Double Ramsay Round Attempt
"Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory" - Ed Viesturs
I'm in my element with a long day in the hills.
I had thought I’d like to attempt a double Ramsay Round after reading about Nicky Spinks attempt in 2018.
I had my first recce of the Mamores in December 2019 hoping to be ready for an attempt in summer 2020. But with lockdown that wasn’t to be as I never managed to recce the entire route by the time the hills opened up again.
A Tranter round was all I managed in 2020 with some further recce’s earlier this year meant I had covered all the ground at least once.
Training started properly in January when I concentrated on building up my weekly elevation more than mileage. I climbed 94000m over a distance of 1400km. My average run week would consist of about 80km and 5000m of ascent, although some weeks I was short on the distance but would still put in as much climbing as possible.
I was also conscious of listening to my body during the training weeks, especially my knees, and I would back off on the mileage if I felt too much discomfort when running.
I prepared some splits to complete a sub 48hrs double, largely to help with planning the logistics of my attempt.
I spent a whole day preparing my food and fuel for the rounds which consisted of:
Active root drinks
Active root gels
Cheese, sundried tomato and jalapeno wraps
Rice, cashew and humus wraps
Peanut butter and honey rice cakes
Honey and chia flapjacks; with chocolate, coconut, cranberries and dates; mixed fruit, almond, ginger and cinnamon; mixed seeds and nuts with chilli flakes
Chia Charge bars
Mango loco monster energy drink
Tomato and Basil pasta
Sweet chilli noodles
The Rounds
I drove up to Fort William after dropping in some eggs and brioche rolls with Robin, that was breakfast sorted for Saturday morning.
I stopped at the Green Welly Shop to buy a cap as I forgot my running cap. All they had was a Scotland cap that made me look more like I was going out for a round of golf.
I got parked up at YH, was settled in van just after 22:00 and slept reasonably well just waking a couple of times but not for too long, considering what my mind was contemplating about the days ahead.
I awoke at 03:40 just before my alarm, feeling reasonably refreshed.
Breakfast was a banana on a couple of brioche rolls.
Trackers were switched on and I checked that the dots were appearing on the map.
I had 2 trackers; one had a satellite signal which would ping every 5 minutes and the other worked off a phone signal but would ping a location more often as long as it was in range.
My first round was going to be solo, other than the run up Stob a’Choire Mheadhoin (don’t ask me how to pronounce it!) which Robin was joining me for.
I was carrying everything I needed to get me to Fersit, where I was meeting my parents for more supplies.
I was ready at 04:50 so I sat in the van for another 5 min before going to the YH sign to take a photo.
My race vest had my fluid and gels in it, plus an extra thermal layer, full waterproofs, map compass, several active root powder sachets and a few first aid items. This weighed in at 4.5kg. Then I had a bum bag which had all my solid food that I needed to get me to Fersit, this weighed 1.5kg. Once it was on my back it didn't feel too bad as I knew this would get lighter as I ate and drank my way through it.
Even down in the Glen it was fairly breezy, but the forecast said the wind would drop as the day went on. I was just happy I could see the tops of the first few summits as I didn’t want to spend all day running through clouds.
The only part of the route I wasn’t too sure about was the cut through the woods from the main road to the forestry track just at the start of the round. Anyway it was only a very short section and I knew it would be fine even if I had to fight my way through the branches, and it turned out that was the case.
By the time I got to the forestry track I felt a few fir needles down my back between my pack and my base layer. I gave my pack a bit of a shake as I ran on along the forestry track. Needles seemed to be gone as there was no irritation.
There was a corner to cut off the zig-zag forestry track, this came just after a clearing in the woods. My route involved over and under some wind-blown trees before I joined the designated trod. As I popped back out of the trees onto the forest road I took a mental note of the small cairn marking the top of the short cut for my return journey.
From here it was straightforward climbing. After crossing the style over the fence I was out onto the open hillside. I was about 5km in and my feet were about to get wet and remain wet for the duration of the run.
