UKC

So who's gonna be there this year? Always seems to be a few from the forum taking part.

First time for me in this event and really looking forward to it. Just hope that the weather improves and dries out the hills a bit.

In reply to Tonyfryer: Me and Louise who occasionally posts on here (LEP) are doing the Harter fell class. I'm off to Sainsburies tonight to stock up on jelly babies. Hurrah!

ps - I can just about see Kirkstone Pass way from my office. It looks minging at the moment!

In reply to Tonyfryer: Me and my occassionally posting mate are doing Harter Fell again... last year, we all nearly got heat stroke; this year, we may drown. What an event!

In reply to net: been looking at the 10 day forecast and looks like rain, rain and more rain on the Saturday and possibly a dry Sunday morning before more rain. Oh the joys of English summer. Perfect running weather!

Bet you have eaten the Jelly babies before the weekend. Having to hide the big box of haribo from my missus. She doesn't buy the excuse that they are energy food.

Entered the Kirkfell class. This is first Mountain Marathon so not sure if we have chosen right or not.

In reply to Tonyfryer:

Myself and my mate Chris are in Kirkfell too.
My first MM, Chris is on his errr, must be double figures now... I think I'm going to die!

James.

In reply to Tonyfryer: I'm just hoping that it's not a repeat of the conditions on the 2005 Eastern Lakes KIMM. Running over high street in the rain again <sigh>.... Oh well, least it'll be warm.

My jelly babies will be bought on thursday otherwise the bf will eat them!

In reply to PontiusPirate: Done the last 3 years but can't do this year due to it clashing with the Tour de France in London!!

My knees have only just recovered from last year's OMM anyway.....

In reply to Tonyfryer: Doing Carrock Fell with someone who hasn't done one before. Did Bowfell last year with my bloke. Was great fun and extremely knackering. At least it can't possibly be as hot / sunny as last year. Can it....?

In reply to Tonyfryer: Nooo, it's going to be lovely weather.

(She says, with all of the Eastern Lakes seemingly completely veiled beneath a thick blanket of clag at the moment).

I'm actually quite self-controlled when it comes to jelly babies for some unknown reason. I'll scoff loads on the hill, but they can happily sit in my rucksack at home without fear of being munched.

In reply to net:
Whats everyone taking for food? I seem to be on super noodles, custard and malt loaf mixed with bogaya bananas for pudding and porrige and cereal bars for breakfast. Otherwise flapjack, gels, haribo and jelly babies.

Are people taking water and purification tablets or going for any streams available? Really not sure what to do with this bit? Partner is purifying water but I don't really want to as it tastes awful so I won't drink any.

Is everyone as sad as me and weighing their spare clothes and kit? (saved 1/2 kilo so far!!)

In reply to Tonyfryer:

A cous cous concoction for dinner - spicy packet cous cous with bits of chorizo, olives and apricots mixed in. Mmm. And chocolate mini rolls.

And, mostly, jelly babies and oat cakes.


Taking my chances with drinking from streams, but obviously am not recommending that!


Errr... no!

In reply to net: forgot to enter.. doh!! don't forget your money for beer on saturday night.

Last year was gorgeous.. sitting in beer garden getting lashed, england results being posted on the chalkboard..

In reply to Mattyk: Fantastic! I rather think this year might be a case of 'cowering in the tent keeping out of the rain' though

In reply to Tonyfryer:

I'm in, Scafell with g/f Aly. Just returned from 30 degrees sun in Tatras so this rain is a bit of a shock :0(

Cheers, Ali

In reply to Tonyfryer:

Food: daytime cheesy biscuits and jelly beans, evening 3 course meal involving fresh pasta and cake / custard, breakfast cereal bars.
I'll be drinking from streams too.
Not weighing my clothes! I've done a few so know my sack weight is OK (although i'm always on the look out as to how I shave a few more grams off!). I'll be waiting until Sat morning to choose my clothes though.

In reply to Tonyfryer: Last year drunk from streams... no problem whatsoever and far better than carrying the bloody ridiculously heavy stuff. Will do precisely the same this year.

In reply to Harry The Owl:

'Last year drunk from streams'

Good grief, what was in the streams??? No wonder so many retired...

In reply to Tonyfryer: I understand the weather is looking up! Actually, being both fat and crap, I was rather hoping for a continued deluge; it might slow those sinewy types down a bit.

In reply to Harry The Owl: Where are you looking?

On BBC weather I get light showers poor visibility and a cold Saturday night?

Will be very happy to prove the BBC wrong?

To be honest I don't mind the light showers. Perfect running weather. Just not the idea of rain in camp and a cold night. My tent is sooooo small it would just be unfunny.

In reply to Tonyfryer: Not been looking... my team mate has texted me; god knows where he's been looking! And no, not remotely, even a little bit, looking forward to saturday night camp. I was cold LAST year in the boiling hot!

In reply to Tonyfryer:

Penrith is given different to Keswick on here, maybe a bit of both will be what you get.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=1385

In reply to Harry The Owl: so if I said an overnight temp of 4 degrees you would not be happy?

