The problem is the snow itself, it is confusing your camera! The camera tries it’s hardest to get the exposure of your photo correct but, on normal Auto mode, it cannot cope with the snow. It thinks the scene is too bright and tries to correct that by letting less light into the camera, you end up with grey snow and a dull scene.

The way to correct it is simple. We need to tell the camera to let more light in, onto the sensor, to make the snow look white. If you have a compact camera the chances are it has a whole bunch of modes, or scenes, that you remember seeing once but have never used; Baby, Portrait, Landscape etc, and there will be one called Snow! That’s it, choose the Snow mode and it will make the camera let more light in and you will have much better snow pictures. If you are using a DSLR then you need to use some exposure compensation to overexpose the image by at least +1 or +2 stops, depending on the amount of snow in the scene. This may involve pressing a button, or going into the menus, and setting the exposure compensation to +1 or +2 (or somewhere in-between). If you are not sure how to make the settings on your camera you need to consult the manaul!

Also, if your are using RAW of course, or you are comfortable editing your images, you can always make the adjustment in your favorite image editing software.

That’s all there is to it. The two images in this post illustrate the point. The first one looks dull and grey while the second one has some exposure compensation aplied to it to make the snow white, as it should be.

Have fun and enjoy the snow.

Over the course of the last couple of months, since finding out that I have a place on the Challenge for 2012, I have been reading and absorbing loads of information about where I would like to walk and what I would like to see. I ended up sketching out a number of routes that I liked the look of and suppose ultimately are similar to those that other Challengers have walked in the past. I knew that I would be happy on any route really and actually choosing one would be a compromise.

I really fancied Torridon but it’s a long way up and I did not want to do a long route for my first Challenge (hopefully I will be allowed to do it again!). I’ll save Torridon for another time. Acharacle and Lochailort both appealed because I quite fancied going across the Grampians. I could have made a route, that I would be happy walking, from any start point!

In the end though I decided that I would head a bit further north and start at Dornie. After a short walk up the road I’ll be straight into the mountains on the track beside the River Glennan. I plan on doing the An Riabhachan ridge on day two followed by a couple of gentler days until I cross Loch Ness and then its up and over to get to Aviemore and across the Cairngorms [big grins]

So there we are. Dornie it is, the B&B is booked and I’m busy filling in the details of my proposed route. My excitement-ometer is off the scale and I can’t wait to get started :)  106 days to go!

Blog posts in this series:

1. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Part 1
2. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Only 120 days to go!
3. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Dornie start it is then!

My partner asked me the other day if I found the thought of doing the Challenge daunting. I realised then that I didn’t. I did initially, a few months ago, but that has given way entirely to excitement. It is certainly going to be a challenge, both physically and mentally, and that is something I am looking forward to, but daunting it is not.

TGOC preparation has now become part of my life (and my family’s, oops! :). It slots in at any moment without me realising it. I have continued to read many blogs and trip reports of previous Challenges and of backpacking and walking in general. I have bought some new gear. I have chatted a lot on twitter which is not directly related to TGOC preparation but having recently made a whole new bunch of twitter friends I am entering into discussion and more easily following and learning about what is going on in the backpacking (and particularly lightweight backpacking) world.

Route
I have not made a lot of progress in actually having something to show for my route planning efforts. This is partly due to Christmas, where I have not had so much time, and to other things that I am involved with that have been taking some of my small amount of spare time. However, I have been constantly researching where I would like to walk and I have now got even more roughed out routes with even more possible permutations! One of the hardest things to do is to just pick one of the start points (I read this in someones blog too and apologies but I cannot find the url), something that needs to be done soon for me now and then the rest of the route will more easily fall into place. Some decisions will be made soon

Gear
I am kind of using the Challenge as an excuse to buy new gear but really I have had an interest in lightweight backpacking for sometime and it is nice to be back into looking at gear and what is available. I have just purchased a 900ml Evernew and 400ml Mug from BPL (very good service and super fast delivery). I have yet to get my hands on them as I had them delivered to my folks house and I have not been round to collect them but I should get them later today. I am excited about that, something my partner cannot understand :) I also purchased some of that super light windshield and some pot cosy material.

