Planning to attempt the Welsh 3,000s in June 2010.

Any hints or tips?

Like to get round in 12 hours (but that might be a tad ambitious!)

David

On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 12:22:56 -0800 (PST), FenlandRunner
 wrote:

>Planning to attempt the Welsh 3,000s in June 2010.

Why not wait until the July then you could join the urw centenary
expedition.  (I *think* it's the centenary....)

Sorry, I've no advice about the 3000s.  I was going to do them myself
last year but decided Crib Goch was not my idea of a nice day out.

Judith

FenlandRunner wrote:
> Planning to attempt the Welsh 3,000s in June 2010.
> 
> Any hints or tips?
> 
> Like to get round in 12 hours (but that might be a tad ambitious!)

The speed you reputedly travel at you could well get round in under 10 
hours (something I never managed).

As to other tips (in no particular order but all based on problems I 
have had with this particular walk).

Get yourself a support party.

Only attempt it in good weather but try to avoid very hot days.

Make sure you know the whole route without the need to resort to looking 
at a map.

Carry as little as you can get away with.

Set a pace you expect to be able to maintain for the whole walk (peak to 
peak) but take it very easy getting to the start. If you have to stop 
for a rest on the first two ranges you are walking too fast.

In the dry the North Ridge of Tryfan is a doddle and the quickest route 
up or down the hill. It also links to the East end of Llyn Ogwen. You 
really don't want to go via the West end.

Try a hard walk 2 weeks before the event to test your fitness and give 
yourself time to recover.

"FenlandRunner"  wrote in message 
news:79de6410-c68c-4bf4-a910-4e3eab956689@m16g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
> Planning to attempt the Welsh 3,000s in June 2010.
>
> Any hints or tips?
>
> Like to get round in 12 hours (but that might be a tad ambitious!)
>
> David

The fell run record is an amazing 4 hours 20 minutes! Almost as good as that 
guy who climbed the Eiger in 2 hours 50 minutes.

I reckon, you'll need to run between easy sections to get below 12 hours. 
The only advice is get past Crib Goch before the rush hour or it'll cost you 
time swimming against the tide ;-)

Jhimmy

On 2 Nov, 21:22, FenlandRunner  wrote:
> Planning to attempt the Welsh 3,000s in June 2010.
>
> Any hints or tips?
>
> Like to get round in 12 hours (but that might be a tad ambitious!)
>
> David

I've tried (and failed) more times than I can now count, everything
from weather to navigation errors to injuries.

On my first attempt, a group of friends did it in around 8 hours, but
to do so they spent the night on top of Snowdon and descended from
Crib Goch by the Northern ridge to Llyn Glas (if you can search the
archives of this group you should find my posting asking about this
route and the responses describing how to find it). If you don't do
this, you will need to start early (3am latest) to avoid the crowds of
other 3000's on Crib Goch.

The other advantage sleeping over on top of Snowdon is that you get to
do the ascent of Elidir Fawr  (you go from near sea-level to over 3000
ft in one long slog) early enough in the morning for it still to be
reasonably cool. One of my attempts failed when two my party drank
nearly all their water doing this climb in full sun between 10 am and
midday, and then suffered from dehydration before reaching Tryfan.

Otherwise, to echo other comments:

get a support team (or at least stash supplies at points round the
route)

When you descend Tryfan, aim for the eastern end of Llyn Ogwen, the
climb up Pen Yr Ole Wen via Avon Llouer is much easier than straight
from Ogwen Cafe.

Do some or all of the route beforehand so you know it without a map.

It is possible to traverse across the western face of Carnedd
Llewellyn to Yr Eln, thus avoiding the need to climb Llewellyn twice.

Good Luck

John

"FenlandRunner"  wrote in message 
news:79de6410-c68c-4bf4-a910-4e3eab956689@m16g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
> Planning to attempt the Welsh 3,000s in June 2010.
>
> Any hints or tips?
>
> Like to get round in 12 hours (but that might be a tad ambitious!)
>
> David

As an add on from my last post, I've been to:

http://www.welsh3000s.com/

I didn't realise that there's a possible 16 3000footers. I knew there were 
14 possibly 15, but it's been 4 years since I was last in Snowdonia.

Not sure you realised this,

Jhimmy

Jhimmy wrote:

> 
> I reckon, you'll need to run between easy sections to get below 12 
> hours. The only advice is get past Crib Goch before the rush hour or 
> it'll cost you time swimming against the tide ;-)

I can assure you that it is perfectly possible to get below 12 hours 
without running. Two on my 5 completions were under 11 hours and the 
longest only 13h 5min.

