Keep it simple.

[Bob]

Short of having permanent logging stations at every summit and then strapping the dibber to the contender (in the same way as happens at mountain marathons) there's no practical way to prove that the contender does visit every summit. Thus it does end up being a matter of trust.

There have been occasions this year when GPS devices have failed, both to show that the contender visited a summit and that they completed the round due to the device freezing or malfunctioning in some way. It's not a common occurrence but it does happen. I think I'd be pretty annoyed if I relied on such a device for ratification only to find out after I'd finished that it hadn't recorded everything.

Having (some) help does make it sociable. If it was a matter of "complete the round, get the certificate" then the dinner as a social occasion would be superfluous, it's probably the only time that members get to meet one another.

gaj - it might be better comparing successes on the Ramsay with those on the Bob Graham (and Paddy Buckley) at a similar time in their history rather than the present. I seem to recall they weren't that dissimilar for the first twenty years or so (taking 1970 as the base for the BGR). The CRR is of course much more distant for most than the BGR which is within a couple of hours' drive for a large proportion of people. There's also a much smaller window of opportunity to attempt the CRR as there may be significant snow lying on the tops until well into May.