Winter SKills for RUnners in Hills

An excellent article on UK Climbing about runners in winter hill conditions. I implore all runners of all experiences to read, digest and share. Proper winter conditions require experience much more akin to winter mountaineering than summer running and it can get dangerous very quickly.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/..._runners-13243

It even delineates between Fell Runners and Ultra/Trail runners, which makes my heart sing. I'm getting a lot more useful posts from UKC than from anywhere else at the moment

I consider myself a very experienced Fell Runner, especially when the chips are down and the weather comes in, but I am very aware of my limitations when it gets properly wintery. I generally stick to enjoying the snow on flatter, lower hills, on pathed terrain that I know well, carrying a much bigger bag than usual (though still much smaller than a walker). It's also an excuse to pack in pork pies and proper cakes, instead of caramel wafer and gels!

That is a very interesting article...

One thing that struck me, they appear to make a distinction between Yaktrax and Mikrospikes... i always thought they were pretty much the same thing? (ie better on ice than shoes, but certainly not crampon levels)

I'm fairly content in my ability to recognise and fend off signs of hypothermia, after a couple of memorable races at the Trigger and the LM42, when on both occasions i made the right decisions... (one was to retire, the other was to get my damp layers off).

But a day out on Lliwedd and Snowdon when i was still a walker gave me a lot of respect for winter conditions, and when there's snow and/or ice about i'm very cautious.

Ba-ba you mentioned lower paths when it's really wintery... one of my favourite mid-winter routes is the Cumbria Way through the Back Of Skiddaw.... Mosedale to Keswick via Skiddaw House, or a variation on that theme.

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Originally Posted by ba-ba

An excellent article on UK Climbing about runners in winter hill conditions. I implore all runners of all experiences to read, digest and share. Proper winter conditions require experience much more akin to winter mountaineering than summer running and it can get dangerous very quickly.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/..._runners-13243

It even delineates between Fell Runners and Ultra/Trail runners, which makes my heart sing. I'm getting a lot more useful posts from UKC than from anywhere else at the moment

I consider myself a very experienced Fell Runner, especially when the chips are down and the weather comes in, but I am very aware of my limitations when it gets properly wintery. I generally stick to enjoying the snow on flatter, lower hills, on pathed terrain that I know well, carrying a much bigger bag than usual (though still much smaller than a walker). It's also an excuse to pack in pork pies and proper cakes, instead of caramel wafer and gels!

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A timely article I actually did my winter skills course several years ago @ Glenmore Lodge :-

https://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/winter-mountain/

I also did a winter skills course in the lakes again several years ago :-

https://www.lakedistrictweatherline....skills-courses

Over the years I have had a lot of fun practising the skills I learnt from both the courses and my own pratical experience even down to the odd night in snowholes, Winter Running/Walking and camping gives me more of a Buzz than any other season, even so I am still aware of my limitatios and hopefully I will always work within them.


Yes UKC is probably currently the best most relevant Website/Forum for those that love the hills

My local rag, The Teesdale Mercury, has reported a spate of call outs for MRTs recently, more than usual in these months, around the Crossfell region. Apparently, one was for a female runner who became crag-fast at High Cup Nick and was suffering from hypothermia. That's one of my regular local runs and I can only think she became stuck at the head of the dale where there's a mild but often wet scramble.