Training weekend 12/13th Feb - The Lakes

This weekend I headed down to the Lake District with my better-half to have a look at some of the Bob Graham Round.

DAY 1: On Saturday we decided to recce the leg between Threkeld and Dunmail Raise (14 miles and 1830m ascent). This leg includes the following 12 tops:
 

Top	Mountain	Height (ft)
4	Clough Head	2382
5	Great Dodd	2807
6	Watson's Dodd	2584
7	Stybarrow Dodd	2756
8	Raise	2889
9	White Side	2832
10	Helvellyn Lower Man	3033
11	Helvellyn	3116
12	Nethermost Pike	2910
13	Dollywaggon Pike	2810
14	Fairfield	2864
15	Seat Sandal	2863

The weather started out pretty claggy, which meant some good navigation practice for me!! Once we got to the top of Clough Head I couldn't believe the terrain! The Dodds are super 'runnable' with easy gradients and grass/bog underfoot. The tops passed quickly, with some steeper pulls up from Sticks Pass at 735m (up to Raise at 884) and then again on to Helvellyn Lower Man at 925m.


Clough Head

The Dodds!



  



  

The ridge path across the Helvellyn plateau gives spectacular views (through the swirling mist) onto the classic scrambles Swirral Edge and Striding Edge. I couldn't believe how busy these famous tops are compared to most of the mountains in Scotland (even on a driech day in February!)

All the way along to way Dollywaggon Pike, the ground feels fairly flat but there is always a steep drop to your left. From Dollywaggon Pike there is a significant loss of height down to Grisedale Tarn (our lunch spot!) at 705m. Here you have a route choice around the tarn, which means you either summit Fairfield as part of a loop or as an out and back from the col at Grisedale Hause. We chose the loop and climbed the bank of a river steeply to Cofa Pike (col).



Dollywaggon Pike

Grisedale Tarn

Fairfield was a mysterious flat landscape, littered with what seemed to be multiple possible summits hidden in the mist. Dropping down the steep scree/path to Grisedale Hause revealed a final steep slope up to the last summit of the day; Seat Sandal. By now the cloud was lifing and fine views were being revealed all around.

Descending Fairfield with our route over
Helvellyn in the backdrop

Seat Sandal proved a great view point and the descent to the valley floor at Dunmail Raise was initially quite runnable but soon became rather steep as we picked our way down. A short walk along the foot path brought us to the van at the carpark. 


Seat Sandal



Back to the van...

This first day had me convinced that the Lakeland Fells were litterally MADE for running. I felt guilty just walking in some places and it was hard not to scamper just a tiny bit!!!

DAY 2: On the Sunday the weather was evil - very heavy rain (snowing on the tops) and increasingly gusty winds. Nevertheless, we were determined to make the most of our visit and set out to recce the tops in what is traditionally the leg from Honister Pass to Keswick. This leg includes the following tops only:

Top	Mountain	Height (ft)
40	Dalehead	2473
41	Hindscarth	2385
42	Robinson	2417

Because we had to be getting back to Scotland, we started from Little Town (west of Keswick) and walked up the river valley north of Dale Head, crossing the river and then rising steeply through crags across the back of the coire until we reached the ridge rising to Dale Head (from the col near Dalehead Tarn). With the howling wind in our faces we met the track from Honister at the summit of Dale Head.

From here it is easy in poor visibility to continue on to Robinson without remembering the dogleg to Hindscarth. Nevertheless, we arrived at the summit, stopping briefly before following a bearing slightly down Little Dale and across to pick up the track/fence at Littledale Edge to Robinson. By now the rain had stopped and the winds were dropping. The sun tried to push through but sadly we were awareded little view from the top of Robinson. However, as soon as we dropped down from the summit of Robinson the valley opened out before us and we could see a stunning waterfall to our right and Keswick in the distance. It must be said that the descent over the ridge at High Snab Bank, is a lovely (would-be) runnable section (albeit with a very steep grass slope plummiting to the lovely Newlands Church at the bottom) - testing for those knees!  



View descending from Robinson towards Keswick

Nevisport as Sponsor

Thank you VERY much to Nevisport (Fort William) who have agreed to sponsor the UK Big 3 Challenge by donating kit/clothing for me to test on the hill.

