Don’t forget that the clocks change this Sunday morning, and losing an hour in the evenings can leave the unwary caught out. That’s no big deal in the valley, but if you are out on the mountain it’s suddenly serious. With most mountain rescue call outs being a result of an incident caused by navigational error, knowing and seeing where you are is especially important. This week please check your head torch is in good working order, and put it in your rucksack, so you are ready for the clock changing.

If you are checking the suitability of a head torch, you’ll see most manufacturers quote lumens as a measure of the light output. As with most kit, the more you spend, the brighter the head torch. However, there’s a balance to be achieved, in that you don’t need (or want) to light up the whole mountain. You just need to illuminate where you are. To put it in easy terms, a household 60W lightbulb generates roughly 800 lumens. When considering what head torch to use on a mountain, between 60 and 100 lumens is ideal, as it provides enough light.

When selecting equipment for our Windermere store, we selected the Black Diamond Cosmo head torch (link), and is in the photo above. It has 1 Double Power LED, 2 Single Power white LEDs and 1 Single Power red LED. On the maximum setting it emit 70 lumens, and uses 3 AAA batteries (included). It is also protected against sprayed water (IPX 4). All our course clients get a whopping 20% discount off all equipment in our store, with free postage to a UK address, so let us know if you’d like to order one of these great Cosmo head torches…