Drakensberg Wilderness Hiking South Africa - Mountain of the Dragons - Where Adventure beckons.....: HIKING THE WILDERNESS

“I SOLO HIKE THE WILDERNESS, NOT TO ESCAPE LIFE, BUT FOR LIFE NOT TO ESCAPE ME”

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HIKING THE WILDERNESS

LIGHTNING

Of all the hazards that can best you in the wilderness, it is certain that being struck by lightning is one of the most terrifying. That bolt from the blue can zap you without warning, melting your boots to your feet and reducing you to a smoking heap. And it’s so hard to get away from, too – especially if you are high up or in the forest. Well, that does not have to be the case. One of the reasons why you should take an interest in the weather around you is so that you can avoid being on that knife-edge ridge in a thunderstorm.

Warning signs

Your best source of information for thunderstorms and the menace of lightning is the weather forecast. And if storms are predicted for your area, amend your plans – it’s better to spend a few hours in the outdoor shops. If you do get caught out, there are a few steps you can take to avoid becoming toast.

If you hear thunder or see lightning, don’t hang around for the rain to come, get to safety as quickly as you can. If you can hear the rumble of thunder the storm is probably only 10-16km away. You can see lightning a lot further off, usually up to 24km away, but in the hills your visibility and the sound of the thunder may be obscured and deflected by valleys and ridges. When you see the flash start counting. Stop when you hear the bang. Divide your result by 3 for a metric answer and by 5 for a distance in miles. If your result is between 5 and 8km, you are in the usual strike zone for lightning, and therefore most at risk.

Protect and survive

The best places to shelter from the rain are often the worst places to avoid lightning. Tall trees are natural lightning conductors, but caves and overhangs too will conduct electricity around you and your body will act as a conducting core.

If you are in a forest, see if you can find a patch of younger trees. If you’re on rocky terrain, see if you can find a boulder. Sit on your rucksack with your head down and your hands on your knees. You don’t need to throw out all your metal ware – lightning has bigger fish to fry than being drawn by your ice axe, walking poles, camera or crampons – but it may be sensible to lay them to one side. The middle of a well-drained slope is probably the best place to be.

Clouds

If you take a little time to learn which clouds are associated with the different types of approaching weather you can impress your friends with forecasting prowess in the wilderness. If you only learn to identify two – learn cirrus, the high level, wispy clouds that precede a warm front and follow a cold one, and cumulonimbus, the angry thunderclouds which foretell severe weather.

Wind chill

However cold the air temperature actually is, you will feel colder if there is also a wind blowing. Wind chill is the dramatic factor loved by news reporters because it sounds so dramatic: ‘Although the air temperature was just above freezing, wind chill on the remote farm saw temperatures plummet to -10! There can be no doubt that the wind chill is a killer – it’s a measure of how your body reacts to the conditions of cold air being blown against it. Freezing air will cause you more harm faster if it hits you at 50kmh! If the ambient temperature is -5 degree Celsius and there is a 20kmh wind blowing, the temperature will feel to you as if it is more like -12 degrees Celsius.

How does this affect the Wilderness hiker?

You have to be prepared for the conditions you’ll find in the wilderness. It’s not just the case of checking to see if it’s going to rain. High winds can make ridge walking very dangerous. Snowfall can occur even in summer at altitude, rain will swell watercourses making route changes necessary, and poor visibility will slow you down, even if your navigation is Exocet-like.

The moral is, keep your eye on the weather reports before you go. Get accurate forecasts, and understand how they will affect you on the ground in the Wilderness and Mountains.

We as hikers, explorers, and adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses. Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!

The End.

Safe Hiking.