Tranter's attempt No 1

I had thought about attempting Tranter's Walk much earlier in the year but what with the weather and other things time was running out. With the excellent forecast for today in the West I decided to give it ago. I haven't run or walked much here apart from getting down Ben Nevis after ice climbs.

I based schedule times on a 23.5h Ramsay attempt to see how I would cope with that, and with a 4am start I thought I would get back to easy ground before it got dark that evening. I had thought about starting earlier but the unknown rocky ground around Carn Mor Dearg put me off that idea. It was still very dark when I set off opposite the youth hostel in Glen Nevis. To start with I felt alright and a very pleasant temperature for running. However, once on the screes by Red Tarn I began to really struggle. My calves felt very tight and my stomach was all over the place. Motivation as really low until dawn broke, but the ground really was very loose and I couldn't lift the pace.

At the summit, which I had never seen in summer before, I was 20min off the pace. I gave myself until CMD to start hitting the schedule. The arete was tricky and I kept too close to the crest instead of the probably quicker path lower down. The sun crested the Aonachs and lit up NE buttres whilst the lower straths remained shrouded in cloud. All ascents seemed to go on for ever and I was worried what I would feel like once I got on to the Mamores. At the summit cairn of CMD I was a total of 35min down and I decided that I would bail off into Glen Nevis as soon as I really began to struggle.

Another tricky descent from CMD into a very deep bealach was quickly followed by another steep but grassy climb up to the summit plateau. A small fox trotted along the skyline, stopped, glanced over and dropped over out of my view. After Aonach Beag a vague path strewn with greasy slabs wound over a subsidary top. I dropped steeply off the nose, and after a couple of steep and decidedly tricky steps got on to easier ground to the broad bealach before Sgor Connich Beag. For the first time, I sat down on a sun-warmed slab of rock, ate some more food and decided to go on for a couple more peaks. I couldn't find a path up so struggled for a while on wet slippy, grass. Inevitably, I decided that enough was enough as I seriously doubted my motivation would sustain me for the next 12-14 hours. Glen Nevis was teeming with midgies and the road section back to the hostel was painful on my feet and thighs. As I hobbled along the tarmac I was quite upset and demoralised about giving up so early on into the run. But I suppose I was happier, on balance, to be miserable and back at the car rather than miserable and heaving my tired legs up another hill. At least I had checked out the trickiest section of the round and I have a much better idea of the terrain, pace and feed strategy required.

Stats: Time: 7h Dist: 26.2km Height gain: 2000m?