Nevisport was founded in 1970 in Fort William, by two rock climbers, lifelong friends and mountaineering partners (Ian Sykes MBE and Ian Sutherland). Only yesterday, Ian Sykes became the fourth recipient of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture!  This prestigious annual award recognizes and celebrates the achievements and accomplishments of one inspiring individual and their outstanding contributions to Scotland's mountains. Both Sykes and Sutherland were then, and still are, active members of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team. In addition to selling climbing gear, they added a selection of camping equipment to the first store in hopes of making a living from the hobby that had turned into a viable business. Nevisport now sells a wide range of outdoor sports gear from winter snowsports to summer walking. Visit them online at http://www.nevisport.com/ or call 01397 704921 

Accommodation and support

DATES DECIDED: 16-28th May 2011

For the Paddy Buckley round I have booked accommodation with the Pen y Gwryd hotel. This is a long established and traditional British mountaineer's hotel in Snowdonia. Located at the foot of Snowdon,  it was once the training headquarters for Hillary and Tenzing in preparation for their successful Mount Everest expedition in 1953. Thank you to the owners, who have pledged to make a donation towards the UK Big 3 Challenge charities, following my stay there in May. For information visit: http://www.pyg.co.uk/ For bookings: 01286 870211



For the Bob Graham round I have booked accommodation with the Wasdale Head Inn. This world-famous inn is surrounded by England's tallest mountains and claims to be the birthplace of british climbing! Thank you to the new owners, who have offered a complimentary room in support of the UK Big 3 Challenge.  For information visit: http://www.wasdale.com/ For bookings:  019467 26229 

Wasdale Head is remotely situated, so for some legs of the Bob Graham Round, I plan to stay in self-catering accommodation in the Keswick area.

Style!

As I dig deeper into what this challenge is going to require, I have begun to realise that it is truly of epic proportion! This has affected my ideas on logistics and 'style' (i.e. what is possible!) After many kind offers of company from friends and family, I have decided to stick with my original plan and attempt the UK Big 3 solo. By this I mean that I will be doing all the legs by myself.

I have decided however, that in the name of being 'fast-and-light', I am going to spend my nights in local accommodation (with a bath and comfy bed!) rather than camping enroute. This will allow me to do the rounds without carrying camping equipment everywhere with me. This will certainly be the case in Wales and the Lake District, although in Scotland I will be camping in bothies along the way.

For the Paddy Buckley round and Bob Graham round I have decided to accept an offer of help from a family 'support team' who will follow me round the country, driving me here there and everywhere! This will maximise time for rest and has enabled me to starting book accommodation early.

WaterAid's Corbett Challenge

11th June 2011...

This year, WaterAid are returning to the Corbett Challenge so why not conquer a mountain for WaterAid and experience some of the most stunning scenery and amazing views the UK has to offer.  

The event will be bigger and better than ever before and WaterAid are aiming to have a team of walkers not just on every one of Scotland’s Corbetts, but on every peak measuring 2,500 – 3,000 feet across the UK between 11am and 3pm on the 11^th June!   Whilst not the highest mountains in the UK , they are arguably some of the best mountains around and include many of the UK’s favourite walks from Ben Loyal in Northern Scotland to the Brecon Beacons in Wales. 

For those who want a gentle stroll to those who are after a more extreme challenge there is a Corbett to suit you!  We have even linked mountains in Scotland and Wales so if you are looking to push yourself even further why not take on 2, 3 or even 4 mountains in a day!  

To take part, you need a team of between 4 and 7 people, who should all be over 18 and willing to commit to raising £100 each for WaterAid. The registration process will only take a few minutes, but make sure that you have all the details you need for you and your team before you start.  WaterAid are limiting the numbers up the mountains so sign up today!

For more information and to register please visit the website at http://www.corbettchallenge.org/ or alternatively please contact WaterAid on corbettchallenge@wateraid.org if you have any questions....

Training Weekend 5/6th February

For training this weekend, my friend Arlene and I decided to put away some miles (40 of em)!



Loch a Chealaich Leamhain

DAY 1: Given the gale force winds that we had seen on Friday (and were forecast to continute over the weekend), we chose a low-level but long walk from Moy (432830) to Corrour station (23 miles) [1104m]. The route we took went via Lochan na Earba, Loch a Chealaich Leamhain (800m), Culra bothy then Bealach Dubh (727m), followed by descending the river Uisge Labhair and finishing up along Loch Ossian to Corrour Station House (SYHA). The day started well (at 7:15am) with a good pace along the track into the Ardverikie Estate. During the pull up to Loch a Chealaich Leamhain we experienced very poor visibility and heavy snow showers. We were surpirsed at the amount of snow already underfoot, which slowed progress. We followed the track to about 800m where we had hoped to find a fork in the path, leading along the northern edge of the loch. However, in the poor visibility and snow, the fork was nowhere to be seen. Following a bearing to the loch would have taken us through craggy ground (which was icy and treacherous in places), so we decided to retrace our steps and try the track along the southern side. However, before we had gone far the cloud lifted, revealing a splendid view of the loch and its snowy shores.