Met office is same forecast although should be mainly dry on Saturday with occasional showers, Sunday - RAIN

In reply to sutty: Liking that one better although tis an very cold night for first weekend in July.

In reply to Tonyfryer: 4 degrees????? Jesus, no, I'm NOT happy. Not one bit. Rain on Sunday is fine, cos I'll be able to smell the barn, hot food, and a proper bed!

In reply to Tonyfryer:
We're doing the Scafell this year, not too sure how that happened, last place here we come! If we'd done Scafell last year, we'd have stood a good chance of winning the mixed prize, as only one mixed team finished and they were quite slow. This year we're competing against the likes of Helene Diamantides, yikes!

Too early to be checking the weather forecasts, it's too unsettled at the moment, even the same-day forecasts are unreliable in these conditions.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:
The clsoer we get to the weekend, the better the weather forecast is becoming

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Simon, current Metcheck has light rain Saturday and Sunday then scorchio Monday :0)

We start 3 minutes after you so I'll say hello.

Cheers, Ali

In reply to Alii: What quality sleeping bag are you taking? And what about a carry mat? I've got the thinnest of bags and no mat other than the tiny one in my OMM sack. What about you?

In reply to Harry The Owl:

Hi, I've got a very light PHD Minimus sack but suspect I'll be swapping with girlfriend's tiny Decathlon bag as she feels the cold more than me.

Got a Balloonbed last Summer but previous to that used nowt. Current Metcheck has it quite warm so should be ok.

Cheers, Ali

In reply to Tonyfryer: mwis still has a bit of a low cloud base lifting gradually on Sat. Who's got an early start time on Sat ; 0 )
Tony - taking a top bag (western mountaineering) and balloon bed, surprisingly toasty

In reply to Anita: What the hell is a balloon bed? Will I be able to get one as I'm chomping through the entire stock of Wilfs?

In reply to Harry The Owl:

shouldn't that be 'milfs'?

Sorry mate - you don't need distractions today!

In reply to Harry The Owl: Not sure if they sell them there

http://www.balloonbed.com/

Take a wee bit to get used to them but they are incredibly insulating and fairly robust (and extremely small / light). Listen to the popping on Sun morning to hear how many use them!

In reply to Tony the Blade: Trust me mat, come the OMM (sorry, KIMM) in October, you will understand fully the wonder of Wilfs!!!!!

In reply to Harry The Owl: Mat???? Whose he? Meant mate!

In reply to Harry The Owl:

Bring it on! piece of piss when you've done The Pennine Challenge!!!

In reply to Tony the Blade: Actually... it's a shit loader harder than Pennine Challenge. Trust me on this.

In reply to Harry The Owl:

Harder than MB?

In reply to Tony the Blade: But also trust me... you, being the Man of the Mountains and all, will just...be...in...your...ELEMENT!

In reply to Tony the Blade: No. Different to MB. Very sustained over two days, crap night camping in possibly frozen wet conditions having been lost in scottish mist. Can't wait.

In reply to Alii:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/loutdoor/mountainsafety/lakedistrict.html

Currently has it mostly dry (even sunny) with the occasional shower.
MWIS is similar.

Personally I'd prefer light rain to the heat of last year (and of this year's LAMM)!

In reply to Simon Caldwell: Me too. Last year was just shockingly bad, esp on the Sunday. God knows how many people I saw hiding under bushes, throwing up... Give me rain any day. Just, pray God, a comfy night.

In reply to Harry The Owl:

If you have a comfy night then you're carrying too much gear

Or, alternatively, have drunk just enough beer...

In reply to Harry The Owl:

Are you sure that wasn't the real reason for all those people hiding under bushes and throwing up?

In reply to Harry The Owl: Got myself a Vango ultralite. Seems quite thin and weights about 1kg (including stuff sack). Same here with the mat. they do seem very small and thin don't they?

Apparently putting a space blanket between the mat and the sleeping bag makes you warmer? Does this work?

Whats the MB?

In reply to Anita:

8:06 early enough?

In reply to Tonyfryer: MB -- me and blade did Mont Blanc. It was a personal reference of difficulty.

http://www.mwis.org.uk/mountain/LD.PDF

Mostly dry Saturday, with lowish cloud gradually lifting (summits should clear roughly the time we arrive at the mid-camp!). Windy, so midges shouldn't be a problem.
Sunday, dry with some sunshine.

In reply to Tonyfryer:

How did everyone get on?

We had a good day on Saturday finishing in 8th in the Scafell. One navigational cock-up and one VERY bad route choice saw us slip to 10th on Sunday.

Enjoyed it though, fantastic views of deer on Sunday and only 1 tick found so far.

Cheers, Ali

In reply to Tonyfryer: Great weekend. 48th in Carrock (3rd female pair). Pretty chuffed as it was my partners 1st MM, having never done anything remotely like this before!
Never saw any deer (or found any ticks)!!!
I thought the planner had done a brilliant job on the Sat with loads of options to think about but there were much fewer decisions to be made on the Sun (we went S of Haweswater sat and N on Sun).
Fantastic area though and nice to see it after spending 2 days running in the rain there on the KIMM 2005 (I even passed a couple of the checkpoint spots we'd visited then!).

