It's around 3am and Jon Ascroft is leading
me across Devils Ridge in the Mamores in near perfect conditions. Graham Nash
has stopped at the end of the ridge so he has time to fill our water bottles
from the lochan outflow to save time. There is a little snow collected in
gullies but not much on the path and although the sub zero temperatures have
left a thick layer of frost on all the rocks its not verglas or particularly
slippery. We're doing a Ramsay Round and are already well ahead of schedule but
this is the Highlands in the middle of winter and sure enough it'll get more
interesting before we are done. Over the next couple of hours it starts to
snow, the nav gets difficult, ice axes come out, we have to use crampons for
the first time to descend a steep frozen snow bank and all in all it's got a
whole lot more interesting. It's not full on classic Scottish winter
conditions, but we certainly know it's winter. By the end of the leg we have slipped
from being 20 minutes up on our 22hr schedule to being 26 minutes down but it's
daylight now and the frozen ground means we should be able to move fast on leg
2.
Towards the end of the leg 1 I start to
play back just how on earth I ended up here. It wasn't planned that is for
sure. So how exactly do you end up doing a winter Ramsay by mistake!? Flashback
to Thursday, just over 48 hours ago and I was looking for something to do at
the weekend. The weather in Wales looked good so I was considering a Paddy
Buckley Round. I dropped Konrad Rawlik and Jasmin Paris an email to see if they
fancied a day out. The reply was basically, 'We'd love to but we have a race in
Scotland on Saturday so Wales is a bit too far but if I wanted to get out in
the hills in Scotland on Sunday they would come along'. I'd never considered a
winter Ramsay but looked up the Fort William weather forecast out of daftness
and there was a band of high pressure there too. An idea was forming. A few
emails later and things were out of control, several top runners were up for it
and there was no going back. I was going to attempt a winter Ramsay on the eve
of my 40th birthday. Trepidation rapidly changed to excitement and
before I knew it we were off.
The first we saw of Konrad and Jasmin, my
leg 2 support, was a head torch pointed up the hill through the twilight at us
so we knew where to aim for which was a huge help. Leg 2 takes in the three
hills to the east of Loch Treig. We were fortunate that the boggy ground was
generally frozen and just had a light coating of snow over it so we could move
fast. I drank the coffee and ate the pasta they had brought in for me on the
move and we set to trying to recover the time deficit. It was great fun and the
time seemed to pass really quickly. The wind was still and we were mostly below
the clouds. We gained 1hour and 10 minutes against the schedule in this section
and as a result were 40 minutes ahead of the 22hr schedule by the end of the
leg and I was still eating well and feeling good.
As we came down into Fersit Konrad went
ahead to hand gear on to the leg 3 support but as Jasmin and I got closer we
realised that there was no one there. Maybe they were out of sight? No, they
had been caught out by the pace we were moving and were late (or rather we were
early). There was no fuss, Jasmin set off to find them and Konrad and I set of
on leg 3. Sure enough within a few minutes Shane Ohly, Alex McVey and John Ryan
were chasing us up the hill to be greeted by a friendly shout of “worst support
ever!” from Konrad and a suitable response from Shane. Kit was exchanged and
for the next couple of hours we continued to get further ahead of the schedule
and at one point were an hour and 10 minutes up. However, we still had the big
hills ahead of us and from the mornings experience in the Mamores I suspected
that it might not be easy there. Jon Gay was waiting for us before the Aonachs
where he had cut some steps to help us ascend the frozen snow in Charlie's
Gully. I was starting to tire a little by this point and had layered up a bit
more to stay warm but we were still climbing really well. It was just the
delicate foot placement on the exposed ridges that was becoming more
challenging as my muscles tired. Not surprisingly the Aonachs and CMD proved to
be the most difficult part of the round with us back in darkness, lots of
consolidated snow, sections of ice and a fresh albeit thin layer of snow hiding
the condition of the ground beneath.
We lost a lot of time against the schedule
over this final section using up the entire buffer and some on our way back to
the youth hostel but finished in a time of 22 hours and 23 minutes. I was
delighted to be only the third person to complete a sub 24hr winter Ramsay
Round and am very pleased that its a new fastest winter time. That said there
is still no doubt that the benchmark and best winter round remains Jon Gay's
phenomenal 23 hour 18 minute solo round in classic winter conditions.
It was my best ever birthday party and I
can honestly say I can't think of a way I would have preferred to see out my
30's than in big hills with great friends. It was a very special day.
Paddy Buckley Round 11th February 2017
(Clockwise – Starting from Capel Curig)
The temptation of trying to hold all of the Big 3 fastest
winter times at once (I set the BG fastest time of 18 hours 18minutes in
December 2013) was just too much and as I started to recover from the Ramsay I
began watching the Snowdonia forecast.
