Quote Originally Posted by Dog Breath View Post
Of the 18 Fellsmans I've now completed, that has to be by far the coldest. I've had some pretty rough ones over the years, but I don't think I have ever been so cold. I couldn't warm up at all. Even a determined walk up Great Whernside did not generate any heat. I can understand why people got hypothermia, and was probably not far off myself. I know grouping is for safety reasons, but everyone still has to take personal responsibilty and in conditions such as those experienced you get into survival mode. One guy with us had a Petzl Tikka for his torch, which may be OK round the camp site, but up there when you NEED to see where you were going, it was useless. Consequently, we had a lot of standing around in the freezing conditions waiting for him. There weren't too many groups behind as we got through Park Rash before it was abondonned. But the worst point was that 900 metres before Capplestone CP, we waited for him at the stile, and then continued to the CP. We were only walking and he should have been with us but wasn't, and we had to wait 30+ minutes in the freezing conditions before he materialised. We were all getting varying degrees of shudders while we were waiting. The CP staff just told him to get in their tent and sent us on our way. I eventually finished in 19:43 and was my slowest time for many years. I've just about thawed out, but blimey that was a cold one.
Just picking up on this point from P161 of this thread - like AndyA I'm quite shocked about this comment. Do we not think that point 6c in the rules is there for a reason ??

"Failing to maintain compact groups ... will result in disqualification of the WHOLE group"

Yes, the conditions on Gt Whernside and Buckden Pike were desperate and yes, we all felt way too cold but that's no need to leave one member of the team 30+ minutes behind. Like AndyA I ran with a Petzl Tikka (mine was probably the brightest in our group !) and it was perfectly adequate.

I don't understand why they inforce the kit checks so rigorously when something like this is overlooked. Compact groups should be mandatory, sorry - it's for the safety of ALL competitors and not just those who have got some life in their legs.