In reply to Alii: Had a great time (in the main) First ever MM for both my partner and I so was an education!

Came 60 odd ish? Think 68 in the Kirkfell class. Could have done better but we both had major knee troubles when going on downhills and was reduced to a shuffle for a lot of the time.

Regardless of this it was a brilliant weekend. Sat was great with loads of route choices going north, sun a lot less in the way of routes but great scenery and a faster course (if we could have run downhill as well)

Saw a couple of deer on the saturday and I believe we are both tick free thankfully.

Great experience and will def do again, although will train more for next one. Probably next one bein gthe Rab MM in Sept

In reply to Tonyfryer:

Anyone worked out its carbon footprint, out of interest?

In reply to Yorkspud: Why?

Fell races occur every weekend, but the numbers racing aren't comparable to those just out in the hills anyway.

Next week is the Angus Munro Hill race, runners from all over Britain will travel to race, but I bet you'd get more people travelling up to climb good winter conditions in Feb.

In reply to Alii: We didn't do all that well and I'm now sunburnt and aching a lot, but it was all good fun I guess (especially the traversing descent into Martindale yesterday which was brilliant!)

In reply to IainRUK: Although this years LAMM gave you an "optional carbon credit" to pay- ours was £1:40 for 2 of us to drive to scotland. Seems a nice idea for these bigger events.
I was also pleased that Wilfs used paper dishes and wooden cutlery, nice and biodegradable!

In reply to ceri: TBH I'm more concerned about fell races / MM providing services to return the land to a pristine condition after the erode it.

At one US ultra each participant has to do 8 hrs community service on the trails before racing. While I think that's a bit OTT I applaud the sentiments.

Fell races do cause excessive erosion on untracked areas, I think a payment should be made to the NT/NP/landowner for tree planting/erosion work/path maintenance etc.

IN NZ DoC took quite a % of race fees, maybe too much, driving up prices, but again I understood why.

In reply to IainRUK: This years Saunders was in the same area as the KIMM was in 2005. I passed several control points that were used then where I remember there being a muddy 'KIMM path' created by the hundreds of feet passing the same way between the checkpoints. No sign of that this year. In less than 2 years the signs of anything like the KIMM being there had vanished.
Maybe a fell race that follows an already established walkers path might cause more erosion than is already there, but something like these events that don't follow (for the main) established paths doesn't seem to do lasting damage to the ground.

In reply to Anita: The erosion caused by a KIMM in the dark peak was visible for years, in fact I still think the scars are visible.

In reply to IainRUK:
Why not?

It might be a challenge to the organisers to locate a MM reachable by public transport

In reply to IainRUK:
The Dark Peak is very different from the lakes, or Snowdonia, or Scottish Highlands. Peat near the surface will erode easily, and repair extremely slowly. In the Lakes etc, a muddy track in the grass/bracken/heather will repair the next growing season if not otherwise used - and the paths we're talking about won't get used.
The same as Anita, we went through several areas where there had been 'KIMM' paths in 2005, no sign of any of them.

In reply to Yorkspud:

And an even bigger challenge to create such an event that didn't lose money because no-one went to it.

How does the 'carbon footprint' of a mountain marathon compare with that created by all the internet hardware which allows us to have this discussion?

In reply to Alii:

Very well, considering we were competing well out of our league!

Last place 16th after Saturday, managed to make up 2 places after Sunday. There was a 105 minute gap between us and the next team above us!

Despite our poor showing, we both found this year's Scafell easier than last year's Bowfell (the next class down) - our times on both days were about 15 minutes faster this year. Since this is only our second year I've no idea whether last year was too hard, or this year too easy!

P.S. failed to say hi at the start, due to arriving 5 minutes after our start time

In reply to Simon Caldwell: My bloke did Bowfell again this year (with a different partner - they retired on Sun as his partner pulled a muscle in his calf, took them 4 1/2 hrs to limp back to camp!). Anyway he said Bowfell this year was much easier than last year. But, it wasn't as hot this year and he's fitter so can't make a definate conclusion.
I thought the checkpoint were 'easier' to locate this year, much more obvious features.

All the results are now out along with the control cards for diff classes.

Also some pictures on the website

In reply to Tonyfryer:
Some of our photos here if anyone's interested
http://climbing.me.uk/SLMM2007/index.html

In reply to Simon Caldwell: We were pitched near you initially on the Sat night but moved down to near the finish bit when we located some mates. I remember the 2 'blue slugs' pitched close together!
Like the beer piccie! And the one of Ullswater reminds of the amazing view when you came back over that ridge to run down to the finish. Cracking scene.

In reply to Anita:

Oi!! One of those 'slugs' was mine!!

Cracking photos Simon, hope it was a lightweight camera....

In reply to Alii: Aye, a mate has one as well!! I just can't see the appeal of squirming into a blue slug coffin(apart from the weight).... I'll stick to my heavyweight laser I can sit up in ; )

In reply to Alii:
One advantage of having absolutely no hope of a podium finish is that I can justify the extra weight of a tiny camera! It's about 200g, so not too bad, but I paid a lot of money to shave that amount off my other gear...