Printable View
8.29 miles, 2,989 feet, 2 hours 55 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including the loop from the top, down the race route to the road at High close and back up the steps opposite Loughrigg Tarn. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,500 feet. A moderate wind from the south west. Intermittent drizzle. Terrain saturated/streaming and slippery. Not many walkers about; 1 fellow runner seen.
9.03 miles, 2,785 feet, 2 hours 56 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including an anti-clockwise loop taking in the true top and back along the ridge. Mainly overcast - some patches of blue sky - banks of cloud at multiple levels - no distinct cloud base. No significant wind; a few minutes of drizzle/light rain. Terrain saturated and slippery. I saw a couple of dozen walkers on the fell, and no other runners.
11.25 miles, 2,963 feet, 3 hours 31 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including the loop down the race route to High Close and back up the steps. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,500 feet. A moderate wind from the south east. It had just started to drizzle as I got home. Terrain damp/wet and slippery in places. Not many walkers on the fell. I bumped into the AAC Tuesday/Friday group at Loughrigg top - good timing - there were about 15 of them.
I led a group of runners from my club on a Christmas headtorcher round the Strid from Barden Bridge last night. For some of them it was there first night run. We ran down the East side and regrouped at the Cavendish pavilion before running back up the Wharfe and viewing the 12 days of Christmas tableaux's . Headlights arrived and I thought security were going to give us a hard time. However they were really polite and welcoming and switched on all the fairy lights. Made for a magical run.
9.55 miles, 3,170 feet, 3 hours 23 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 3 sides, including the loop along the ridge to the true top. Overcast, with the cloud base initially at about 600 feet; 1,000 feet or so higher later. A few brief patches of blue sky. A moderate wind from the south. Intermittent drizzle. Terrain saturated and slippery in places. Only a couple of dozen walkers seen on the fell; 2 other runners seen.
11.16 miles, 3,275 feet, 3 hours 34 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including the loop down the race route to the road at High Close and back up the steps. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 800 feet. Constant drizzle/light to moderate rain. Puddles and rivulets everywhere. A moderate wind from the west. Terrain saturated/streaming and very slippery. Given the weather and the forecast I was surprised how many walkers were out. No other runners seen.
8.35 miles, 2,871 feet, 2 hours 42 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate, and the true top via Nanny Lane - I did not go along the ridge in either direction because of the wind. Overcast, with the cloud base just catching some of the highest tops. Frequent patches of blue sky/shafts of sunshine. I was not rained/snowed on, though I could see showers elsewhere. A strong cold wind from the south west. Terrain saturated and slippery; some small ice patches and a smattering of snow at this level; much more snow was visible on the higher tops. Lots of walkers on the Wansfell steps.
Does it look like it's going to ice up tonight, Mike? I would ask how wet the race route is, but it's going to rain heavily for most of the day so it's soggy whatever.
I went down the race route today and it was wet and slippery though ice free - but there is a yellow warning for ice overnight, and the forecast is for rain from 9 'til 5 tomorrow. The minimum overnight temperature is estimated to be 2 C, but that is down here - the mountain specific forecast is not available at the moment. If I was doing the race I would be carrying my micro-crampons - Nortec - I carry them all the time at the moment.
Good Luck!
8.04 miles, 2,811 feet, 2 hours 29 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including the loop down the race route to the road at High Close and back up again. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 500 feet. Continuous light to moderate rain. A moderate wind from the south. Terrain saturated/streaming and very slippery. I saw 8 walkers and 11 runners on the fell; there were a few more of each in the valley.
This was one of the wettest runs I have done. For the first time ever there was roughly a couple of tablespoons of water inside each of my waterproof socks.