The wind was feeling stronger as I ascended the hill, I was beginning to feel the chill right into my bones. I stopped to put my waterproof jacket on, which was enough to make me feel comfortable again.
As I neared the summit my hat blew off, I retrieved it, put it back on; this happened twice more as I went over the summit and started to descend towards Stob Ban. It was futile in this wind, the Scotland cap was going in my pack; it was cold enough for my beanie anyway. Another short stop sorted it; that was ok as I was on my splits and moving at a comfortable pace.
As I climbed Stob Ban I met someone who was doing a marathon of Munro’s, 26 over a few days, he was on his last day doing the Mamores. I chatted as I walked a short section with him, but this wasn’t the pace I needed to be going, so I trotted on up the hill.
Stob Ban checked off, and I finished my first bottle as I approached my first water stop.
My nutrition plan for the day was to eat and drink every 20 minutes to try and avoid any crashes. Ideally matching my fuel input with my energy output, I didn’t want to be constantly checking the time, so I had worked out that as soon as it felt like I had digested the last piece of food it was time to eat again. I had prepared my food into 150 bite sized pieces.
My journey through the Mamores seemed to be relatively effortless, gliding along the ridges until I was on the climb to Binean Beag it was a fairly bouldery route up to the summit. I hadn’t taken this line before on any of my outings. I tried to stay to the biggest boulders and grassier line hoping to minimise the amount of movement of the rock under my feet. Distracted too by the podcast about John Kelly’s 'Grand Round' I was over the top and traversing round to Sgurr Eilde Mor, the final Mamore. One more water stop on route and I was at the summit more or less bang on my planned split.
I had changed the insoles in my Inov8's for ones that had a bit more cushion as I thought that this would help mitigate against some of the impact on my legs, although on a wet prior training run they had shifted about in my shoe. I knew I was taking a bit of a risk for the day but I thought the benefit might outweigh any inconvenience of having to change them half way.
Well they didn't last until half way, but I had carried my other insoles in my pack, so I got down off the top of SEM and had a stop to change my insoles and it was lunch time anyway so I ate a halloumi roll as I sorted out my shoes. I also put some vaseline on my lower back as my pack had started to chafe as I'd forgot to lubricte this area at the start. This was the start of me dropping back on my splits.
Feet felt better again and I felt a wee energy boost from my short break, this next section was some of the hardest terrain of the route, heather, bog and tussocks, took me back to many a training run in the Ochil's.
Keep moving forward that was the plan.
Down into the glen and it was the river crossing, waded through and then I picked up the undulating grassy trod which would take me to the loch.
Was feeling pretty good, not too worried about the time as my greater concern was not to be pushing too hard, I was going to be leaving that for the second lap.
The Land Rover track took me round the southern edge of Loch Treig and up under the railway.
There was another water source here; I climbed down to fill my bottles again. I felt a little light headed, so I took on a bit extra food here, and downed some water from the burn.
Kept moving though, the grass underfoot was a quite a bit longer than when I'd recce'd this section a couple of months earlier. The cloud was on the summit but I was feeling a bit better.
There was a long descent, another river crossing then a steep climb up to Chno Dearg but only one more summit and I would see my parents who had some hot food, coffee and dry socks waiting for me at the dam.
Robin met me as I started to descend off Stob Coire Sgriodain, I had wondered if he might as I was a good 30 minutes down on my splits. It was great to have some company after over 12 hours and only seeing a couple of people in the passing. I immediately let him lead the way so I could disengage the brain for a little while.
Across the dam to meet my parents for a quick pit stop, I ate as much tomato pasta as I could shovel in with a mouthful of coffee as I put on some dry socks into my wet shoes, but it felt good momentarily. The wind was keeping the midges away thankfully.
I had lost 30 minutes on my schedule, but I was still moving comfortably. I headed up Stob a'Choire Mheadhoin with Robin, he kept me company for the steepest part of the climb before turning back to go and get some sleep before he met me again at the youth hostel. Our discussion was that he wouldn’t likely see me until 0400, an hour behind my schedule.
