Hill running race 6:16:19 [3] 20.0 km (18:49 / km) +1525m 13:37 / km
shoes: X-Claw 275
OMM Medium Score class, Langdale, with Kenny Short. Always knew this was going to be tough having raced in the LDMT and the Langdale Horeshoe in previous weeks - and so it proved. From the start at the head of the Langdale valley - at the foot of the aptly named Grunting Gill! - the only way was up. 300m straight up to the first control! There was a fairly obvious choice of controls to start with - a chain of seven on the lower slopes of Bowfell, the western slopes of Crinkle crags, down over Cold Pike and the lower slopes of Pike of Blisco. We had an early start and at this stage the weather seemed quite benign - in fact Kenny and I both removed our waterproof jackets on the climb to the second control.We contoured into this one round Bliscoe Sike but were slightly high, but easily sorted as we were still below the cloud line. Not for long as we climbed over the northern ridge of Crinkle Crags, into the clag and the full force of the wind and rain. The terrain was now a lot rockier and it was difficult to judge distance so we contoured into Rest Gill using the altimeter to keep us above the control, a knoll just over the Gill which we then dropped down to. Next was basically a contour leg along the western slope of Crinkle Crags so more use of the altimeter. We crossed Swinsty Gill about 250m before the control which was just described as a spur. When we got to the correct area the whole hillside was one large "spur" covered in lots of smaller features which could easily be described as spurs and in the clag it was difficult to decide which was the one the control was on. After a 10 min or so sweep search we eventually located it and promptly lead another team straight to it. Next we crossed over the southern ridge of Crinkle crags looking for a control on a "knoll". We hit a fence around a fairly prominent Gill but intitially couldn't work out where we were until we realised that this very good navigational aid was obscured by the points score for the control. Even then we were hesitant as there seemed to be lots of knolls in the area. The problem was that some of them were obscured by the control circle and the one we were looking for was a bl**dy great hill. Strangely on the Routegadget map the control code and points have been positioned differently and don't obscure then fenced off Gill and the control circle has been cut to reveal the series of knolls! Next was a crag on the slopes of Cold Pike, above Red Tarn which supposedly had a path running past it. We were obviously on the wrong path but fortunately we started to drop out of the clag and when Red Tarn appeared we realised we were slightly too far right.The next couple on the lower slopes of Pike of Blisco were relatively straight forward. At this point we had used up just over half of our allotted 6hrs and were about to cross over the Wrynose pass road to another set of controls to the south. Now the best route was less obvious given the time restrictions. I decided to go for an "easy" 50 pointer on a stream junction below Kirk Fell. It was easy navigationally but was quite a long way and used up 40 mins. Next was a 30 pointer on Red Gill Head which involved a near vertical 300m climb - another 45mins gone. Next was a 40 pointer on the north west slope of Weatherlam, a crag below Black Sails. By now we were back into the full blast of the weather as we climbed over Weatherlam and it was difficult to stand up! We found the control ok btu were down to 55 mins on the clock. This is where I made my only significant mistake of the day - I was tempted by a 40 pointer on a crag on the northern slope of Hell Gill and decided that the best route was to go round the top of the valley that lay in the way. Unfortunately, due to a map which was rapidly delaminating and glasses which were constantly wet and steamed up, I hadn't appreciated that this involved a very rough 150m climb over Swirl How. We should have cut and run at this point but I compounded the mistake by soldiering on in the forlorn attempt to find a crag on a craggy slope in pea soup cloud. We never found it and ended up 16m 19s late and binned 34pts. We finished 5th o/a and 3rd in the Vets category. We were both seriously cold when we finished but had plenty of dry kit, lots of food, thermarests, a roomy tent, good sleeping bags, a miniature of Glenlivet 12 yo and were soon warm and settled down for 14 hrs relaxation!