BG attempt 6.00pm 6th Jan 2011

[Andrew McC]

Hot news for BG junkies.

Two contenders have set off tonight on a clockwise BG. They left Keswick at 6.00pm. Their names are Tom Phillips and Julian Coleman. Tom has previously completed the BG in May 2010, not sure about Julian. Their attempt tonight is with very limited support. Tom said they are supporting each other! They are currently approaching the summit of Skiddaw and there has just been a recent snow fall above 700m, so conditions may be rather challenging. Tom runs for Dallam and Julian for Londsdale.
Watch this space for updates. The best of luck to both of them.

[Derby Tup]

Thanks for posting Andrew, best of luck to the contenders!

[stevefoster]

Good Luck lads:thumbup:

[Andrew McC]

Leg one completed in 4. 05. Both are feeling fine. Just setting off now up Clough Head. There is quite a bit of fresh snow on the tops, Tom says there was only about a foot of fence showing on the decent just off the back of Skiddaw and it was hard going on the assent to Blencathra. They used the parachute run down into Threlkeld.

[Mark Smith]

Good luck chaps

[Andrew McC]

Attempt thwarted by snow. Pulled up at Dunmail 60 minutes behind schedule.

[Phil Winskill]

Saw lights on Clough Head from the Kitchen last night so I guessed somebody was out on a BG recce\attempt. Must have been bitter on the tops as the car was frozen this morning. Are they having another go soon?

[Jules C]

Hi, thought a quick report might be of interest.
Jules Coleman

Tom had been talking of a Winter attempt for a while after his successful Summer round in May 2010. He and I have climbed and run a fair bit together over the last few years, and training for an attempt progressed well. The idea of a ‘tentative’ try was born, and last night and Friday were forecast clear. We'd already decided to run basically as a pair.

Starting at 6pm, the first leg went very well. Neither of us had appreciated quite how much new snow had gone down over Wednesday night, but on Skiddaw right through to Great Calva it was surprisingly firm and good for running. The night was completely clear, without a breath of wind. Tom directed us onto a good route off Great Calva. The Mungrisdale/Blencathra climb felt hard, but again not too much problematic snow. The ‘parachute drop’ via Middle Tongue worked well – a little bit of cornice and steep snow at the top followed by lovely deep but slightly consolidated snow slopes at just the right steepness to let your legs go, with even a 100m labour saving bum slide! I'm not sure it would be good in all winter conditions, but felt ok last night.

Leg 1 was completed on schedule and in addition to Tom's friend Dick in his campervan, it was fantastic to see Andy S, Chris M and Paul From Lonsdale Fell Runners at Thelkeld. They had responded generously at short notice. Thanks!. Being a BG beginner, I hadn’t appreciated how much of a lift the road stop would give. So after sorting out an issue with the camelbaks, (We found that mixing 4:1 Hi-Five with hot water turned out like gloopy milk mixed with crushed cat litter!), we set off in good spirits on leg 2.

Most of the Clough Head climb was ok with reasonable snow. Once on the plateau and right through to Helvellyn, it was a different story. Consistent unconsolidated powder between 6 and 18 inches, with a slight crust meant was hard going and we started losing a lot of time. Even the run down to Sticks pass felt like a battle.

Reaching Helvellyn summit we were around an hour behind, and the sub-24 hour round was not going to happen. We backed off and enjoyed the last hour down to Dunmail and 3am cups of tea and hot crumpets.

So, not quite the hoped for outcome, but many lessons learnt.

[tomphillips]

Some pictures from our attempt, glad we had a go, but the conditions underfoot were grim after leg one. Conditions above foot were great though and it was amazing to be out on such a beautiful, if bitterly cold night.

There is a full gallery here -http://picasaweb.google.com/labdet I have some video footage as well that I will put on youtube later.

[Baggins]

A lot of fresh snow came in overnight on Wednesday and today wasn't too good either, very strong NE wind blowing a lot of spindrift about, I think you made a good call stopping at Dunmail.

At least you had a lovely starlit night