UTS recce #3 - mission fail

Darkness was closing in as we cautiously and fearfully picked our way across yet another rocky peak; we didn't know how many more stood between us and the descent to a lower, safer elevation. The rain was relentlessly heavy and had infused every layer of clothing I wore, and I was getting quite seriously cold. Strong gusts of wind blew across the tops; we tried to steer clear of exposed edges, preferring the face with the winds incoming. Despite the chill working its way to my core and a growing desperation to get off the tops, I had made a necessary pause to put on my head torch in the fading light. I folded my poles and attached them to my waist band as I needed free hands to clamber down the slippery rocks. I was fearful of the risks involved with tackling such awkward scrambling, on wet rocks and in the dark, but there was no alternative, easy way off this sequence of jagged summits. In other circumstances, turning around might have made sense, but we had covered some huge peaks in around three hours since the last road; heading back into the hills just wasn't an option. As we made the difficult decision to pick along the side of Pen hr Helgi Du, rather than over its intimidatingly sharp, rocky top, my growing fear of serious injury or hypothermia engulfed the strong determination I had been carrying to finish this third and final recce of the UTS route; we were less than 20 miles into this 55-mile route, but we had to abort.

The preparation and planning for the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100-miles has been steadily consuming my time and thoughts. I've been following a plan to cover the full race distance over three visits, to get to know the course and gain some confidence in how to tackle it. With each visit, my appreciation for the scale of the challenge has grown. I'd like to say the familiarity with the course has calmed my nerves, but instead it has highlighted the enormity of this undertaking. The number of significant peaks has been a shock; the relentless sequences of multiple, awkward summits has been a surprise. For many stretches, the expected opportunity for running along a flat section or downhill fails to arrive, being replaced with technical paths, fields of rocks, scrambling, bogs, and every other kind of challenging footing. I've tried to convince myself that completing the hugely challenging 180km 13 Valleys last year, in very difficult conditions, has proven my readiness for this challenge, but the reality is that this is a much tougher course; the UTS features an additional 4000m of ascent, around 10,600m/35,000ft in total, over much very difficult terrain. The closest description I can think of is this - take the hardest bits of every hike I have ever done, including where I've got lost and ended up scrambling and clambering, string them together in a single route, and attempt to run them over two days and nights without sleep. Honestly, I'm now terrified at the prospect.

This was the the plan, which was working quite well until Saturday's aborted missions:

Recce #1: leg 1 & 5

This first outing was around 30 miles, covering the first and last sections of the race route. Rob accompanied me for this one, and conditions were pretty grim. We ascended Snowdon via the Llanberis path in fog, with rain beating down and side winds greeting us towards the top. After descending the technical Pyg track, we make a second ascent of Snowdown via the Miners track, to then rejoin the final part of the race route. After descending Rangers, the remaining big summits were Mynydd Mawr and Moel Elio, both of which were hugely challenging - Mynydd Mawr being a super-steep grassy lump with multiple false summits; Moel Elio seemed to never end, and caught me at a bad point of dehydration and suffering from cold. A hilly 30 miles sounds fairly routine to me now, but this was a tough day because of both the elevation and the weather. I didn't manage to keep warm enough over the eight solid hours of rain. My lingering thoughts after this recce were, a) how difficult Mynydd Mawr and Moel Elio will be late into the 104-miles, and b) the difficulty in staying warm if it rains throughout the event.

Descending Pyg track

The highest peak in grim conditions

Llyn Llydaw

Recce #2: leg 4

I took on this route alone, and for once got lucky with the weather - it was beautiful, though with some challenges of fog and snow when hitting the highest points. Whilst only around a marathon in distance, the sequence of hills around the middle of the route made it a particular challenge. After a pass over the modest hills between Llyn Dinas and Aberglaslyn, and a steady jaunt along the river to Beddgelert, the fun really started; Moel Hebog is a serious challenge on its own; it is followed by closely by another four awkward peaks before it finally drops down to the foot of Rhyd-Ddu. As usual, the timing gave a big clue about quite how hard this stretch was; it tooks me 2-3 hours longer to get around that section than I anticipated. The final part of the course rehearsal was ascending Rhyd-Ddu to Snowdon Summit, which was made more exciting by hitting the snow line shortly before the trig point. I made my life hard with the final section to get back to the car - a scramble over West Peak, East Peak and Lliwedd Bach before dropping back down via Miners. Lessons learned? After two tumbles on muddy grass, I need to carry (and use) my microspikes for mud as well as ice. Also, and most significantly, the Moel Hebog to Rhyd-Ddu stretch will be hugely challenging, and yet after that, there is still a lot of distance and some other huge climbs to come.

Llyn Dinas

Llyn Dinas

Heading up Rhyd-Ddu to Snowdon summit; looking west

Hitting the snow line, shortly before Snowdon summit

Recce #3: leg 2 & 3

The intention was to cover the remaining half the the race route, adding in only a couple of miles to get from the car at Llyn Gwynant to the start of leg 2 at Pen-y-Pass. This meant 55 miles, nearly 20,000ft ascending and a predicted 20 hours, and so would include running through the night. Glyder Fawr was a brutal start to the hils. Descending Devil's kitchen was fun, and was followed by a rare section of running along technical paths. Looping around Tryfan was unexpectedly tough, but it was after crossing the road at Llyn Ogwen that things really got difficult; Pen yr Ole Wen, Carnedd Dafydd, Carnedd Llewelyn were both high and technically challenging, and as we negotiated them, the weather got progressively more extreme. I hadn't anticipated how difficult the following section would be, and it coincided with darkness falling and the weather deteriorating further.

Starting up Glyder Fawr, looking back over Pen-y-Pass

Inhospitable terrain on Glyder Fawr

At the top of Devil's Kitchen

Looking back at Devil's Kitchen

A view of Pen yr Ole Wen before we looped around Tryfan and then ascending into the cloud

Whilst the decision to abort this recce was undoubtedly driven by the weather, this is unquestionably a hugely difficult stretch of the race. When you have such a challenging experience, it is hard to separate the components that made it a challenge; no doubt the weather made it harder, but was it really as technically challenging as I recall?

This leaves a significant portion of the race unexplored. From browsing a 3d map, Moel Siabod, Moelwyn Mawr and Cnicht all look hugely challenging. I'm hoping for moderate conditions to arrive soon and offer a final recce opportunity.