Helvylln Summit in the Snow!

I would have bet money on my last visit to the Lake District being last weekend during the Adventure Racing Ball, but when another chance came up, I took it!    My friend Andy wanted to do a recce of Legs 1 & 2 of the Bob Graham Round, as his attempt at the route will take place in May this year.   I hadn't been doing a lot of long stuff lately so both legs sounded a little too far for me.  So I dropped Andy off at the start of Leg 1, and then drove to the end of Leg 2 at Dunmail Raise and started back the opposite way. 

Honestly, though, I wasn't terribly motivated to do a big hike, so I figured I would just go up to Helvylln and back, maybe across Striding Edge which I had never gotten to do.  I went quite slowly and just enjoyed the sun peeking out of the clouds and the nice weather.    The waterfalls were flowing strongly down Raise Beck, and a little ice and snow stuck to the trails even down low.   As I climbed higher, the snow and ice accumulated and often covered the trails, although I never needed cramptons to safely stick to the trail. 

That is, until I got to the top of Helvylln and looked over the Swirral Edge trail down to Red Tarn.  At least, I tried to look over the steep trail, and couldn't find it over the cornice of snow at first.  I took a few tottering steps on the sloping snow, and realized that I would have to be mad to attempt going down the slope without crampons and an ice ax.  Sure, it was only 50 feet down to the clear rocks, but it would only take one step to slip down far enough to donate some bright red blood to the white snow.   Striding Edge was the same, quite steep and slick, so I gave up any attempt to make an extra circle and started heading back again.

Although it had been windy on the summit, a short descent got me in sunny shelter, and I must confess....I took a nap.  Hard to believe I could be (just) warm enough in wintry conditions on March 1, but it was beautiful and I just enjoyed sitting still...I really don't do that very often.   I had my GoPro camera with me, so I could use the stopped time to take a few time lapse sets.  

So a few more naps on a casual afternoon while I was waiting for Andy to catch me up so we could finish the route.   I gradually kept wandering back to the car, and never saw Andy.  The sun started going down and finally I could see the small figure heading down to the car, yay!  Needless to say, he hadn't had the time to take any naps, while fording rivers and clamboring over a lot of icy trails.  Luckily, there should be snow during his attempt at the Round in May.  Good luck, Andy!

Mike's BG Round - Leg 5, 15/16 July



Enough cake to feed an army!

 Well, I did a little of everything this weekend, including some kayaking, fell running, and a mountain biking session at the Gisburn Forest bike trails.  On each and every one of them, I got soaking wet from the drenching rain that seemed to fall all weekend long.  Squelching shoes and wringable rainjackets might be a novelty to desert dwellers, but splashing through puddles and singing in the rain gets old after a while.

So Mike sure picked a cruddy weekend to attempt his BG round, that's for sure.   As I was scheduled to join him on his final leg, I waited anxiously for text updates to see how the weather was affecting his round.  He had assured me beforehand that he wouldn't "throw in the towel", although on such a wet weekend a few extra ones might have been handy!?! 



Descent off Robinson with Keswick in view!

 Sure enough, he was (almost) on time and going strong through the first 4 legs, despite getting lost in the fog and wind and rain in the middle of the night atop a few peaks.   The rain made for deep bogs and waterfalls and generally miserable conditions for Mike and his supporters (including Martin on Leg 3).

I arrived at Honister Pass a bit early, in time to sample a couple of Helen's cakes and watch the slopes for the incoming runners.   Mike arrived only a few minutes behind schedule, soaking wet of course like he had been almost the whole round, and we set off quickly back up into the clouds on Leg 5.  Actually, he set off quickly, and I struggled to keep up with his quick pace up to the top of Dale Head.   I must have eaten too much cake after seeing how much was in Helen's car!  Luckily Mike had 9 other folks to keep him company until I caught up with him on the downhill.  Finally.  How embarrassing to be left behind by a guy with 55 miles and 25,000 feet of climbing already in his legs! 



Robinson  #42!

 But it was a credit to Mike's climbing ability that his round went off successfully, as the steep downhills were obviously torturing him at the end.  Remembering how much I had limped by the end of the Housman just six weeks ago, I was wincing in sympathy.   Well, Hindscarth summit passed uneventfully (with sideways rain and obscuring fog), and without further ado, we reached Robinson, the last of the 42 tops.   I seemed to have the only camera among the group, so we posed for a quick photo before making the very steep descent down to the road. 

Once at the bottom, there was a quick change into dry shoes and socks for Mike, and he donned his Dalham club vest for the final push into Keswick.  Amazingly enough, the sun came out for a few minutes, and a few intrepid runners stripped down to just their Dalham vests, although I was still happy to keep my long sleeves and raincoat on.   I felt justified when it rained a further 4 times before we finished.  :(

A big crowd was waiting at the finish, and Mike took the time to shake everyone's hand and pose for photos, although I'm sure he was only dreaming of a chair to sit down in, perhaps some dry warm clothes, and mostly his bed.  Back at the car still stuffed with cakes, we shared round a bottle of bubbly (this about did Mike in), and we all nobly tried to clean up a few containers of baked goods. 


