Mountain Weather Reading: The Signs That Most Hikers Miss

Mountain weather changes quickly compared to weather in other parts of the country and most hikers do not recognize the approaching change in weather. Many of the visible signs of weather change are apparent 30 minutes to 1 hour prior to the weather change.

The cloud types to recognize

Cumulonimbus: tall, dark, anvil-shaped. Thunderstorm imminent within an hour. Lenticular clouds: Smooth, symmetric cloud with a lens-like shapes. Strong winds aloft and weather change within hours to days. Mares’ tails (cirrus): These clouds are found at great height, are made up of very fine clouds and signify that a weather change will occur within the space of 12 to 24 hours. Rapidly building Cumulus: starting off as small, small puffy clouds, which grow very tall in the space of just a few minutes. Afternoon thunderstorms very likely.

The wind shifts

A wind shift of 90 degrees or more indicates a front is approaching. Sustained wind speed increase signals approaching weather. Up-valley winds reverse to down-valley before night falls and potentially bringing cooler weather and even a storm.

The barometric reading

A small altimeter, even one mounted on a smart watch, can be a very useful item to read the pressure. And, importantly, a falling pressure means worsening weather; rising pressure means it is improving.

The action thresholds

If you can see tall thunderstorm clouds: go down below tree line in 30 minutes. If wind shifts sharply: shorten the day’s objectives. Fall of 2 hPa in one hour: bad weather is approaching. Prepare for it.

The summary

You can read mountain weather. The signs are visible, the actions are simple. Yet most hikers who get caught out in bad weather weren’t paying attention to the weather. Learn to read the weather and check your mountain weather forecast every hour or so on exposed mountain terrain.

Practical Considerations

Adventure travel rewards careful preparation. The amount of memorable experiences as opposed to unfortunate failures are largely determined by aspects of travel that can be planned at length before embarking. What use is an itinerary that contains backup plans for days and equipment if it is not brought along in the first place? Worth the detour.

The Insurance Question

If you are planning to go trekking above 6000m altitude, scuba diving, rent a motorcycle, or participate in any other type of adventure activities while on your travels, you may find that your travel insurance policy does not cover you. If you have taken out a standard policy it is worth checking your policy documents to see if there are any exclusions relating to the activities you wish to participate in. Many insurance companies now offer so-called ‘adventure riders’ which can be added to your policy for an additional premium. It may cost more upfront but it could save you a fortune in the event of an accident. I keep a small notebook for all such items and this article would be about half the size if I did not refer to them.

The Local Operator Factor

One’s selection of a local guide or local tour operator is far more important than any other single factor when planning adventure travel. This person will ultimately decide whether or not the travel in question is to be a good memorable adventure or a series of negative incidents. Seasoned experienced operators who have run their given itinerary or collection of itineraries for many years will be far better able to handle adverse weather and other extreme natural conditions than their less-experienced counterparts. Thus, reviews for said local tour operators on sites like Traveller’s Point are of significance, but must be complemented by a conversation or two with past clients in order to truly arrive at the correct assessment of their services.

The Takeaway

An even better way to have an adventure is to have a solid physical preparation for the trek, choose a local operator of high quality, buy a good insurance package and have some flexibility for changing weather conditions. All the preparations made will be wasted if you have a very rigid schedule and some nasty weather comes along. The flexibility is as important as the preparation.

The Equipment Question

Adventure travel equipment, even that advertised for “adventure travel, is highly variable in quality and cannot be expected to function as needed even when used under normal conditions. Often items will fail when needed most. High quality equipment, rented at a destination, is far more likely to function as needed than inferior quality items brought from home by tourists prior to their trip.

The Physical Preparation

Most treks involve significant amounts of energetic exercise over several days, the miles of a long multi-day trek slowly draining of travelers as the hours and days tick by. On top of this, hikers also have to contend with the effects of high altitude, tropical heat, or arduous terrain that takes its toll over days, and there is no substitute for weeks and even months of physical training before embarking on the biggest adventure of a person’s life, regardless of whether the trekker intends to climb a summit or just amble lazily through the most wonderful countryside, for it is the miles and hours slowly going by that are really the biggest test, even for well-prepared hikers. Several months prior to traveling, therefore, serious trekkers, rather than dawdling and wasting time preparing sub-standard packs, training ineffectually, acquiring useless bits and bobs, buying loads of utterly unsuitable and often very cheap gear, reading unsuitable guidebooks, and generally dilly-dallying, ought to be steadily amassing the enormous stores of experience, knowledge, physical fitness, mental preparation, physical skill, aptitude, apt, physical prowess, endurance, stamina, strength, resilience, reserve, and energy slowly but surely required in advance to steadily and gradually ascend and tackle an arduous trek.

The Worst-Case Plan

Even the best-organized adventure can go horribly wrong. With that in mind, have you thought about worst-case scenarios before your trip and planned how you will get in touch with family or how you will get back home should an emergency occur? Don’t underestimate the value of two hours’ research before your trip into the ways in which you can be evacuated by helicopter should you need to and where the nearest hospital is. 70% of the time the flight schedules look as they did when you checked in early.

The Mental Game

The hardest moments are mental not physical. On day 5 of a long trek, on day 3 of prolonged adverse weather and when your group splits and half of you want to continue whilst the other half want to retreat the real test of your adventure travel skills is how you cope. Travelers that expect difficulty will find they are better able to handle it than those that expect an easy trip and meet with adversity. If you want to know what to expect from an adventure read the accounts of actual trips – the good and the bad.

What Local Operators Wish You Knew

Local guides know best know how to manage situations if they or their clients get tired. They best know how to take turns and when to continue or change direction. This is something that travelers underestimate greatly. While they complain about the hours their guides want to work, they themselves do not want to stop after hours of physical activity. Guides best know when to continue and when to stop. They best know what local conditions to follow and why some roads are closed while others are open. And they best know when to push their clients and when to let them go. It is rare that something goes wrong with a trek or trip that is organized by an experienced operator. That something goes wrong is almost always the case when travelers want to do things their way against the advice of their local guide.

A Note on This Topic

The key to really getting the most out of your travels and developing real adventure travel skills is to acquire a few simple habits that will make all the difference in your travels. Of course, by simple, I mean easy to acquire, but by no means easy to put into practice. For starters, if you really want to get the most out of your travels, then you should really put in the pre-trip research. I mean more than just the first page of Google search results. If you ask local guides and other travelers for tips, then you can get some really fantastic advice. While traveling, be sure to take lots of notes to keep track of all of the adventures that you are having and places that you visit. At the end of the trip, it will be great to have all of the information from your notes to recall all of the amazing things that you experienced.