A Run, Some Fun and Hot Whiskey.

Went for a run last week. Up Snowdon on the Llanberis path and I managed to run uphill slowly to the second rail bridge. I've not been able to do that before so it bodes well for my April plan of trying to run the Wicklow Way. Hopefully I won't be in shorts and encounter snow and hail again! It'll defiantly be way out of my comfort zone, over twice the longest distance I've ever ran/ walked and stumbled. It will also take me way over the 8 hr mark that I've ran before and I've no idea how my body and head will hold up. I just hope I can venture into unknown territory the way Eoin Keith did over New Years and do as well.

For those of you who don't know, Eoin is an Irish ultra distance runner and adventure racer who ran over 300 miles in less than 72 hrs in the Across the Years race in the States. He's one of the few to break the 300 mile barrier at that race and the only one to break it and not win. He also holds the record for the Wicklow Way ran in the more difficult South to North direction at a time a little over 13 hrs. I will be going the more easy North to South route. You can read more on Eoin's excellent blog here http://eoinkeith.wordpress.com/.

Fun involved heading for an easy day out on Crib Lem last Thursday. Helena proved that women have no sense of direction as we got lost a few times via various “short cuts” on the way to Gerlan. The walk in was also a lot longer than half an hour! Eventually we located the ridge and scrambled quite high to get some more frozen conditions to cut up onto the ridge proper.

Crib Lem is the ridge that disappears into the cloud.

I spent most of the route knocking snow of my Petzl Darts every 5 steps. I'd lift a foot and have a kilo of compressed snow stuck there. I know they're not a general mountaineering crampon but after spending 45 mins the night before hitting my DMM Aguille crampons with a hammer they were still the only thing that would fit my boots! We spent most of the route climbing in cloud so I didn't get any views of the Black Ladders. Still a fun day out and a nice route with good company.

Happy faces at the top of Crib Lem on Carnedd Dafydd.

Friday brought a big dump of snow in the village but mega high winds meant an attempt at crawling up Snowdon was aborted pretty quickly. The attic came back into vogue due to weather conditions and I'm pretty psyched for it again. Spent a few hours up there with Doc Ruth and Helena and felt strong so all the training must be paying off. I just hope I can keep the fitness up for France next month.

Snowdon Street last Friday.

I'm off to the Gap/ Briancon area with Irish legends Calvin Torrans, Clare Sheridan and Ian Rea on the 10th of Feb for a week. It should be a great trip and I'm sure I'll learn loads if I can keep up! I've defiantly been training for it. A lot of hours have been spent up in the quarries putting in laps on the dry tooling routes in all weathers so thanks for all the belays guys! 

I haven't been to France since a sport climbing trip to the Ecrins when I started climbing and its where I did my first outdoor leading albeit on bolts. I've also got a new pair of Nomics I can't really afford so I really don't have any excuses now! I just need this head-cold to go away so I can get back to training and make sure I'm fixed sooner rather than later. 

The attic board.

I've been knocked out since Saturday, I still went for a run. Had an attic boulder session with Owen on Sunday. I've not had any energy since Monday. Hot whiskey seems to help.

Best hot whiskey recipe:

1x tsp of honey, 1x wedge of lemon, 5x cloves, hot water and a measure of Irish whiskey (if Irish is unavailable, scotch will do).

Enjoy.

Four Sesame Rivita, Eight Cherry Tomatoes and some Hummus.

Not a good idea to have that as your only meal of the day at lunchtime and head into the hills for a night run. But there you go, when a bit of phsyce comes its better to go with it than let it pass. I soon regretted it as my legs and lungs burned. Pushing through the bog up the side of Moel Eilio was becoming less enjoyable by the minute and the thick wool socks I was wearing were now soaked through. I've not been up in the hills much in the last month or two so I was trying to make the most of it pushing hard were I felt I could. The weather was slowly getting worse. One last glimpse over my shoulder and the haze of lights from Llanberis disappeared in the swirling mist and damp. My world became a two foot blueish blob. Fine mist droplets shimmering in the blue glow narrowed my field of vision to what was directly underfoot. I could just about pick out the well travelled ground.

Frightened sheep scattered as I crawled past, their eyes glowing yellow and then vanishing into the dark. Finally the last stile before the top appeared. One last push and then across the ridge, the worst of it over I glanced left and noticed the jet black sky pierced by a bright dot. Suddenly the glare from the headtorch disappeared and light flooded the ground in front of me. I stopped, held in the power button and the light died. I looked back down the mountain, the village and its lights had re-appeared. The Plough was high in the sky, sparkling and clear. I took it all in. The cloud shrouded the lower hills, just leaving their tops exposed which were outlined against the orange glow of the sky. Seconds passed slowly and the cloud drifted back in. I realised I was cold from standing around. I'll take any excuse for a rest but the amazing view was a good one! I continued on back in my little two foot blob of blue, awe suddenly lost in burning legs, cold feet and hunger but I was smiling.

This rapidly changed as I slid my way down greasy bits of rock and wet grass. Concentrating on the next foot placement became paramount. I was concentrating so hard on my feet that I realised I wasn't sure where I was! Maybe a result of not having been up there in a while or maybe hunger but I was in a slight spot of bother. I was on the ridge all right, I'd just crossed the second stile but I knew I wasn't on track. I stopped and weighed up my options. I pretty quickly dismissed continuing and getting more lost. I turned tail and headed back uphill. I knew if I headed slightly right I'd find the edge of the ridge, I just had to make sure I didn't disappear off the side of it! After a nervous few minutes the ground gave way to darkness, the wind whistled by and the mist flowed over the edge. I traced the ridge back to where I wanted to be and picked my way back to the summit. The well travelled trail appeared back beneath my feet and I ran, stumbled and fell my way back to the village through ankle deep bog and rocky ground. 

X-Talons, trusty fell shoes this time of year. Pity about the idiot wearing them!

Lessons learned:

1. Tomatoes, hummus and rivita is a nice lunch.

2. Eat more food.