Congrats Mike, for finishing in those awful conditions, with a time of 23:37!!!

Bob Graham Round (Leg 3-4 Recce), 20 mi

With just three weeks to go until the Houseman Hundred, this weekend was a perfect time for another set of back-2-back long runs.  I've been fascinated with the Bob Graham Round since first hearing about it, and after volunteering to help out with fellow blogger Mike's round in July, he let me know about a recce he was doing of legs 3 and 4.   We met up at his house south of the Lakes, and then drove up to Rosthwaite with Jarv for the start of our recce.   Since all of the legs of the BG are point to point, it can be difficult to do a recce without 1) adding other routes to make a full circle, or 2) using two cars.  We would be taking the first option and adding in a few extra bits of trail.

For some reason I wasn’t too scared of doing a section of the BG, but as I look back on yesterday, I know I should have been.   Our projected time of 8 hours to do 23 miles, turned into almost 10 hours to finish 20 miles, and the route we walked and ran has quickly blurred into a never ending rollercoaster of steep climbs and sharp descents, peppered with every more climbs and a few rock scrambles.  To be fair to the BG route, the section we did claims some of the worst rocky parts, but I’m sure the rest of it has its moments as well!

To start from the beginning, we made the climb out of Rosthwaite under cloudy skies up to Glaramara and Allen Crags, before joining onto the BG route.  It was about at that point that we rose up into the clouds, and as it was also cold and windy, we skipped the summits of Great End, Ill Crag and Broad Crag, heading straight for Scafell Pike instead.   And so I summited England’s highest peak.  Skipping Scafell and the tricky rope crossing (uh, we had no rope), we descended straight down the valley to the top end of Wast Water reservoir.  It was raining quite heavily on the descent, and under the meager shelter of the dripping trees, we stopped for a snack while looking up at the ominously steep climb to Yewbarrow. 

We had covered 9 miles relatively easily at that point (if reaching the highest peak in a country could be called easy), and were at the end of the BG Leg 3.  Leg 4 in its entirety waited for us as an obstacle to return to the car, but our route still led away from the comfort of four wheels.  The climb up to Yewbarrow took almost a full hour, but at least the rain stopped and we could see sections of sunshine everywhere but where we were.  Typical in the lakes, I reckon.  Mike and his dual trekking poles was soon high above us climbing like a mountain goat.  From the cairn at the top it was down again (surprise!) steeply to a saddle and then back up to Red Pike.  Sheer cliffs along the edge of the trail rolled off into foggy depths.  A choice of routes from Red Pike let us bypass an unseen Steeple and continue on to Pillar.  I wasn’t arguing as I was slowly getting left behind on every climb by the guys, who were kind enough to wait at the top for me to come back into sight. 

The fog slowly started to recede, and as we curved around to Pillar the top of Scafell Pike was almost out of the clouds.  From there on, the day got nicer, the clouds lifted, and we were treated to the sight of the Lakes District in all its glory.  Unfortunately for me, we could also see the remaining summits still far in the distance, including the mushroom top of Great Gable.  First it was up and over Kirk Fell, which required a steep scramble up a crag, and then a more rounded path to the cairn.  Great Gable awaited us after  rest and nibbles inside the shelter cairn, and it looked a lot steeper from up there than it did at the foot of it, thankfully.   Not that it wasn’t still steep….  By then I was thinking at some point that my legs would refuse to carry me either up or down, and wondering how I would get home if that happened! 

Somehow I kept putting one foot in front of the other, and reached the top of the mushroom summit.  With 360 degrees of clear views, we could see the islands of Scotland in the distance, and trace the line of peaks that made up the Bob Graham route, from distant Skiddaw to the ridge containing Helvellyn and back around to Scafell and the peaks we had just walked. 









Mike, trig point, Jarv

  Just three summits remained in our route, and we ticked them off on the mostly downhill route, hitting Green Gable, Brandreth, and Grey Knotts.   A passing storm cloud, which we had seen from atop Great Gable, hit us midway through to the finish, dumping not rain but hail, hitting us with marble-sized bullet-shaped ice pellets.  They stung even through running tights and a rainjacket, and the guys in their shorts and thermal shirts had the worst of it. (Imagine Mike desperate burrowing into a bog in an attempt to shield the backs of his legs.) The short bout of hail left the ground peppered with ice, and we were gratefully nothing bigger had fallen.   A second hail shower hit us as we were descending steeply to the summit road over Honister Pass, and then a loud clap of thunder over our heads made me grateful I wasn’t still standing on a summit!  My knees and quads were slowly giving up the ability to keep me running down the steep boggy slope, but the thunder spurred me on and got me down to the road.  At least by that point my shoes were cleaned off with fresh rainfall, although Jarv managed to fall into a knee deep bog and had to scrub off his leg. 



