility to Francis, the cook's assistant, who couldn't read. He muddled up the quicklime with chlorine for disinfecting the water supply - whole sack in, followed by insecticide. The resulting huge green gas cloud lingered for a whole day, we had to evacuate the camp (and brave the local wildlife to do the necessary in the bushes...). Toilet pit was clean though!!
MikeinDorset
Ultralighter
When I were a lad the only loo we had was on the surface of the Sun and it were covered in broken glass. But we were grateful, lad!
rikdon
Summit Camper
Always thought the Daily Mail more suitable
Heltrekker
Section Hiker
Rog Tallbloke
Thru Hiker
I headed up into the Sierra de las Nieves in Andalusia one January daybreak. A forestry worker I met low down told me there was a storm coming. I assured him I was well equipped and knew what I was doing. I pitched on the main summit ridge in a flat grassy depression and set off to climb the main summit in the range. After about half a mile a blizzard started and I turned tail, following my rapidly disappearing footsteps back to the tent. The snow turned to sleet and the temperature went up a few degrees. I cooked my dinner and then the rain really started in earnest, accompanied by a rising wind strength. Which rose, and rose. Then the lightning started, which was scary.
At 2am I was still sitting up in my sleeping bag, using my shoulders to brace the ever-so-thin poles of my Sierra designs light-year solo tent. I chopped cubes of cheese and chorizo and sipped brandy to keep my spirits up. I woke just before first light and opened the tent to find the grassy depression had turned into a lake. The water was rising quickly as the biblical rain continued and after a hurried breakfast and packing job, I struck the fly and strapped it to the outside of the pack. I hefted the pack as the lake reached my boots, and marched on the compass bearing I'd decided on over breakfast, and found the top of the trail heading downwards. Visibility was about 20 feet in the driving rain and scudding cloud. My binbag skirt performed well, but my shoulders and chest were well soaked by the time I got down off the mountain. Another six km further along a dirt track I managed to thumb a lift to Ronda, via a stop at a restaurant.
At 2am I was still sitting up in my sleeping bag, using my shoulders to brace the ever-so-thin poles of my Sierra designs light-year solo tent. I chopped cubes of cheese and chorizo and sipped brandy to keep my spirits up. I woke just before first light and opened the tent to find the grassy depression had turned into a lake. The water was rising quickly as the biblical rain continued and after a hurried breakfast and packing job, I struck the fly and strapped it to the outside of the pack. I hefted the pack as the lake reached my boots, and marched on the compass bearing I'd decided on over breakfast, and found the top of the trail heading downwards. Visibility was about 20 feet in the driving rain and scudding cloud. My binbag skirt performed well, but my shoulders and chest were well soaked by the time I got down off the mountain. Another six km further along a dirt track I managed to thumb a lift to Ronda, via a stop at a restaurant.
Rog Tallbloke
Thru Hiker
I was aiming for the highest peak in the range, La Torrecilla. I set off from El Burgo. (Very) approx route on map below.
Rog Tallbloke
Thru Hiker
I finally summited La Torrecilla some years later with the missus. It was a beautiful if windy day. Blue skies. From there we walked to Parauta, where a friend of mine lives. The previous night we were camped in torrential rain on the edge of a bend in the forest road in the Hut1. water was coursing over the groundsheet and under the (longitudinal tube) sleeping pads. By some miracle, we stayed completely dry.
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EM-Chiseller
Thru Hiker
The Royal Hotel Armley 
Gordon
Ultralighter
When I first did the Coast to Coast, early 80's, I camped up at Grisedale Tarn. Over-night a storm blew in and my tent was battered. The two poles eventually gave up and snapped at around 5am. I was able to pack up and get down to Patterdale where I put the tent in the post and carried on B and B to complete the walk. Not so busy in those days. The tent was undamaged and the poles were replaced - free by Vango. Makes me smile now: the tent was a Vango Hurricane.