May 31, 2012
May 29, 2012
900ml panset, mug, remote gas stove (with preheat tube), windshield, pan scourer, pot cosy: 374g.

900ml panset, mug, remote gas stove (with preheat tube), windshield, pan scourer, pot cosy: 374g.

Plausible deniability

I’d intended something interesting in China this Spring: an unsupported, continuous East-West traverse of the Tian Shan, from Urumqi to the Kazakh border at Korgas. Travelling light on foot at or about the 3000-4000m watershed, carrying food for a couple of weeks at a time, dropping out to small villages for the occasional resupply; no maps available, no communications, no realistic chance of rescue if it all went wrong. It would’ve qualified as an ‘adventure’, I think.

It might still happen - but not this year. Even as I was fleshing out the details, it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t a go-er at the present time. The violence in Xinjiang kicked off again (link - and no, I haven’t been able to see that page here). It complicates access in a region that is already paranoid about foreigners. Recent developments have only complicated the relationship between the Chinese and us bignoses (BBC link).

All that might have been manageable if it hadn’t been for China tightening up visa regulations. In order to come here this time, I had to get a letter of invitation from my Chinese partner, flagging her up on the state radar. If I misbehave, any of the shitstorm I might generate rolls back down onto her. That’s an unacceptable risk, one I’m not willing to take. Popping into the hills for a few days at a time is probably OK, but not an unexplained absence of a month or more.

May 27, 2012
The eating done, it was time for Dr Song to discover her inner pyro. She’s a thoroughly urbanised Han, but she grew up in the 1970s. Like many of her generation she spent her childhood living in a low brick compound, all the heating and cooking done on cast iron pot-bellied stoves, trapping wild birds to supplement a meat deficient diet. In the hills above Houxia, she was soon gathering firewood and tending the flames like an old hand. Her generation is the tough, resourceful one that’s facilitated China’s insane progress over the last couple of decades. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next; like their British counterparts, modern Chinese youths seem good for bugger all except moping round their bedrooms, tapping away at smartphones and updating their social networking profiles.

The eating done, it was time for Dr Song to discover her inner pyro. She’s a thoroughly urbanised Han, but she grew up in the 1970s. Like many of her generation she spent her childhood living in a low brick compound, all the heating and cooking done on cast iron pot-bellied stoves, trapping wild birds to supplement a meat deficient diet. In the hills above Houxia, she was soon gathering firewood and tending the flames like an old hand. Her generation is the tough, resourceful one that’s facilitated China’s insane progress over the last couple of decades. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next; like their British counterparts, modern Chinese youths seem good for bugger all except moping round their bedrooms, tapping away at smartphones and updating their social networking profiles.

The only way to lure Dr Song into the hills for a weekend’s walking and camping is the promise of good food at the end of the day. With a decent veg curry and spicy kebabs out of the way, it was time for the biggie: spatchcock chicken! Washed, seasoned, rolled into a ball and frozen; it’s surprising how small a whole chicken folds down once you’ve cut out its spine and broken its ribs. Wrapped in tinfoil, bubble wrap and more tinfoil, it was still nicely chilled even after a full day on the go in hot weather. Perfect tender flesh and charred, seared skin - it was possibly the best chicken I’ve ever tasted…

The only way to lure Dr Song into the hills for a weekend’s walking and camping is the promise of good food at the end of the day. With a decent veg curry and spicy kebabs out of the way, it was time for the biggie: spatchcock chicken! Washed, seasoned, rolled into a ball and frozen; it’s surprising how small a whole chicken folds down once you’ve cut out its spine and broken its ribs. Wrapped in tinfoil, bubble wrap and more tinfoil, it was still nicely chilled even after a full day on the go in hot weather. Perfect tender flesh and charred, seared skin - it was possibly the best chicken I’ve ever tasted…

May 22, 2012

TGOzzzzz

The most challenging aspect of the TGOC is wading through the mindfuckingly tedious blog posts it seems to generate.

And what is it with the more anal participants posting all their own food ahead? I know the Scottish diet is a bit lacking, but this breathless advocacy favours an approach that contributes nothing to local economies except a fortnight’s worth of faeces (derived from calories purchased elsewhere). Tourism taken to its logical endpoint, good one.

May 21, 2012
Presenting the FMS-118T…..! Of course, I have been unable to resist swapping out all the titanium bits from the 117T onto the 118, thus giving myself a remote gas stove with preheating tube at a total weight <121g. I’ll pay for this by selling a few FMS-118s on Ebay in a month or two.

Presenting the FMS-118T…..! Of course, I have been unable to resist swapping out all the titanium bits from the 117T onto the 118, thus giving myself a remote gas stove with preheating tube at a total weight <121g. I’ll pay for this by selling a few FMS-118s on Ebay in a month or two.

May 20, 2012
Some rather nice pics on the UKC site at the moment. I particularly like this one, stitched together from multiple long exposure night-time shots; the Milky Way, bent into an arc by wide angle lens distortion, looks just incredible.

Some rather nice pics on the UKC site at the moment. I particularly like this one, stitched together from multiple long exposure night-time shots; the Milky Way, bent into an arc by wide angle lens distortion, looks just incredible.

May 19, 2012
May 16, 2012
The Fire Maple FMS-117T 98g titanium stove (left) and the FMS-118&#160;146g stainless steel model (with preheat tube). I&#8217;ve been using the latter for a few weeks and like it a lot: quick, decent range of output, frugal on the fuel. Most of the excess weight in the 118 is down to the brass base unit and preheat tube. My one niggle is that the stainless steel legs get pretty hot, then take a long time to cool down. For that reason alone I intend swapping out the leg assembly with the 117T; the weight saving is so negligible as to be irrelevant.

The Fire Maple FMS-117T 98g titanium stove (left) and the FMS-118 146g stainless steel model (with preheat tube). I’ve been using the latter for a few weeks and like it a lot: quick, decent range of output, frugal on the fuel. Most of the excess weight in the 118 is down to the brass base unit and preheat tube. My one niggle is that the stainless steel legs get pretty hot, then take a long time to cool down. For that reason alone I intend swapping out the leg assembly with the 117T; the weight saving is so negligible as to be irrelevant.

May 15, 2012

New miracle weight loss programme

It started with a rumbling stomach and a couple of dodgy toilet stops, but by evening I was dashing out of the tent every half an hour, shitting water through the eye of a needle. It was the worst case of the squits I’ve ever had (that didn’t involve simultaneous projectile vomiting in an Indian/Nepalese stylee, at least). By dawn I was a withered husk of a man with a glowing ringpiece, so I decided to walk out in case symptoms continued. The two hour bus ride back to town wasn’t as traumatic as it could’ve been, simply because my digestive tract was completely empty. Out of curiosity, I weighed myself when I got back to the flat - a weight loss of four kilogrammes over the space of a weekend!

As high as I got this trip. I&#8217;d scoped out the way forward, the weather was good and I had enough food, crampons and ice axe - but luck isn&#8217;t with me this season, it seems.

As high as I got this trip. I’d scoped out the way forward, the weather was good and I had enough food, crampons and ice axe - but luck isn’t with me this season, it seems.

In a month&#8217;s time these rivers will be raging torrents of meltwater, but for now they&#8217;re still clogged with winter ice, making it easy to get in along the gorges.

In a month’s time these rivers will be raging torrents of meltwater, but for now they’re still clogged with winter ice, making it easy to get in along the gorges.