Project 1111 - What and Why

Sunrise from Cairngorm Lodge Youth Hostel

What was it?

The idea was to be at 1111m on a mountain at 11:11am on this day  - 11/11/11, or if you are American, 11/11/11   ;-)   (Or corduroy day if you read the Guardian!  )  What a great number!

Beautiful Autumn colours

As the joke says, "There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't!"

Wow, Loch Morlich looking gorgeous

It was a pocket sized challenge, difficult only in terms of timing really and having the motivation to get out the door.  Something to add interest to a day on the hill and a singularly unique number.  These little challenges, mini adventures, are great motivation!

Why?

Why not?  I had read last year how someone had been up a 1010m hill on the 10/10/10 and I thought that it sounded very "neat".   This year gave the opportunity to be even neater! (I am not sure what this

Ptarmigans

says about my personality.....)  So I put the date in my diary and booked the day off ages ago.   I had just about forgotten about it until a couple of weeks ago when I saw it in my diary and so I thought I had better plan something.

Where?

Initially I Googled "1111m munro" to see what came up and the obvious one was a Top in Glen Feshie - Sgoran Dubh Mor - at the magic 1111m.   So the idea was set - head up there at be on that summit at 11:11am.

Looking back to Loch Morlich

However like all my adventures it didn't quite work out.  Marian needed to be back in Edinburgh for 530pm and I wanted her on this hill too (although the idea of being single on this series of 1's was attractive) so we would need to be away from Glen Feshie by 2:30   Then we looked at the approach.  I reckoned on about 2:30 hours to the top, maybe 3 hours.  So it would be an early start.....and the weather was looking dodgy anyway....and possibly pushing it to get back to the car in time.....I needed the motivation from the One.

So after a bit of deliberation I said "Stuff it, lets just be AT 1111m, not necessarily on a summit."  Given the weather forecast - very windy and cloud on the tops I wanted something easy....so it was Cairngorm.  It ticked all the boxes - big and straightforward.  It was my challenge....my rules.

How

That was another challenge.  If it had been a summit then we wouldn't have had to worry about finding the right height.  This  was more complex.  I do not have an altimeter and  even with my great micro-navigation skills (!)  I was not going to find 1111m on my map.  iPhone app to the rescue and I downloaded Altimeter+  which promised accuracy based on GPS and some other top secret satellite calculation.....hmmm perhaps

We were off at 9am, Ptarmigan restaurant at 10 for a wee and then on up the hill again.  I checked the height at about 1030am and we were well past it

what great light

so rather than hang round for 40 minutes  we battled up to the top of cairngorm - very very windy  - and then got blown back down.  Seriously one of the windiest day's I've ever had on the hill.  I crouched behind the cairn at the summit and the altimeter said 1245m - spot on - which was reassuring.

I checked the height and found a point where depending on how I stood the elevation wobbled between 1109 and 1113.   It would have to do.  Then wondrously it hit 1111m!  at 11:08!

The Ptarmigan Restaurant

cloud and wind

It was then all about waiting for THE time ..... and I even got a photo of the height of 1111m at 11:11 on the phone.  Of course it was not that accurate but all this is a bit arbitrary and random anyway!  We enjoyed it and were very impressed by the neat numbers!!!  Very tidy

What did I learn?

Erm....it was wonderfully pointless!  There was no mystical oneness.  We impose meaning on all our experiences.  This gave a short mountain walk even more meaning.  It was nothing special in terms of athleticism or endurance......but it is something that I will always remember, something unique.    I love being in the hills and this was just another excuse to be on a big mountain, getting blown about, away from my desk and the worries of work.  It was a modest achievement, unique really.  Of course all these

1111m at 11:11 on 11/11/11

numbers are quite random, chance classifications that only happen to be consistent....to give the corduroy number of 1111.....but it was all very tidy, very neat......and I liked that!


The rest of the photos are on Picasa if you are interested.