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Re: Monad thingys FWA

Don't believe all the bad briefing about the Monadhliath. This is a wonderful area; a vast expanse of rolling domes, big skies and long, long glens. Okay, they're not the brash and pointy west coast and there aren't any magnificent rocky corries, but change your perspective, relish the sheer wilderness of the range and you'll find a lot to like. Sadly, many landowners are making concerted efforts to trash them with bulldozed tracks, windfarms etc. but there's a hell of a lot of unspoiled country remaining.

As for FWAs, I agree that sometimes you have little choice but to go higher than you'd normally prefer for a poor day or suffer some very long detours. Most of the time you can get away with the high crossing. If you look closely at the maps, there are numerous possibilities where time spent on high can be minimised. Look for sections where watercourses on both sides of the divide almost connect and use those points to provide you with good handrails across the cols. Quite often following an accurate bearing for five minutes will get you past any awkward featureless bits. It's also worth scanning possible routes using Google Earth. The multiplying tracks are often not shown fully up to date on the maps and frequently take you quite high (sometimes over the tops themselves) and keep you on course. I'm happy to okay routes where folk are making genuine efforts to find the easiest way. Naturally, if the s**t really does hit the fan weather wise, I would expect Challengers to use their common sense and accept the inevitable cop out and detour. It's rarely bad enough for that to be necessary.

That's my view. No doubt a few more of the team will be along shortly.

Colin

Re: Monad thingys FWA

Thanks Colin and the responders so far.

I'm happy that if warranted I would just have to do a big detour. I just wondered if anyone knew of a tunnel running below the 500m cutoff for the FWA that I could use

Seriously though, given 'moderate' FW conditions I can see that some of the LRT's are only a few K's apart - as long as linking those is OK then it should be peachey.

To be fair Rosie and I carry so much we find it hard to get above sea level anyway.

Re: Monad thingys FWA

What i took from the literature was that a FWA did not need to be specified for the Corrieyairick but just to ca' canny if it really did get wild. Is this correct or do i need to specify a FWA?

Re: Monad thingys FWA

"Low level routes (below about 500m) do not usually need an FWA. Please note however that some popular through-routes must have FWAs in place. The Lairig Ghru, Jock’s Road and Mount Keen all climb to around 900m at their summits and are not acceptable as FWAs; routes including these must also provide a FWA. Be aware also that while slightly lower routes such as the Corrieyairack Pass are acceptable as a main route or a FWA, foul weather can still render them impassable: common sense will have to be applied during the event."

I think the above is quite clear although some Challengers when reading it think that any day which rises above 500mt must have a FWA; this is not the case and this is not how I read it. When planning your route think how difficult or dangerous it could be at any height above sea level in heavy rain, high winds or in a blizzard. Then think would I want to be there in those conditions? Then think "do I need a FWA?" Then if you are not sure put one in. The routes that must have a FWA are listed above.