The next couple of summits came fairly quickly and then up into the Grey Corries. I was counting down the summits to the halfway point.
I switched my phone on and called home which was a good wee boost just before I went into the night section.
I had a fall as I crossed some boulders on Stob Choire Claurigh and managed to break both my poles as I landed. Without the poles it wasn’t long until I started to feel pressure on my knees on the descents. Despite this I felt like I was still moving well along the ridges.
After I descended off Stob Coire an Laoigh, there was a water stop where I layered up for the night. The temperature was dropping, I put on my thermal layer under my waterproof and also waterproof trousers, (first time I’ve ever run in waterproof trousers) and got out my head torch. Only a few hours of dark to negotiate. Almost all my winter training is done in the dark, so I wasn't too phased by the night. The cloud was down though so I was following the route on my watch more closely now.
After the Aonach Mor summit I missed the cairn marking the trod down to CMD, so my line down here was unfamiliar, especially in the dark and cloud. I descended some really steep grassy and rocky slopes, where I had to lower myself down some of the drops, I was expecting to come across a fairly significant burn where I'd stopped at on previous days out, but it didn't come.
A bit thrown by my disorientation I got my phone out again to make sure I was starting at the right point to go across the Arete.
Daylight started to creep in as I pushed up the boulder field to Ben Nevis. There were already several people on the summit.
I was really feeling my knees as I came down through the scree off the Ben without my poles.
My time for the A/C round was 23:42
Carla from Blairgowrie Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic had kindly offered to meet me at the half way point and give me any treatment that I might need. She had prepared an ice bath, which I sat in for 5 minutes, Robin had made me a fried egg roll which went down a treat while I was sitting in the ice. A quick massage, some new tape applied to one of my knees , a full kit change and I headed back up the Ben with Robin's poles. It was 05:30
Robin was going to be accompanying me for this full round, and then Grant was going to run with us too for the last leg through the Mamores.
My parents had more supplies for me at Fersit and then Carla was going to cycle in with some supplies before we headed into the Mamores.
I was going to be travelling a bit lighter for this loop. Robin carried one of my soft flasks and one of my gel bottles as we headed up the Ben.
Ben Nevis was the biggest climb of the day ahead, it was a slow start but getting to the summit was a huge mental boost. Round 2 was underway. I was moving better again by the time I was descending again towards CMD Arete.
I broke one of Robin's poles with a fall descending Carn Mor Dearg. I was using the poles to take a lot of weight, as my knees were starting to get quite sore on the descents.
My head was feeling tired as I ascended Aonach Mor, conscious of the steep descent off Aonach Begg with tired legs and only one pole, I lay down on the top and closed my eyes for 5 minutes, I maybe dosed for about 2 minutes but was awakened by a sharp pain in my knee and the breeze on my back. However, it was enough to lift a bit of the cloud from my brain. I got up and moving again, ready for my descent into the Grey Corries.
Once I was off Aonach Beag I stopped again this time to bandage my ankles. They had become swollen from bashing off the rocks and my shoes were now cutting into them.
As I progressed through the Grey Corries my knee was getting increasingly painful and was forcing my descents to be very slow. My soaking feet were also feeling every bit of grit that had found its way into my shoes, but this was tolerable in comparison with the acute knee pain.
On the climb up Stob Ban I made the final decision to stop my attempt, not wanting to go into another night with such restricted movement and potentially putting others at risk. As I checked off summit number 31 I was greeted by a fanfare of midges. My journey of 33 hours was complete, I just had to get back to the car. Robin worked out the easiest way for us to get out to the main road and called ahead for my parents to meet us there.
It was a long painful descent to the road as deciding to end my attempt had also put an end to any adrenaline that was keeping me going.
A couple of days with my feet up, the swelling went down in my knees and feet. It was several more days before I wasn’t waking up at 03:30 with my mind eager to go again.
On reflection having tried and not completed the double has only made this challenge seem within reach, rather than a complete unknown.
My Strava activity can be found here: https://www.strava.com/activities/5533346970
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