OMM 2008, 25th October
Geoff Davis
You are all probably sick of hearing about this year's OMM given the hysteria there has been in the media since Saturday afternoon. However Shaun asked if I'd do something for the website so here's a brief account of my six and a bit hours on the Lake District fells on a rather inclement Saturday in October.
We set off at 08.11 from a little knoll just south of Seathwaite farm. Although the rain hadn't started at that point someone managed to go down on their bottom as we descended the ten meters or so to the path - much to my inner amusement. Our first checkpoint was a couple of miles away just north of Allen Crags and we picked this one off fairly quickly as visibility was reasonably good. The next one had a variety of route choices and we selected one that involved climbing to Esk Hause, skirting Esk Pike and descending into the valley of a tributary of the River Esk. The wind had been very strong from the start and as we contoured the steep and rocky slope the rain started in earnest. Nonetheless visibility stayed fairly good and we dropped into the valley and then onto the checkpoint without too much problem.
Part of the route to the third checkpoint involved a fast run down the valley with a couple of river crossings where things hadn't yet developed into raging torrents. A fairly steep climb and traverse of a boggy area bought us to the next checkpoint and conditions were now pretty bad - torrential rain and gale force winds - but we sped off towards the next marker which was half way up Scafell. This involved a fast couple of miles then a steepish ascent for about ten minutes with a final traverse to the checkpoint which we hit spot on and with no other competitors around us.
I now felt that we had it cracked and were on the return leg. But by now the rain had been belting down for a couple of hours and, with the ground already saturated, the rivers were all in spate. Crossing Lingmell Gill was a wet and wild experience but we managed it quickly and without mishap. Fortunately there was bridge over the raging torrent that was flowing into Wast Water and we started to climb up the steep path to Beck Head (between Great Gable and Kirk Fell). Buffeted by the ferocious wind and rain I struggled up this ascent but still managed to overtake a few other competitors who probably were not doing the Elite course 'like wot we were'. It was misty now as well but after reaching Beck Head we flew round to the next checkpoint at the very top of Ennerdale. We didn't have far to go now but the conditions were at their most severe - gusts of wind that you needed to crouch into unless you wanted an uncontrolled descent to the overnight camp and rain/hail that felt like machine gun bullets when it crashed into your cagoule hood.
Water was now flowing everywhere and on Haystacks I stepped into a pool that looked about six inches deep but proved to be about four feet deep with large rocks on the bottom. I managed to pull myself out relatively unscathed and forged on with my partner Paul down towards the finish. After crossing four or five more streams in spate we made it to the overnight camp by Buttermere Lake quite elated. We'd got through day one and were fairly confident we could manage day two after a good scoff and a sleep in our bomb proof tent - perhaps the Elite wasn't beyond us after all. You will imagine our disappointment at being told the event had been abandoned!
I'll not bore you with what happened after that but needless to say we will be back next year to have another go. Paul's altimeter said we had climbed 2010 meters that day and a quick look at the map shows we covered about 18-19 miles. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and found it quite exhilarating. We never felt in danger as we have experienced similar conditions before (although perhaps not quite such heavy rain) on a number of occasions - that's why I always look weather beaten!
