Where To Download Tracks For The Cairngorms

[+MasqueradeUK]

I've been through the Google and forum searches and found nothing.

 

Does anybody know where I can download tracks for the Cairngorns please?

I've been invited to go up to Scotland later in the summer to climb Lochnagar.

I have no knowledge of the area, and as a back-up to my friend's talents and skills in climbing and navigation, thought I'd try to put my GPSmap 60CSx to good use.

 

TIA

[+S&G.Davison]

not tracks .. but some helpfull stuff...

 

If you want free stuff ... Grab the UK Contours files from

 

http://www.smc.org.uk/books/books_contour_maps.htm

 

Will at least give you the montain tops and contour lines ...

 

Another consideration is buy Topo GB .. I used it earlier this year in the Lakes and it has a lot (not 100%) of paths and byeways on it .. In fact I just leave Topo GB on my 76CSx and use it for all my Autorouting, geocaching, walking in the UK .. from a normal POI and autorouting perspective its as good as City Select was in my V and has the advantages of having all the POIs releated to OS maps

 

HTH

Edited July 9, 2006 by S&G.Davison

[+Teuchters]

I've been through the Google and forum searches and found nothing.

 

Does anybody know where I can download tracks for the Cairngorns please?

I've been invited to go up to Scotland later in the summer to climb Lochnagar.

I have no knowledge of the area, and as a back-up to my friend's talents and skills in climbing and navigation, thought I'd try to put my GPSmap 60CSx to good use.

 

TIA

 

As someone who lives in the Cairngorms, I can say that this sort of thing is difficult to come by. Individuals may have recorded and saved tracks from a day out in the hills which they might keep for personal posterity.

There is one organisation Walkingworld which has hundreds of ROUTES as opposed to TRACKS based on Memory-Map. Their route 438 is an ascent of Lochnagar from Loch Muick. There are also many more all around the country. This is a subscription service or you can purchase one off routes.

 

Care needs to be taken with routes and this particular one is no exception. A GPS route simply links waypoints together with straight lines and this one, if followed blindly in the mist, would take you straight over a very large cliff. As such, it gives an indication of what might be expected in terms of time, ascent etc but is otherwise not useful at all for detailed navigation in poor conditions. For this a track is needed, along with excellent map reading and compass skills.

Already this year a geocacher has had to be rescued from the high Cairngorms (his map blew away) but at least he was a proficient GPSr user - waypoints were given to him on his mobile phone and he navigated back in poor conditions using these.

 

You may be better off drawing your own track in Memory-Map or another mapping program and uploading this to your GPSr. Obviously, caution on the hill is still required.

 

Another website which has details of walks in the area is Peat and Heather. For this site you would need Anquet to view the maps although they do also provide .csv files for importing into Memory-Map and other formats are available too.

[+MasqueradeUK]

Thanks Nick,

 

I've just bought the SMC GPS data disk.

I'll post an update when I've had a chance to look at the tracks.

[+MasqueradeUK]

not tracks .. but some helpfull stuff...

 

If you want free stuff ... Grab the UK Contours files from

 

http://www.smc.org.uk/books/books_contour_maps.htm

 

Will at least give you the montain tops and contour lines ...

 

Another consideration is buy Topo GB .. I used it earlier this year in the Lakes and it has a lot (not 100%) of paths and byeways on it .. In fact I just leave Topo GB on my 76CSx and use it for all my Autorouting, geocaching, walking in the UK .. from a normal POI and autorouting perspective its as good as City Select was in my V and has the advantages of having all the POIs releated to OS maps

 

HTH

 

Thanks,

 

I've already got the contours maps from here.

So you think it's worth buying the Garmin topo maps.

Does anybody else think so?

[+Jango & Boba Fett]

<Jango puts on Prophet of Gloom hat> Although MasqueradeUK's profile shows experience of travelling in mountain environments it does concern me that someone else reading this thread might decide to go bag a mountain cache armed using their GPSr as their navigational instrument of choice or even their only means of navigation. For a single trip up Aberdeen's Hill in good visibility one would probably get away with it, but then so would someone just following the motorway sized path.

 

You don't have to venture far from the main route on the main hills in Scotland to realise that what counts as a footpath in the Scottish Highlands, or any less frequented upland areas wouldn't even show on a walking map of the Lakes or Peak District. Personally I treat my GPSr while in the hills a bit like a spell checker - it spends most of its time in a drybag in the top pocket of my sack but now and again gets a quick outing as a final confirmation. Having descended off the Merrick on midsummer's day (which is less than 2/3 the height of the Cairngorm Plateau) I can say that it was below freezing on the summit, the visibility was less than 25m and using a map, compass and constantly assessing the terrane I came down the most sheltered ridge safely and bagged Haggis Hunter's earth cache - to have have used my GPSr instead would have been madness as I would have either had to enter the waypoints with freezing fingers or pray that I had already stored a route for every conceivable eventuality, and then if I'm following the GPSr screen how much attention would I be paying to the potential dangers around me.

