Digby Harris, Paddy Buckley Round Attempt, 19th- 20th July 2008

Leg 1 Capel Curig to Aberglaslyn
Support: Phil Cheek (Navigator), Dale Colclough and Jack Leech
We postponed the 7pm, Friday night start from Aberglaslyn due to bad weather and instead set off at 11am on the Saturday from Capel.  The weather was still not ideal, becoming pretty miserable as we entered the low cloud and wind on the climb up Moel Siabod, but the forecast was at least promising.  The route up had been marked up for the Moel Siabod race that day, not the Phil needed any help to guide us!  The cloud began to lift as we made our way along the boggy boundary fence towards the quarries, where Will Meredith and Den Colclough met us with top up supplies for the Moelwyn section.  After a brief stop for energy drink we made our way onwards, the Moelwyn's were clear and we were making good time.  The climb up Cnicht is always brutal.  Dale and I chose a rising traverse towards the summit whilst Phil and Jack headed straight up.  We reached the top and then the long dash began for the first road support point at the Nantmor National Trust Car Park, where we were met by Will, Den, Mahtab and Saam and the Leg 2 support team.  The leg had gone well, I was feeling comfortable and I was forty minutes up on schedule.     

Leg 2 Aberglaslyn to Pont Cae'r Gors
Support: Chris Cripps (Navigator) and Kirsty Hewitson
By now it had turned into a glorious evening.  Despite numerous reccies and a couple of recently successful PBR attempts there was still no clear way through Bryn Banog's boggy fields - it was good job we had Chris to trail-break!  The views from the top of Moel Hebog over the Welsh coastline and inland, over the rest of the route, were breathtaking and even Snowdon was clear! My appetite was also good and Kirsty took full advantage to keep me topped up with pizza, biscuits and fruit. The run along the ridge from TrumyDdysgl to Ygarn was spectacular; it was shame not to stay and watch the sunset!

Leg 3 Pont Cae'r Gors to Llanberis
Support: Steve Watts (Navigator), Neil King and Spyke accompanied by Chris and Kirsty.
I had an inkling that this leg might start off quickly! My suspicions were confirmed as we made up 14 minutes on the time up CraigWen!  However, we soon settled down to a more sustainable pace but continued to make good progress as we made our way towards Snowdon.  Chris and Kirsty took the opportunity to ease off the pace and we agreed to see them again at the bottom of Moel Elio so that Chris could guide us through the back streets of Llanberis - the hardest bit of navigation on the route!   As we began our ascent of Cribau Tregalan the clouds began to return and my chance of a first ever cloud free visit to Snowdon was receding rapidly. Head torches and extra clothing came out as we neared the summit and the visibility plummeted to just a few metres as we entered the cloud.  Conditions were pretty grim but it wasn't long until Snowdon's summit building site loomed out of the mist.  Navigation in the thick clag proved quite tricky but eventually we dropped out of it as we descended towards Moel Cynghorion and on towards the bright lights of Llanberis.  

Leg 4 Llanberis to Ogwen.
Support: Craig Harwood (Navigator) and Ian Hughes accompanied by Neil, Spyke and Steve.
The clag that we had left on the Snowdon leg suggested that this leg, too, was going to be pretty challenging.  Right enough, as soon as we had executed the quarries we were into the thick of it.  It took some time to find the first summit, not only because of conditions but also because we were moving much more slowly over the ground.  Spyke, Neil and Steve decided not to come with us Mynydd Perfedd, and I can't blame them - conditions were horrible!  We struggled on, feeding was erratic and I came close to bonking on the way to Foel-goch but Ian salvaged the situation with pizza.  It was a relief as the sky began to lighten and Glyder Fawr came into view and the fast moving clouds appeared to thin a little.  Craig found an excellent line to the top of Glyder Fawr.  In contrast, we struggled to find the optimum route to Glyder Fach and ended up doing some extra scrambling over huge, slippery, lichen-covered boulders to gain the summit rock pile.  This leg was dragging, I wasn't enjoying the terrain and I was becoming increasingly grumpy in my tired state (sincere apologies to Craig and Ian).  Once the chossy descent from Tryfan was complete I was off like a shot to Ogwen, keen to re-fuel and to get the ******* over with.  

Leg 5 Ogwen to Capel Curig
Support: Steve Watts (Navigator), Spyke and Ian Hughes
Spyke led the charge up Pen yr Ole Wen. We avoided the chossy crags, the pull wasn't as bad as I had feared and we gained the summit having knocked 12 minutes off the scheduled time!  Steve then led on to the next two tops finding some excellent lines en route in what were quite nasty conditions.   We dropped out of the cloud as we descended to the col below Pen yr Helgi Du. I was flagging but Spyke kept chivvying me along, topping me up with isotonic drink and sweets on the way.   I approached the final summit with the sun shining and still thinking that there was another hill to climb!  What a relief to find that there wasn't.  Chris and Neil met us on the descent, kindly opening the gate onto the road ready for the final dash to Capel and the completion, for me, of all three British 24hr rounds within a year.   

Acknowledgements.  I am exceedingly grateful to everyone mentioned in this summary for taking the time and trouble to come and support and encourage me - a huge thank you, I couldn't have done it without you!  Particular thanks goes to Will Meredith who provided excellent road support but unfortunately didn't get a run, also to Steve and Spyke for allowing me to drag them out onto the final leg after having done two already and especially to Mahtab and Saam for being so supportive, patient and tolerant of all my trips away into the hills this last year or two.