I haven't measured the distance since digital mapping became available 
but my notes from the 70s have the peak to peak distance as 23 miles and 
the height gain as 10,000 feet. So my old adversary Naismith would have 
plodded round in 12 hours 40 minutes and Chapman's Rule (an hours for 
every 4 miles on the map and another hour for every 3000 feet of ascent) 
  gives a fraction over 9 hours. Sadly the only hard walk I ever matched 
that pace on was the Lyke Wake Walk (11h 20min.)

Jhimmy wrote:

> As an add on from my last post, I've been to:
> 
> http://www.welsh3000s.com/
> 
> I didn't realise that there's a possible 16 3000footers. I knew there 
> were 14 possibly 15, but it's been 4 years since I was last in Snowdonia.
> 
> Not sure you realised this,

The rules were set long ago by whoever first publicised the challenge, 
probably Thomas (I bought a mountain) Fairbanks. Up to quite recently 
(1989 I think) the OS was showing Garnedd Uchaf as below 914 metres and 
  Castell y Gwynt is just a pimple that wasn't considered worth 
including by the pioneers.

So traditionally just 14 peaks. I see no reason not to include Garnedd 
Uchaf now it has been promoted but not doing it shouldn't disallow a 
claim to have completed the walk.

A question for the sticklers though. Should completion include standing 
on the actual summit of Tryfan?

Roger Chapman wrote:

>So traditionally just 14 peaks. I see no reason not to include Garnedd 
>Uchaf now it has been promoted but not doing it shouldn't disallow a 
>claim to have completed the walk.

What if you go over Carnedd Gwenllian instead? :-)
-- 
Phil Cook, last hill: Cadair Idris in the mist.
http://www.therewaslight.co.uk

Phil Cook wrote:
> Roger Chapman wrote:
> 
>> So traditionally just 14 peaks. I see no reason not to include Garnedd 
>> Uchaf now it has been promoted but not doing it shouldn't disallow a 
>> claim to have completed the walk.
> 
> What if you go over Carnedd Gwenllian instead? :-)

I wonder how long it will be before the OS get round to actually 
including that name on the out of date maps they sell to the general public.

"Roger Chapman"  wrote in message 
news:TdadnXgKyJmBFW3XnZ2dnUVZ8qGdnZ2d@bt.com...
> Jhimmy wrote:
>
>>
>> I reckon, you'll need to run between easy sections to get below 12 hours. 
>> The only advice is get past Crib Goch before the rush hour or it'll cost 
>> you time swimming against the tide ;-)
>
> I can assure you that it is perfectly possible to get below 12 hours 
> without running. Two on my 5 completions were under 11 hours and the 
> longest only 13h 5min.
>


Roger, did you never noticed how many people were running behind you trying 
to keep up with your pace?

Jhimmy

Jhimmy wrote:

>> I can assure you that it is perfectly possible to get below 12 hours 
>> without running. Two on my 5 completions were under 11 hours and the 
>> longest only 13h 5min.
>>
> 
> 
> Roger, did you never noticed how many people were running behind you 
> trying to keep up with your pace?

Do I have eyes in the back of my head? :-)

What I did notice even before I started to slow down was that how ever 
fast I managed to walk there was always someone else who was walking 
even faster.

Incidentally do you remember the 70 yr old who beat us to the top of 
Hedgehog Hill (?) on the Cheviots expedition? (Part of a group of LDWA 
members).

"Roger Chapman"  wrote in message 
news:7MWdnXadi9JsyWzXnZ2dnUVZ8hKdnZ2d@bt.com...
> Jhimmy wrote:
>
>>> I can assure you that it is perfectly possible to get below 12 hours 
>>> without running. Two on my 5 completions were under 11 hours and the 
>>> longest only 13h 5min.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Roger, did you never noticed how many people were running behind you 
>> trying to keep up with your pace?
>
> Do I have eyes in the back of my head? :-)
>
> What I did notice even before I started to slow down was that how ever 
> fast I managed to walk there was always someone else who was walking even 
> faster.
>
> Incidentally do you remember the 70 yr old who beat us to the top of 
> Hedgehog Hill (?) on the Cheviots expedition? (Part of a group of LDWA 
> members).

No, can't remember the 70 year old. I seem to recall a group of people at 
the gate further on who were bagging every lump and bump.

Jhimmy

Roger Chapman wrote:

>Phil Cook wrote:
>> Roger Chapman wrote:
>> 
>>> So traditionally just 14 peaks. I see no reason not to include Garnedd 
>>> Uchaf now it has been promoted but not doing it shouldn't disallow a 
>>> claim to have completed the walk.
>> 
>> What if you go over Carnedd Gwenllian instead? :-)
>
>I wonder how long it will be before the OS get round to actually 
>including that name on the out of date maps they sell to the general public.

The next editionsof OS maps will have the dual name.
-- 
Phil Cook, last hill: Cadair Idris in the mist.
http://www.therewaslight.co.uk