Quote Originally Posted by alwaysinjured View Post
...I hate that first mile. If you leave a gap to see your feet someone pushes into it, and if you do not you are in danger of tripping. I have tripped, seen others trampled....

has anyone reccied a more direct route up to bessy boot heading south say 400m after leaving the road rather than more or less following the bank of combe gill before kicking up towards tarn at leaves, which is longer? Or is that path just permissive until you get to combe gill, so have to stay on route, are their walls that prevent you doing it?
alwaysinjured -- I was just going to start poring over the maps and came back to this. On the route up to Bessyboot, the acceptance letter says "The route to Bessy Boot will be via Stonethwaite, through Chapel Farm and up Rottenstone Gill", so while there is no checkpoint, the instruction seems to be to go up at least towards Tarn at Leaves.

The first mile sounds a bit scary. I might be tempted to peg it a bit to stay out of trouble near the front for that, before easing back and waving goodbye to the leaders when we start climbing...

I'm a bit torn footwear-wise between my trusted older-style XTalon-212s (studs a little worn but not bad), or my pristine X-Talon 190s (perfect studs, lighter for better race speed, but maybe too thin on the rocks). Any views anyone?