Looking good at Moot Hall. Andy on the left, Rick in middle, and me exactly 24 hours before returning.
Set off with Alan and Michael. Michael didn’t let on he was in a lot of pain – he’d cracked a rib a few days before, but didn’t want to let me down. We gained time on the first two summits, noted at one stage I was climbing too fast (21m in a minute) and so settled to a relaxed walk up the final ascent of Skiddaw ahead of Andy and Rick. After regrouping we made up more time and reached Blencathra and Yiannis who took us straight down the Parachute Descent, saving us lots more time.
So why choose these extra 8 summits? The final 6 along the Grasmoor ridge would add another big climb to the standard 42, making it more of a personal challenge, with (in all seriousness) a significant risk of failure. The first two worked really well so that I could go round as far as possible with Andy and Rick, and were also reasonably good climbs in their own right. Another early decision was that I would complete the 50, even if it meant taking longer than 24 hours, and I made sure everyone in the team knew this. It saved a lot of discussion later on when things got tough.
So why choose these extra 8 summits? The final 6 along the Grasmoor ridge would add another big climb to the standard 42, making it more of a personal challenge, with (in all seriousness) a significant risk of failure. The first two worked really well so that I could go round as far as possible with Andy and Rick, and were also reasonably good climbs in their own right. Another early decision was that I would complete the 50, even if it meant taking longer than 24 hours, and I made sure everyone in the team knew this. It saved a lot of discussion later on when things got tough.
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