I'd first seen the weather window on the 14
day forecast. Flat calm and no precipitation forecast for a 72 hour gap. It was perfect and the fact
that it was still there with 7 days to go indicated some stability to the
forecast so even if the window narrowed a little I should still get the 24
hours I wanted. Happy days.
Another amazing set of support was all
lined up and a bunkhouse arranged to base from so we were good to go.
We started at midnight and by the time we
got to the end of leg 3 we were an hour up on the 19.45 schedule and getting
back to Capel in time for the salsa band at the Siabod cafe at 8pm was looking
like a distinct possibility.
It hadn't been easy by any means. The
promised weather window had not just narrowed but had firmly slammed shut and
was forecast to deteriorate further with even higher winds and snow but the
sooner we got done the more of it we would avoid. The first leg with Andy Berry
had been uneventful, in a good way, as the wind was mainly behind us despite it
snowing lightly from early on. As we turned briefly into the wind in the
Moelwyns and got the full force of the weather into our faces for the first
time it was clear that unless something changed for the better it was going to
be a long, tough day.
Leg 2 was more interesting as a combination
of factors (our early arrival being the main one) resulted in only Nic Barber
being on the leg and my food and kit remaining behind. I was suffering a real
low as we fought our way directly against the wind into the first of many
blizzards on to the top of Moel Hebog. No food, little water, no extra layers,
deteriorating weather, no spare headtorch and my headtorch flashing to say it
would shut down soon conspired to make me feel pretty miserable. Eventually I
voiced my concerns to Nic. It turned out that he had food for two legs, enough
spare kit to last out the winter up there and was confident that we could
manage with one headtorch between two if needs be and pointed out that
regardless “it would get light soon”. So we were good. I cheered up and we
pressed on sharing his cream cheese and salsa sandwiches (yes I know, but
honestly they are so much better than they sound!) We got round without any
real excitement, collected some pasta, a cup of coffee and Jasmin Paris from
Pont Caer Gors and headed off to find Snowdon.
Ant Bethell was waiting for us on the
approach to Snowdon and we cracked on well for the leg. Snow was still falling
and the wind was picking up more but we were in the lee of the hills for parts
of the leg so it never felt too bad.
Very soon we were in Llanberis where Nic
and Ant left having done a cracking job and Konrad Rawlik and Jo Zakrzewski
joined Jasmin and I for leg 4. This is the leg that concerned me most before
setting out and it turned out not without good reason – it was really brutal.
We battled through dreadful weather for the entire leg holding roughly to
schedule until the Glyders and then losing a full hour of time over the final
three summits in thick clag, high winds and a combination of new and drifting
snow.
I was battered by the end of it but decided
to stick with the plan of running straight through the road crossings to
complete the relatively short leg 5 now with quite a posse composed of Konrad,
continuing on, Andy, back for more, Carol Morgan, clearly recovering well from
her record breaking Spine run, Dave Harrison and Liz Barker. I like the
Carneddau leg as it's nice, fast, easy running so you can relax and enjoy it or
at least that's how I used to feel about it. It was really dreadful weather for
this section. Darkness closed in around us just before the top of Pen y Ole Wen
and with the wind now making forward movement hard, whipping snow into our
faces and at times making it hard to stay upright I'd be hard pushed to say I
was enjoying myself. I just fell in line and followed trying to make the most
of the post holes that whoever I was following at any given time was creating.
It's pretty impressive that despite the conditions we only made a couple of
small nav wobbles before heading down toward Capel. We had lost a lot of time
but we were going to get round and a new fastest winter time was still on the
cards although we were going to be late for salsa dancing which had become
somewhat less appealing in the last 20 hours.
We eventually returned to Capel in 21 hour
and 37 minutes which I am delighted with in the conditions. It was another
fantastic day out, a lot of fun (some of it type 2) and again it was a fastest
time to give me the fastest times for all the Big 3 in winter but already
ambition creep was setting in...
Bob Graham round, 20th / 21st
February 2017 (Clockwise)
Having completed my 'accidental' Ramsay
round and then a Paddy both in the same winter it seemed natural to try and
complete the big 3 in one winter which has never been done before but it wasn't
straight forward. The Paddy was complete on the 12th of February
leaving me with just 16 days before the end of winter to fit in a BG. However I
was already committed to a fast High Peak Marathon team for the 3rd
of March and would need as much recovery time as possible for that so I had to
go as soon after the Paddy as I dared if I wasn't to let the HPM team down.
After a week my legs were returning to a reasonable state and I started
watching the weather. I needed a gap that would leave me a minimum of 6 clear
days before the HPM if I was going to do it.
There was really no weather window at all
with sustained upland gales forecast except for what looked like an 8 – 12 hour
lull (where the wind would drop to 15-30mph winds) in the early hours of the
morning of Tuesday the 21st. I would need that 'calm' ideally on the
Scafell ridge which meant I would have to run through high winds for other
parts of the round. It was a long shot but as I figured this would be the only
chance I would ever have to run the 3 in one winter so I took it.