My current gear list gives me a base weight of just over 7Kg at the moment. I have a few more things to add to it I but I am quite happy with the weight at the moment. I have just read a review of a lightweight titanium gas stove at Going Lighter and it looks very interesting. Do I want to spen £30 to save 20g though? .. probably not, but you never know, and besides, I have not settled on my cook system yet but gas is looking favourable.

Fitness
I have been doing quite a bit of walking and leg strengthening. One of biggest challenges is going to be looking after my knees because I have always had problems, but I’m trying to do a variety of exercises that will help and I am also doing a lot of stretching. I need to get started on some yoga too which I think is really going to help. I’m some way off being able to walk of one day on the Challenge with a full pack at the moment but I’m confident that I will be fit enough for the Challenge. I was planning on walking in North Wales, with a wild camp, but I have yanked my knee a bit and will settle for a longer flat walk nearer home

Blog posts in this series:

1. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Part 1
2. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Only 120 days to go!
3. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Dornie start it is then!

The first image is looking back down Grinds Brook and in the background on the right you will see Lose Hill.

And this is just a little way along from Grinds Brook and looking back to the east.

The Trailstar was seriously bowed in at the back once pitched and I could not manage to stop the front sides from blowing out. Still, due to the large internal space of the shelter it would have been quite possible to have used it to camp in an emergency if a more sheltered spot could not be found. It was an interesting exercise.

[Update]
In response to Martin Rye’s question in the comments of ‘what height was the Trailstar pitched at?’ it got me thinking. The answer is I don’t honestly know but I seem to remember I was going to pitch it a 100cm high but I have a feeling that I set one section of my trekking pole to the 110cm mark (in my haste in the extreme conditions, it just goes to show mistakes are easily made!) so the pole could have ended up being 105cm. Anyway, I just checked the recommended poles heights on the MLD website and I could have pitched it as low as 36″ which is about 91.5 cm, which may have made a small but significant difference if I had to shelter under the Trailstar for any length of time in these conditions.

I took the opportunity last weekend to record the amount of gas I used with my little gas cooker (a Coleman F1) so that I could roughly calculate how much gas I would require for the TGO Challenge next year, which is 13 or 14 days backpacking – should I decide to use a gas on the Challenge that is.

Over a 24 hour period I had a few cups of tea and a dehydrated dinner and breakfast. I weighed the gas cartridge before and after, and this represents the gas used for one day:

Two cups of tea: 300ml each = 600ml
One cup of tea: 200ml
Dinner: 400ml
Breakfast: 200ml

Gas cartridge weight, before and after: 174g – 152g = 22g of gas used.

Therefore, assuming the amount of water boiled above is representative of a typical day then a 250g gas cartridge would last me approximately 11 days, which means I would have to obtain more gas along the way.

I plan to do some more tests to verify (or disprove) my calculations, and I will work out how much solid fuel I would need as a comparison. I’ll post the results here at some point.

By late afternoon on Saturday the light was already beginning to fade when I left my car in Penmaenmawr and headed off to the top of the hill behind the small town. I was not out for the walk particularly as it was not going to take long, or much effort, to get to the 400m or so top (although it is good training none the less) but the purpose was to spend the night under my new Trailstar shelter. The location is pretty exposed and can be very windy catching the westerly and northerly winds whipping across the Irish Sea.

It did not take me very long to be at my intended pitch, the middle of a stone circle known locally as the Druid Circle. For some reason there is no heather and the grass is short having been grazed by sheep and wild ponies.

This will be a good test for both me and the Trailstar; strong winds, hail and rain, cold temperatures and 14.5 hours of darkness.

