Winter Bob Graham

I had never really given much thought of doing the BG until fairly
recently. The principal thing that put me off was the required
recovery time afterwards, preventing you from competing effectively
for many weekends afterwards in the summer. Having done a few long
races this year, and chatting to a people, I began thinking of what,
to me, seemed like a huge challenge running through 3 countries- the
110 mile Ultra Trail of Mont Blanc. I cycled the West Highland Way in
September with half a dozen mates, and one of them, Olly Stephenson
(Carnethy) said he was going to enter it and wondered if I was up for
it? Why not? Well the principal reason why not was, that despite quite
a few races longer than 26 miles and one of 52 miles in 2010, that
didn’t cut the mustard with the UTMB committee. So what did that
leave? The Bob Graham was the only thing on their list that was still
possible to be done in 2010 to fulfil the entry requirements. After
the OMM I don’t do a lot of running, as training is a bit boring and
there aren’t many races. Besides I was off sport climbing for a while.
But the first weekend I was back I arranged a BG recce weekend over 3
days, with a bunch of friends including Steve Pyke (Macc Harriers) ,
who brought along Steve Watts (Macc Harriers). We were incredibly
lucky with weather and conditions and had an amazing time, running
legs 1 and 2 on the Friday, leg 3 on Sat and 4/5 on the Sunday, just
before heavy snow shut things down for a while. Steve Watts knew the
BG as well as I believe anyone could and was a huge asset. I had no
spare weekends till after Xmas, but decided to try it at the first
sign of good weather/good conditions.

After turkey and more turkey I could barely move and there was too
much snow on the ground. I went winter climbing in N Wales (Devils
Appendix)- cold- and caving in the Peak (Titan) –even colder, emerging
from Peak Cavern soaked to the skin into a frosty night. Slow steady
thaw was going on in the Lakes and I figured I might just get a chance
if it cooled down again before going back to work on the 3rd. I rang
Ben Bardsley (Borrowdale) who confirmed the snow was now patchy but
also said it was still pretty firm, beneath a soft surface, from the
December permafrost. So the first hint of a drop in temp finally came-
New Years Eve, and I planned for a 2am departure on 1/1/11 to get the
Central Fells in daylight. But Mr Weatherman changed his story and
announced clag and a cold front coming through that night, but with
90% chance of clear skies on New Years Day after 12pm. So 12pm
departure it was (couldn’t go at 2am the following night as I had to
work BH Monday). A few quick phone calls and texts to see who was
around and up for it- Ben Gibbison (DPFR) and Mick Ryan (yet to join
DPFR!) generously offered road support and, amazingly with 36 hours
notice, Steve Watts said he was “up for a run as far as Dunmail then
would see how he felt”. I knew what that meant. A man who has done the
Petit Trotte de Leon twice (4 days continuous with only 7 hours rest
in that entire time) was hardly going to stop at Dunmail. Great news.

What to wear on the feet? I figured anything white was going to be
very slippy indeed after the thaw and, although it was going to be
essential to take the Microspikes, I thought perhaps O-Rocs might be a
good idea as well. I had no idea what they were like but Shane Ohly
said they were the dogs bollocks on his winter Ramsay, so I called in
at Pete Blands to pick up a pair for me and a pair for Steve. In the
end Steve didn’t even get to try them on until 2 minutes before
departure, before “breaking them in” over the following 24 hours. I
left mine with Ben Gibbison at Dunmail and did the first 2 legs in
Mudclaws. We took it steady on leg 1, saving legs for later and
chatting away, wondering at quite what point in the day the promised
“90% chance of clear summits” MWIS had said was going to materialise.
The Dodds remained shrouded in clag, and stayed that way for the
entire time we ran through them… Mick did a great job of refuelling us
and encouraging us at Threlkeld and we headed up Clough Head into the
failing light but 35 mins up on our anticipated 23 hour pace.

Sure leg 2 is grassy but anything that wasn’t grassy over 600m was
covered in a shiny veneer of top quality verglas. So it was hard to run
on any paths, particularly in my Mudclaws, and hard to see- a winning
combination of fog and darkness. We slithered around and blundered our
way with compass and a bit of luck- Fairfield was particularly
exciting in the conditions. By the time we had gone over Seat Sandal
and down to meet Ben and Lorna at Dunmail we were both seriously
wondering whether we could possibly complete the round with the amount
of verglas. However we didn’t communicate our doubts to each other and
enjoyed the hot drinks, food and, in my case, a change of footwear to
something much more suitable. We had lost 15 mins on our 23 hour pace
for that leg.

Leg 3 was clearly crucial- the cloud lifted off the tops, so at least
we could see a bit more, but not a lot, as there was no moon
whatsoever and as the night went on the stars disappeared behind some
high cloud. It all went fine as far as Thurnacar Knott, but we didn’t
do a great job getting over Martcrag Moor, and lost 10 mins on the leg
to Rosset Pike. Worse was to come as the neve on Bowfell was really
proper crampon and axe territory as I discovered when I slid some
distance, despite being having the Microspikes on my feet- exciting,
but I soon came to a stop in a pile of rocks relatively unscathed. The
Spikes stayed on all the way to Wasdale. Once up Bowfell we made good
progress as far as Lords Rake (Broad Stand is definitely not an option
in winter). 3 weeks previously we encountered challenging conditions
in the exit to Lords Rake onto the plateau. This time snow conditions
were much worse and it was looking dodgy. Eventually after some
exciting moments kicking steps and with some backtracking invoved, we
emerged on Scafell, losing 20 mins on that leg and a further 10 on the
descent to Wasdale, presumably from the preceding trauma. We were 53
mins off the 23 hour pace on leg 3 alone...

I had stashed a lot of VERY strong coffee and food at the foot of
Yewbarrow, including what must be the ultimate yummy long distance
running fuel- Frijj milkshakes. Lloyd first introduced me to this
delight a couple of years ago, and so I left a 500ml bottle for both
of us at every road crossing. Luckily for me Steve wasn’t as keen on
it as me, which meant I got to neck the best part of a litre each
time. And with 400 calories per bottle that is a
lot of fuel in the nicest possible way. So caffeined and caloried up
we made better progress on leg 4, helped by daylight from Green Gable
and not as many life threatening snow slopes on this leg. We were back
on 23 hour pace and enjoyed some delicious tomato soup at Honister
from Mick. For the first time we gave our sacks away (wow that makes a
difference!) and it seemed such a doddle in daylight unladen.

Nonetheless we were 2 minutes slower than the split I had for Dalehead
(do most people get up Dalehead in 32 mins at the end of a BG?) but
were 10 minutes up by Moot Hall. It was lovely to see all the hills
again, chatting to the odd walker ("Well done- have you come far?"
"Well, since you ask..") and getting the odd photo on the way. 23h 20
is not a very quick time, and, never being that far inside a 24hr
schedule meant neither of us felt it was in the bag until at least
daylight. Without Steves incredible rock by rock knowledge I wouldn't
have had a hope. In fact with all the verglas coming off Fairfield I
wouldn't have carried on alone from Dunmail.

A real adventure, for sure- not sure if I will will actually get into
the UTMB but the Bob Graham was an amazing experience in its own
right. Would I do it again? Maybe try a decent time some day in
daylight (maybe not, as that is summer racing season) or a sociable run round with mates on a nice day, but I had a text from Es about a Ramsay on skis yesterday. That appeals more...