Col at Loch a Chealaich Leamhain

 The loch was frozen in places and in the weak sunshine we picked our way through deep drifted snow to emerge (rather more tired!) at the river Allt Cam. Here we needed to ford the river but with all the recent snow, levels were quite high. After some searching we found a croassable spot and ploughed straight through the cold water (boots filling up!) and were happy to be on the track to Loch Pattack.



Culra bothy and Ben Alder

At Culra bothy we stopped for a sandwhich and a time-check. Culra is a great bothy (both tidy and well-equipped with a wood-burning stove and sleeping platforms!) We couldn't see the col at Bealach Dubh from the bothy and were a little concerned about possible snow slopes up there (becasue it is Easterly facing, and with snow and strong winds from the West, the SAIS avalanche forecast suggested slopes might be unstable). Nevertheless, we carried on past the magnificent Ben Alder and up to the col. It was slow going due to soft drifts and buried ditches! Enroute we saw avalanche debris on our right, evidence that several easterly facing snow slopes had undergone recent slips.

View of Loch Ossian from Bealach Dubh

Finally we reached the col and were pleased to find rakes of heather and scree which could be used to easily reach the top. At the col we looked SW and could make out Loch Ossian in the far (very far!) distance. We were inspired at this point and merrily plodded down to meet the river Uisge Labhair. We followed this through snowy bog which seemingly meandered on and on forever. The terrain slowed our progress considerably and we didn't reach the track at Loch Ossian until 5:40pm. Nevertheless, there was nothing else to do but march briskly along the north side of the loch in the dark, towards our accommodation. We reached the hostel at 7:15pm (with blisters and tired legs). Fortunately we were rewarded with a filling meal (venison pie and a pint of cider - mmmm). The GPS had measured our route as 41.75km (26 miles)!

DAY 2: Corrour Station to Kinlochleven via Loch Trieg, past Loch Chiarain Bothy to Blackwater Dam and down the River Leven 26.2km (16 miles) [549m]. After breakfast we started out at 9:15am. We were probably a bit slower today but the walk to Loch Chiarain Bothy was enjoyable and uneventful. The weather was cloudier but mostly dry, except for some light rain as we reached Blackwater Dam. This continued until we arrived in Kinlochleven. The River Leven was impressive with huge waterfalls along its length. As always, the last leg dragged on and on and we didn't make it back to the car until about 4:30pm.

Sore feet and an insatiable hunger but big smiles all round!


Arlene as the cloud cleared at
Loch a Chealaich Leamhain (Day 1)









Sponsors and Schedules

I now have two confirmed business sponsors!

The first is Joe Browns in Snowdonia who have agreed to sponsor me by agreeing a kit or discount arrangement of some kind (details still to be decided). See the SPONSORS page for contact details. You can always be sure of good advice, a good deal and great banter when you visit Joe Browns! I look forward to writing on the Joe Browns blog about my adventures on the hill.

A huge THANK YOU to Sue and to Chris for listening to my rambling ideas about my Uk Big 3 and for supporting the conservation and protection of our wild lands (John Muir Trust) and saving lives through the gift of water (WaterAid)!

The second sponsor is Outside Edge in Oban, Scotland; See the SPONSORS page for contact details.  Outside Edge have asked me for a kit list and are working hard talking to brands and arranging to donate useful kit that I can put through its paces in the Scottish rain and wind (raging outside my window as we speak!)

A massive THANK YOU to Dave and June Bleazard who, back in 1989, recognised the need for remote town Oban to have a specialist outdoor shop of its own, saving us locals from having to travel for miiiiiiles to buy our outdoor essentials!

SCHEDULES...
Finally, I have spent much of this week reading Welsh Three Thousand Foot Challenges, A Guide for Walkers and Hill Runners (Clayton and Turnbull). This detailed little book includes a solid description of the Paddy Buckley Round as a 4-day backpack. Using this book, the internet and my personal experiences of Snowdonia, I have split the round into 4 (possible) legs that I plan to attempt in May. I'm not sure yet however, where to start and what order to do them in..... any advice?

The differences from the book are mainly due to overnight accommodation options and lengthening sections that I feel familiar/comfortable with. At the moment i'm thinking i'll use B&B/hostel/bunkhouse type accommodation in Wales (simply because it's possible) but use wild-camping/bothies in the Lakes and Scotland where the villages are less conveniently placed!

Next I need to calculate the lengths, ascent (and splits) of the 4 legs that i'm suggesting and also think about booking accommodation in advance (this means I can't just wait for a good weather window (oh dear!!!)