 

Having recently had to write up 38 years of experience in the hills for my MLA logbook (1st Munro The Cairnwell at 7) I hadn't appreciated until I say it in print the number of times a route had to be modified or we turned back either due to the weather conditions or a member of the party (including one day in Kintail when finding water was the priority despite setting out with 3 litres each).

 

So down load routes and track logs by all means but treat them as a back up not your primary means of navigation. The Cairngorms may only be Scottish mountains but it is technically an Arctic environment complete with snow buntings and Reindeer and you wouldn't go to Greenland armed only with a GPSr and a cache sack. <Jango takes off Prophet of Gloom hat>

 

And on a happy note, I wish I was coming too East Anglia its just too flat!

[+MasqueradeUK]

<Jango puts on Prophet of Gloom hat> Although MasqueradeUK's profile shows experience of travelling in mountain environments it does concern me that someone else reading this thread might decide to go bag a mountain cache armed using their GPSr as their navigational instrument of choice or even their only means of navigation. For a single trip up Aberdeen's Hill in good visibility one would probably get away with it, but then so would someone just following the motorway sized path.

 

You don't have to venture far from the main route on the main hills in Scotland to realise that what counts as a footpath in the Scottish Highlands, or any less frequented upland areas wouldn't even show on a walking map of the Lakes or Peak District. Personally I treat my GPSr while in the hills a bit like a spell checker - it spends most of its time in a drybag in the top pocket of my sack but now and again gets a quick outing as a final confirmation. Having descended off the Merrick on midsummer's day (which is less than 2/3 the height of the Cairngorm Plateau) I can say that it was below freezing on the summit, the visibility was less than 25m and using a map, compass and constantly assessing the terrane I came down the most sheltered ridge safely and bagged Haggis Hunter's earth cache - to have have used my GPSr instead would have been madness as I would have either had to enter the waypoints with freezing fingers or pray that I had already stored a route for every conceivable eventuality, and then if I'm following the GPSr screen how much attention would I be paying to the potential dangers around me.

 

Having recently had to write up 38 years of experience in the hills for my MLA logbook (1st Munro The Cairnwell at 7) I hadn't appreciated until I say it in print the number of times a route had to be modified or we turned back either due to the weather conditions or a member of the party (including one day in Kintail when finding water was the priority despite setting out with 3 litres each).

 

So down load routes and track logs by all means but treat them as a back up not your primary means of navigation. The Cairngorms may only be Scottish mountains but it is technically an Arctic environment complete with snow buntings and Reindeer and you wouldn't go to Greenland armed only with a GPSr and a cache sack. <Jango takes off Prophet of Gloom hat>

 

And on a happy note, I wish I was coming too East Anglia its just too flat!

 

Thanks Jango,

 

I'll openly admit my map-reading skills leave a lot to be desired.

And wasn't planning on relying on the GPSr for navigation.

 

My first (and only) Munro?

Ben Nevis May 2005

 

To be honest I don't consider myself to be that experienced in "mountain environments"

That's why I'm looking forward to this oportunity of walking with someone that is.

 

Walking on the flat?

Now that's a different story.....

[LooneyWithGPS]

i was up there last year with my brother climbing in the snow was dam hard for a 20 day smoker for 26 years but was fun and worth the aches and pains not forgetting the gasping for air as we climbed. A couple of people lost there lives not long after we came down in a freak gail. Also got some nice photo's i will post if any one is intrested

[+Sue and Bernie]

Bernie is another Norfolk Flatlander (as Jango is) who has visited Cairngorm in in the past.

 

I joined a military adventurous expedition at the last moment when some-one dropped out. I dragged along (as the oldest member) with the young and sprightly mountain leaders doing all the organisation and planning - made a nice change from the normal state of affairs!

 

We went in August 05, I was armed with my trusty Vista Cx and an Ipaq (well-wrapped up) loaded with Memory-Map. Bagged a couple of caches and introduced the whole team to the game.

 

As a novice hill-walker in the company of experienced leaders, I was well taken aback by the foul weather we experienced:

 

Cairngorm - in full Summer!

 

...they used good maps and compasses and their training - but the Vista was dead handy as a backup when the mist flooded in and you couldn't see any distance.