It was almost dark as I pitched the Trailstar. I had read blogs, watched videos and pitched it once before and knew it would be quick and easy … and it was. I put the first gorgeous gold coloured 9 inch stake (‘peg’ does not do it justice) into the ground at the rear corner, into the wind. Then pegged the next two corners one either side of the first, and then finally the front two either side of the front side (side of the pentagon shape) pegged slightly closer together to allow a little slack for the front opening. I set my trekking pole to 110cm and raised the roof. A quick clove hitch on the other trekking pole and the door was raised.. and we are nearly done already. Just a case now of tightening the corners with the attached line locks to obtain a really tight shelter. It was nearly perfect first time. A slight adjustment to the two stakes near the opening and that was almost it. I pegged the center of the four sides down to help cut down the drafts. Very quick, and in very windy and wintry conditions. I was most pleased, not that I had any doubts, that I could pitch it so easily.

I took my Hilleberg Akto footprint with me as a groundsheet and I also took my bivvy bag. The bivvy bag was in case it rained a lot and the seams leaked; I had not yet sealed the seams, and because it would provide a little extra warmth in these conditions (whether it did or not I am unsure). I pumped up my new Exped SynMat 7 UL and settled down to have a cuppa and make some dinner.

After I had eaten I was starting to feel chilly and slipped into my sleeping bag to keep warm. It was early evening and it was dark. There were another 13 hours of darkness to go. It felt like a test of my sanity or that I was being punished for something, it was going to be a long night…

… and it was. The evening was the worst part and I should possibly have taken some reading material or my mp3 player. I tried to sleep but was not really tired yet and I was getting cold and bored.  The Trailstar was great though. The strong gusts of wind were not troubling it at all and the large hail was bouncing off the drum tight silnylon, I was pleased and not the slightest bit concerned about the Trailstar. I have spent windy nights in my Akto worrying whether it and I would survive but I had not such concerns about my Trailstar, it was solid.

Around 10 or 11pm the wind changed direction a little and started blowing from the side quite a bit. It wasn’t blowing in but was making the opening flap around a lot and make a lot of noise. I decided to move the door. It was easy enough and quick. A slight adjustment of a couple of the pegs and repositioning the trekking pole and it was done, nice and easy. Outside it looked like it had been snowing, it was white everywhere, but it was in fact hail stones covering the ground rather than snowflakes.

The rest of the night went more quickly. I seemed to sleep for an hour or so before waking up freezing cold. A quick jiggle around in my sleeping bag to warm up and I was off back to sleep again. I kept checking the temperature during the night and it varied between zero and 3 degrees C. I realised my 3 season down bag was not up to the job but the extra clothes I was wearing made it bearable. I had removed my bivvy bag for the last couple of hours to see if it would make any difference to the warmth becuase I suspected it might have been compressing the down. My sleeping bag did puff up quite a bit bit I didn’t really notice any difference in the warmth, or should I say degrees of cold! The Exped SynMat worked well. It was comfortable and I barely felt any cold through it so I was very happy with that. I slept for the last couple of hours to about 6.30 at which point I made a cup of tea and warmed up a bit.

I was grateful for the daylight that soon followed. Much of the hail stones had now melted but there was still a nice little patch round the Trailstar to prove that it had been there! Taking the Trailstar down was quicker than putting it up and I was soon heading back down the hill to my car.

The Trailstar was great and I had a great experience. I was chuffed to have camped wild underneath it in winter, I survived (mentally) and feel stronger for the experience. It is quite something to open your eyes in the middle of the night and look straight out of the opening at the hail covered ground. It was as solid as a rock in very windy conditions, I know my Akto would have been blown about considerably. It did not leak, although I will still probably seal the seams. It was quick and easy to pitch in cold difficult conditions and the gold coloured stakes look amazing!

If you want a bomb proof shelter, like using a tarp and a bit of fresh air blowing around, and like the immediate views when opening your eyes in the middle of the night and in the morning, then I can highly recommend the Trailstar from Mountain Laurel Designs.