Bullet-shaped hail stones

 At that point it was raining heavily, and so we were surprised and overjoyed to see Mike’s wife Helen and her friend Helen (no, that’s not a typo) waiting for us at the coffee shop.   Taking pity on us, after getting soaked earlier on a nearby hike themselves, they had driven up to save us the final three road miles running back down to our car. We were so grateful that we crammed our dripping packs in the boot and soaked the backseat as well with our wet clothes.  A brilliant rainbow dropped pots of gold several times along the drive and was still shining when we stopped at the car.  After over 10,000 feet of climbing for the day, we stood in the late-day sunshine chatting, and I refused to move my feet at all, it felt so good just to stand still. 

 The Day’s Summits:
Glaramara
Allen Crags
Scafell Pike
Yewbarrow
Red Pike
Pillar
Kirk Fell
Great Gable
Green Gable
Brandreth
Grey Knotts



 

Climbing the gully up to Kirk Fell (Photo courtesy of Mike)



Great Gable looming in the distance (to the left), and Scafell Pike in the clouds on the right



Jarv's attempt to show me Steeple summit without actually walking up to it (photo courtesy of Mike)
I think this is actually to scale...



View down from Yewbarrow





Yewbarrow on the right



Climbing up out of Rosthwaite



Below Green Gable summit



The hail piled up on Brandreth cairn

 



Scrambling up to Glaramara (Photo courtesy of Mike)



Extreme Running - So many races, so little time.

I've been mentioning a few of the longer races lately, and it seems I am really starting to dream big.  I mean, why just run a marathon, when you can go out there and endure the pain of multi-day, multi-stage, uber-tough races that will make the legs feel like jelly and the brain like mush? 

When I put it that way myself, well, I still think a few of these sound fun.  The trick is to fit them into the schedule of my life in the next few years, and then try to train for them, not get injured, and actually do one (or more).  Here's a few of the ones that make me shiver in dread, but still contemplate doing:

Marathon Des Sables:  After seeing the nasty blisters (in full HD color) of a few previous competitors, how could I not want to do this race!?!   I do love sand dunes, though, and our visit to Erg Chebbi in Morocco a few years back was a true highlight of our travels.  (Photos on our website, under Europe A-M: Morocco2.  I know, it's in Africa, not Europe, I really need to add a tab to my menu for Africa.  And get rid of Frames so I can link directly to a page.  Someday)

The Comrades Marathon:  Ok, it's not a marathon, it's really 56 miles long, and in South Africa.  And there is an ABSOLUTE 12 hour time limit.  But it's only the HUGEST ultramarathon ever.  This one has kept coming back up on my radar over the years, and in 2012, it is a "down" year.  Perfect for me, I might even make the time cutoff with a few downhills to help out!  I'm a slow runner, if you haven't figured that one out already.

The Athens Marathon:  To qualify to run the Comrades Marathon, I must run a road marathon.  Evidently all these rough British fell races don't count towards the big one.  So why not run the original "marathon" route from Marathon to Athens?  Coincidentally, in 2010, it celebrated it's 2,500th year.  How extreme is that?!?

Ultra-Tour Du Mont Blanc:   Thanks Nick, for putting this one on my radar.   Doing the circular hike in a week or two, as most folks would choose, also sounds fun, but quicker is always better, right?

The Bob Graham Round:  Big. Scary.  27,000 feet of elevation over 60 odd miles, and I have to arrange for my own support.  And finish in under 24 hours.   It didn't sound so hard, until I read about how many people fail a few times before they succeed (if ever). I think I should go take a hike in the Lakes District to see if I even enjoy the terrain over there, before thinking too hard about this one. 

A "Real" Ironman:  Yes, I've done two Ironman-distance triathlons, but that's a mouthful, and what I really want to claim is a the M-Dot.   Now I just need to find the perfect one, preferably one without a lot of cold weather, rain, freezing lakes, or high winds.   Oh, and not too many hills on the bike, either.  I mean, the distance is tough enough on a nice day, why make it harder on yourself?   I'm still looking.  And trying to convince myself that Ironman UK and Ironman Wales would NOT be good choices, even though they are close to home and easy to get to.   The water will be freezing at both of them, and oh by the way I am a slow swimmer too...I many never make it through the swim in 14 C degree water, much less the other events.

To aid me in finding a few other crazy events, I picked up a book called Extreme Running by Kym McConnell and Dave Horseley.  It's a summary of the great ultrarunning events on every continent, with nice photos, sort of a coffee-table book.  Just the facts, really, don't expect many personal tales, but it is coinciding nicely with getting my future dreams all sorted out!   I won't call them New Year's resolutions, or even a plan, but it's always good to dream.