Author Topic: Glencoe & Harvey Maps  (Read 2224 times)

Lyle Brotherton

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Glencoe & Harvey Maps
« on: January 27, 2012, 11:33:25 AM »
The first time I used a Harveys map was in Glencoe. Fiona Poulter, Ochills MRT member, and I were guiding two groups. Fiona’s were to do the Ben, which she knows well and was comfortable with her OS 1:25 000 and my group my group had chosen Sgorr na Ciche (aka the Pap of Glencoe), not a hill I had done before, so Fiona kindly lent me her Harveys.

Previously I had received a call from my good Friend Stu Johnston, of climbmts.co.uk, to ask if I could help out with a large corporate group for which he had arranged various mountain activities over a weekend.

I usually do not work with members of the general public, probably because of a lack of experience, as I had only ever previously worked with two groups before. On one occasions one of them started to undress to swim in a lochen and I had a lot of problems stopping her from doing this, and on the other occaision two folk arrived wearing trainers and I refused to take them onto the hill - how to make friends and influence people! So it was with reticence that I agreed.

The weather forecast was rain with intermittent bright spells and the day started bright. We parked up at the bridge just outside Glencoe, and the six of us trundled off. The group I was leading were fascinating, all corporate high-flyers, two guys and three very good-looking women, and I soon made the first cardinal mistake of navigation, which Tim Corby admitted to in his recent posting, I did not concentrate.

We started up, what I assumed, was the beginning of the track, only to find it was somebody's driveway.

So we headed back to the road and I took the easy option of asking some passersby where the track started, I could see the confidence draining from my groups faces. As we started the climb the weather started to come in, low cloud and initially drizzle. Added to this the ground was water-logged, and looking at my Harveys map appeared to be scattered with rocky outcrops and scree, I took the executive decision to contour round to Meall Garbh.



We travelled for some time through the mist and as we started to climb, at around 500m we rose above the cloud cover and Meall Garbh’s summit stood above us. The approach from the north appeared on the map to be littered with scree and consequntly I decided to climb it from the south. At times, ropes were needed, more for comfort, as it was a low grade scramble.



On reaching the summit the views over Loch Leven towards Mull nan Coirean 938m and Sgurr a Mhaim 1098m were magnificent, Scotland at its best.



Cameras and smiles appeared and one of the group asked how high Sgorr na Ciche was and, studying my Harveys map, I replied no as it was 741m, to which she informed me that this was the highest she had climbed before. So you can imagine their faces when I then told them that we were actually at 866m on a completely different mountain – second mistake, always inform your group of your planned route and any route changes.
 
Fired up with lunch and ambitionthe group decided that they stillwanted toclimb Sgorr na Ciche and we set off west towards this mountain. The weather was closing in and this group were new to big hills, I knew it would be irresponsible to take them on this venture, so part way down I stopped and told them the story of the Bishop of Auckland and Pollards Land. It is a story my grandfather told me when I was young and in turn I told to my kids, so not only was I well versed in it I could string it out for hours. As the group chilled so did their enthusiasm and then the moment arrived when one, followed by the others, suggested that it might be better to return back to the vehicles –phew!


That night back at the lodge we sank copious quantities of beer and enjoyed a terrific evening, there were a good group.

So maybe the real reason that I only work with mountain rescue team members is that they at least can keep me on track!

I found the Harveys maps cluttered and the level of detail difficult, plus the scale, 1:40 000 threw me. For my books research I worked with many different scale maps from 1:30 000 in Austria to 1:18 000 in Russia and consequently feel comfortable using different scales nowadays.

I still however struggle with Harveys, actually any map with phenomenal detail I prefer not to use. Objectively (and immodestly), it could be that because in reality I have done nothing but navigate, write about navigation or instruct navigation every day for the last 10 years and it has become second nature to me, I now continually use every technique from celestial to environmental. Added to this the vast majority of my navigation is in mountainous areas where contours are the gold standard.

Subjectively, I love Ordnance Survey, for its history, that I learned to navigate using it, that it is a great British creation that the rest of the world try to emulate but never somehow quite succeed. So for all my trips, OS is my map of choice.
 

« Last Edit: January 27, 2012, 01:25:33 PM by Lyle Brotherton »
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Callum

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Re: Glencoe & Harvey Maps
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2012, 03:21:27 PM »
After using the Harveys mapping for our excursion to the North Yorkshire Moors (thanks for the recommendation John C) I am a convert. Far superior to OS and the detail is not confusing Lyle, I really do recommend that you persevere because I think you too may become a convert - Us Old F*rts have to stick together ;)