23rd June 2012
The Charlie Ramsey Round is the Scottish equivalent of the Bob Graham Round with a circuit of 24 peaks in 24 hours involving some 60 miles and 28000' ascent. Starting from Glen Nevis Youth Hostel it takes in the Mamores, the Loch Treig munros, the Grey Corries, the Aanochs, Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis.
Charlie Ramsay first completed it in 1978, although the shortest of the UK Big 3 it is widely regarded as the toughest due to the limited support points, its high remote terrain and its more testing navigation. I was in Fort william, Scotland to support leg 3 of Chris's attempt at this round.
Saturday 12 noon.
Chris and support crew - Picture courtesy Charlie Ramsey
Setting off
The first change in plan was Jules, Ronnie and i supporting the first 3 tops of leg 1, fighting our way up Ben Nevis through the crowds of "3 peakers" was a crazy way to start the day, the summit was very busy dispite the poor weather.
Ben Nevis Summit
The traverse over the ridge to Carn Mor Dearg was not for those with a fear of heights. The rocks were treacherous but the clag (fog) was thick enough to block the view of the massive drops on either side of the ridge.
By the time we reached Aonach Mor the low cloud had changed to heavy rain and high winds. This is where Jules, Ronnie and i split off and descended to the chair lift. My lips had turned blue with the cold and i was happy to be off the tops and heading to a warm bed. We arrived at the ski centre by 4 pm, where Debbie met us and took us back to the bunkhouse for pasta and a couple of hours sleep before we were due to set off and meet Chris for leg 3.
Nevis Range Cable Car
We had only just arrived at the bunkhouse when we received a phone call from the Ski centre advising us that Digby, one of Chris's support crew, had become separated from the team and made his way down to the safety of the Ski centre. Digby was not a happy man when we collected him but soon cheered up back at the bunkhouse where he was warm and dry with a hot cup of tea.
Having rested we packed our kit for our next task, supporting Chris on the 3rd and final leg, which starts at Loch Elide Mor and finishes back at the Glen Nevis youth hostel. Taking 9 hours, its the longest of the 3 legs.
It was 9.30pm when the road support team returned from the change over at Fersit with further bad news, one of Chris's navigators had become separated from the group on the final ascent up Stob A'Coire Easin, thick clag and driving rain were making condition tough. Chris and support runner Jeff finally arrived 20 minutes down on schedule at the first change over point.
It was 11pm when we set off from Mamore lodge hotel in Kinlockleven, this was our departure place for the walk out to meet Chris for the change over from leg 2 to leg 3. It was a little before 1am when we arrived at Loch Elide Mor and pitched the one man tent for Chris to shelter in when he arrived, he was due at 2.47am. This left us plenty of time to explore the surrounding area, it was a bright night so no real need to use our head torches.
Chris arrived at 3.15am, nearly 30 minutes down on schedule but in good spirits and moving well. After some hot soup and a change of shoes he was up and off again with Ronnie, Jules and i supporting and Wendy Dodds providing navigation.
Chris went reasonably well up the first climb, Sgur Elide Mor, but lost a further 5 minutes from his schedule, he descended well down in to the valley bottom but lost further time ascending Binnein Beag, it was about this time that Chris made the tough decision to call it off. He was to far behind on his schedule to make the 24hr dead line. A tough choice to make but, in the circumstances i'm sure it was the right one.
It was now 5.20 am and we had a further 2hrs and 40 minutes walk before reaching the safety of the Mamore Lodge hotel where a support vehicle was parked.
Finally it was the poor weather that beat Chris this time out, i'm sure he will try again and given good weather...........