A crack team was rapidly scrambled the
weekend before and without time to dwell on what I was about to do we were off
on a 6pm start. 6 pm is a dreadful time to start in winter. Instead of making
the best use of the daylight you are maximising the night time and where I
normally try and split the daylight to make it easier mentally it would be one
long block and furthermore we would have to do the Scafell ridge in the dark.
As long as the clag didn't come in and the rocks didn't verglas that should be
possible.
Within minutes of setting off I started to
get concerned; the wind was very strong and my legs felt heavy even on the
first climb but I was determined to give it a decent try. As we neared the top
of Skiddaw the group split with Bill Williamson and Jo Zakrzewski dropping back
together after Jo was blown over and Jonny Mally continuing with me to Great
Calva. Jo and Bill headed onto Blencathra to give me much needed food. The leg
was completed in good time and I was handed over to the very capable team of Jasmin
Paris, Steve Birkenshaw, Konrad Rawlik and James Harris for leg 2. The wind
remained strong but was largely from the side so although I felt like I was
taking a beating we were making good time. I was desperately hoping it would
drop as predicted before the Scafell ridge. By Dunmail Raise we were 30 minutes
up on the 21hr schedule so I took a rare break to eat the pasta and drink the
coffee that Martin Stone had prepared. Martin had volunteered himself as road
support through to Wasdale and it was a massive help as well as a psychological
lift.
Leg 3 was always going to be really tough
but with the time buffer I was feeling confident. Shane Ohly and Jeff
Powell-Davies were pacing me and are both really good navigators but a thick
clag came in that was to test us all to our limits as we tried to keep to the
best line but we were often losing even good paths. On Great End we passed
within 6 feet of the cairn and missed it only to be brought to a halt by the
rather pronounced capture feature (large cliff) and we circled back to collect
it. The clag, wind and long night made it really tough but when it finally
started to get light on the descent into Wasdale and we hadn't lost too much
time I knew we would make it and took a little bit of time to eat and chat before
heading off onto leg 4 with Carol Morgan, Mick Allen and Dave Harrison. There
would be no records today but that wasn't the goal – sub 24 hours would be just
fine and would limit fatigue before the High Peak Marathon. Leg 4 was not too
windy and was great fun as we enjoyed the daylight and ticked off the last big
hills. At Honister Andy Blackett joined us and Dave and Carol continued onto
leg 5 too.
Somewhere on the way up Dale Head the
predicted return to upland gales started and it came in really fast. I had a
fair bit left in reserve still so put the hammer down to get off the fells as
fast as possible and then relaxed once we had dropped into the relative shelter
of Newlands valley for the run home. Moot hall soon came into view and we
finished in a respectable 20:26 to complete the Big 3 in 1 winter.
Huge thanks to all
of the following for their help and support on the 3 rounds (in order of
appearance): Jon Ascroft, Graham Nash, Jasmin Paris, Konrad Rawlik, Shane Ohly,
Alex McVey, John Ryan, Jon Gay, Andrew Berry, Nic Barber, Carol Morgan, Dave
Harrison, Clive King, Liz Barker, Ant Bethell, Jo Zakrzewski, Paul Hodges and
all at the Siabod Cafe, Bill Williamson, Jonny Mally, Martin Stone, Steve
Birkenshaw, James Harris, Jeff Powell-Davies, Mick Allen and Andy Blackett.
Special thanks to Margarita
Grigoriadi who has got me in such good shape and helped me manage my
recovery and for the support from Hangar 18, Start Fitness, Inov8, & OMM.
I have been asked a lot about what kit I
used and when I thought about it there were six items I simply wouldn't want to
set out without:
1.
inov8 X-Talon 190 shoes – My
usual shoe is the Mudclaw but I used the same pair of X-Talons for all 3 rounds
and found that they were really good on all surfaces even ice and verglas where
the Muclaw can be a bit flighty.
2.
Hangar 18 leggings – I don't
know what fabric they are using but these are amazing, they shed water fast,
stay warm and are comfortable. I wore the same pair for all 3 rounds and
through deep snow, blizzards, rain etc I didn't once have to put waterproof
trousers over the top.
3.
OMM Aether Smock – I have only
had this a couple of months. Its really light, breaths well and really keeps
the weather out.
4.
Sealskin socks – they are sold
as waterproof although clearly if you are crossing streams your feet will get
wet, but crucially they do always keep my feet warm.
5.
Goretex over mits – keeping
hands warm is really important and I've found that overmits are far better than
any other gloves or glove combination. My pair are a generic ebay purchase.
6.
Camp Corsa Ice axe – I use a
50cm. Its only 200g so its light enough that you don't think twice about
carrying it.
No comments:
Post a Comment