Help needed for PBR 19/20 June

[Pierre LaRoche]

Hi folks, if the weather looks good next week then I'll be trying my hand at a Paddy Buckley Round attempt to start at 6pm next Friday (19th June) from Nantmor. I already have a support vehicle and driver confirmed, but at the moment I'm struggling on support.

I know the route well so helpers don't necessarily have to be familiar with the terrain. I can get hold of a spare decent headtorch for the night stage.

I'll decide next Wednesday or Thursday whether or not I think the weather looks good enough.

Any takers? Thanks, Sam.

[IanFitz]

Sam

As I've already said - if the weather doesn't play fair I'll be happy to help - just a major diary clash for that weekend!

the long term forecast for that weekend looks, erm, quite rainy, at present, but still plenty of time to change...

p.s. do you have any pics from my round?

[Pierre LaRoche]

Ian, luckily I don't trust long range forecasts particularly, so am still hoping for a weekend akin to that of 2 weeks ago.

Have dug all the pictures I took during your round off my mobile and they are making their way through the ether to your email account as we speak. Sam.

[RobW]

Hi folks, if the weather looks good next week then I'll be trying my hand at a Paddy Buckley Round attempt to start at 6pm next Friday (19th June) from Nantmor. I already have a support vehicle and driver confirmed, but at the moment I'm struggling on support.

Sam, I might be able to help; forecast not looking bad at the 'mo.

[IanDarkpeak]

Hi folks, if the weather looks good next week then I'll be trying my hand at a Paddy Buckley Round attempt to start at 6pm next Friday (19th June) from Nantmor. I already have a support vehicle and driver confirmed, but at the moment I'm struggling on support.

I know the route well so helpers don't necessarily have to be familiar with the terrain. I can get hold of a spare decent headtorch for the night stage.

I'll decide next Wednesday or Thursday whether or not I think the weather looks good enough.

Any takers? Thanks, Sam.

As I said in my email I'll be happy to help if free but not that W/E I'm already committed with IanF to another round

[Pierre LaRoche]

An update: The weather is looking pretty favourable for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, or so the met office website leads me to believe.

At the moment I have a car and driver available for both a 6pm Thursday start and a 6pm Friday start, so may well change the start date to Thursday 6pm, especially if this is more convenient for people.

Thanks RobW for the posting - I have sent you an email with further details.

[Pierre LaRoche]

I made it round in 23hrs 17mins and Xsecs. I would like to be able to tell you how many seconds but I couldn’t see my watch display properly through the tears.

An immense thank you to my team of helpers: Mike Wild, Martin Paul, Sam Parker and Rob Woodall.

Setting off from the start of the Nantmor road section meant that for once I actually enjoyed the mile or so of tarmacced hills. Martin took my bag up to the top of Bryn Banog before heading back to his car. The weather was lovely at this point – excellent visibility and just a little wind. I passed Y Gyrn and managed not to dwell too much on the fact that it marked the point at which I’d aborted my previous attempt. Approaching Trum y Ddysgl I was treated to one of those things where your shadow is projected into the mist with a halo round it (like on IanDarkpeak’s profile pic). I ran out of water atop Y Garn as planned and had a generous slurp whilst crossing the stream on the way to the forest.

Martin and Sam accompanied me up to Yr Aran, saving 10+ minutes on my 23h43m schedule, before heading back down and leaving me to stride the silhouetted ridges of the Snowdon Range alone. Approaching Cribau Tregalan I was struck by how bright a head torch there was ahead – turned out to be the summit café, which was empty of people but full of lights. After passing the hordes of people camping and bivvying atop Y Wyddfa I went passed the finger stone and promptly entered dense fog. Rather than risking the direct bearing off Carnedd Ugain I took the safer option back along the path I had just come. Half way up Moel Cynghorion I once more entered into cloud. This caused no problems until, at the col before Moel Eilio, I realised that I had been going down hill for rather too long. I retraced my steps and ran on the bearing I had noted down beforehand. Still I was going down hill, but after a heart-stopping minute I was once again rising, and thereafter found the well-worn track up to Moel Eilio. That little episode cost me 12mins. Martin accompanied me to the top of the inclines before heading back down. By this point there was rain as well as fog. The waterproof trousers went on and my priority shifted from sticking to schedule to simply not getting lost. On the descent off Elidir Fawr I realised that something was amiss. My crib sheet read “80 degrees then 40 degrees at the col” - I’d mixed up the two bearing and had descended at 40 degrees. On arrival at Mynedd Perfedd I was dismayed to see I had lost 16mins. By the time I got to Ogwen Cottage most of the time I had gained on the previous two sections had been clawed back by the Glyderau.

Rob and Martin came up Pen Yr Ole Wen with me. At the top Martin came back down and Rob continued on to Capel with me, showing me the first of a few shortcuts I hadn’t known.

At Capel I was greeted by an enthusiastic Martin and Mike. The rice pudding and coffee went down a treat. Sam, who had been drafted in last-minute having never put on a pair of fell shoes before, put in a legendary performance by carrying all my gear the entire way to Bwlch Cwmorthin. Just after Allt Fawr we were met by Rob. He asked me if I knew the quick way down from the stream – I didn’t but was soon to find out.

Mike did a terrific job of stopping me from talking and keeping me eating. Then Rob accompanied me for the last leg, ensuring I kept eating and drinking. Just before the hillock halfway down off Cnicht Rob made me laugh by pointing out that if I made it down in 10 minutes I’d have cracked 23 hours.

[IanDarkpeak]

Well done Sam

Glad you got round ok . superb performance

The ghost like think on a cloud is a brocken spectre

[IanFitz]

Good work Sam!

Great news, know you had it in you after your performance on my round!

looks like you did good to fit it in before the route blockage too...

[Baggins]

Well done

Nice write up as well.

Rob wasn't joking though