Here is my trip report with my new woodsman x ukhammock in the southern parts of the French alps in the winter. Till now I only have used the WB
ridgerunner, because I normally am a side sleeper. But I wanted to try something else. Somewhat lighter (500 gram/17 ounces instead of 700 gram/ 24.6 ounces for my WBRR with carbon spreader bars) and I think better in colder conditions because you are sleeping more between the down than in a bridge hammock. (Just my point of view though.)
I had perfect crispy dry sunny weather I think comparable to Yosemite, late spring, early autumn. Some snow, about 20-30 cm (1 foot) on the mountain tops. Still passable without snow shoes. Although sometimes hard.
Lovely scenery, see pictures. Quite lonely, once a day you will pass a small or abandoned vilage. I was the only one hiking. Getting food can be a
problem if you want to cook yourself. Although restaurants are in France spreaded like cockroaches. If desperate for food, just walk for max. 5 miles,
look for a road, walk till you see 5 houses, and you will be sure 1 of them is a restaurant. But still I prefer my cooking style non urban, woods. For
buying food, you have to walk about 3 days and mostly you will encounter a small shop. But be warned, the country hinterland of France is quite desolate.
And in France a bakery is always closed between 12:30 and 15:30, thats a tradition.
Nightlife.
Owls, deers etc. And the opportunity to have some thee chat with some left behind grandma's in the abandoned villages. Thats it.
For walking you will need a healthy condition as I was surprised how often I had to descent or ascent. Almost no straight walking. But you will get used
to it and be rewarded with spectacular sights. Road finding is normally easy with good signs (red/white stripes on rocks, trees etc.) every 200 to 500
meters / 0.12-0.18 miles. Only in snowy conditions it can be hard. Luckily I had a GPS and the wild animals seem to use the same trail. So mostly you will be fine following the deer tracks in the snow. One day I had a sheep dog (see picture) walking with me for about 6 hours, just running ahead and knowing which route I should take. Looking behind for waiting me to follow him. It was my best friend in the mountains.
I really liked my new gathered end hammock. Its light, easy to set up. And I just love the way the down is folding around me. More then in the bridge
hammock I had the feeling I was sleeping on clouds. And was absolute warmer in the gathered end hammock with the same quilt setup. At -10 Celsius (14 F) I still was cooking and had to step out 2-3 times a night to let go some heat. One night I was experimenting with some layers of space blankets (see picture) up and down my under quilt, to see if this would be applicable to extreme colds. Not sure yet. I just dont like the sweaty feeling you get. Anyhow I was absolute warm enough at -15 Celsius (5 F), without.
The only negative I can say about the gathered end hammock is that side sleeping is possible but by far not as good comparing to a my WBRR. So I got used to sleeping on my back. But when used to it, no problems at all, I couldnt be more comfortable. I think sleeping on your back is in gathered end hammock softer and with less pressure points then in bridge hammock. I wasnt aware that I needed to shift my sleeping position once sleeping. In my bridge
hammock I always was waking up some seconds if I had to shift position.
Overall an excellent trip. If you like walking in Europe at winter time, I absolutely can recommend this.
Transport:
- Airport Nice
- Train to Menton and Annot.
- Public transport is very easy, cheap and convenient. About every small town in France has some means of public transport. Also hitchhiking is no problem.
Time:
- Total of 2 weeks of walking.
- Last week of december 2013 and first week of januari 2014
Route:
- Starting Menton - Gospel - GR 52, starting at 0 meters to 1100 meters.
- Gospel - Puget Theniers - GR510
- Annot - Collmars - GR Traversee Des Prealpes. Up to 1800 meters.
Track:
- Total: about 180 km / 112 miles
- Southern alps near Nice in France
- Max height: 1800 meters (5905 feet)
- Average: 900 meters (300 feet)
- Daily uphill or downhill: about 1500/2000 meters (4900/6560 feet), almost no straight walking. So its quite heavy.
Conditions:
- Dry and sunny. In two weeks time, only one afternoon and morning, light rain/snow. No wind.
- Mountains South sunny side: about +10/+15 Celsius (50/59 F)
- Mountains North cold/wet side: about -2/+5 Celsius (28.4/41 F)
- Nights Valley: 0/-5 Celsius (32/23 F)
- Nights mountain top (+1000 meters): -5/-15 Celsius (23/5 F)
Gear list:
- Hammock: Ukhammock Woodsman X hammock (single) (instead of my old WB riderunner, I think in the winter with a good UQ a gathered end hammock is warmer, you are more snugged in the down)
- Tarp: Warbonnet Cloudburst. Unhappily I didnt got my Hammockgear Cuben Fiber Tarp in time, so I used my old tarp. But I had dry conditions so didnt have to carry around heavy wet syl nylon. (Reason why I ordered CF)
- Under Quilt: UKhammock winter UQ + 100 gram extra down, total 600 gram
- Top Quilt: UKhammock winter TQ 500 gram down
- Backpack: ULA catalyst
- Cooking: Trail Designs TiTri Fissure for Snow Peak Trekk 1400 Pot, for wood and alcohol cooking. Wood cooking used for melting snow.
- Shoes: Hanwag real custom made, Yukon style. Good for the harder steep parts (and there where a lot of it)
- Clothing: Light layers of merino wool, separate down arm sleeves, down body warmer
- VBL-Liner: Mountain Equipment Ultralite Bivi, not really needed. Used for wet and cold conditions. I had only cold and crispy dry conditions, no problem
whatsoever with condensation- Trekking poles: Leki carbon
- GPS: Garmin 600 + Topo France Pro (excellent map - 1:25.000, obligatory for walking in France, opensource maps are in France only good for cycling, not for hiking in the mountains, you won't be finding the small trails.)
- Maps: IGN 164, 165, excellent maps, good for an overview (1:100.000) and a nice addition to the GPS. Price each 7.60 euro.
- Steps counting: Digi-walker yamax SW 700
Pictures:
Nr1: the route
Nr2: Menton
Nr3: Going uphill with sight on Menton and Monaco
Nr4: First look at the back country with mountains
Nr5: Some experimenting whith space blankets, for extreem colds
Nr6: Sight to the seaside
Nr7: An abandoned church in ancient village (three houses).
Nr8: Enough water
Nr9: The French sugar mountains, almost like China.
Nr10: The village La Tour
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