Ramsay Round Attempt

A friend of mine attempted a Ramsay Round  this week.
The last time I wrote about the Ramsay was last year when Jez Bragg broke the record of the round which consists of 24 Munros  completing  it in 18 ours 12 minutes. Then a month later John Ascroft  beat that record by over an hour completing  in 16.59.That in itself was remarkable but this year a lady, Jasmin Paris smashed both the male and  female records completing  in  16 hours 13 minutes. I cannot comprehend  how anybody could run that fast over that sort of terrain. It is worth remembering that only 4 females have ever completed a Ramsay in under 24 hours.
My friend  was not attempting  anything so spectacular just wanting to get round even if it took more than 24 hours. My job was to pace her on the section from Loch Treig to Aonach Mor  I spent most of last weekend doing a recce and depositing  some water on the Grey Corries. The weather was showery and  it was quite grim on Aonach Mor. However as I descended the sun started to shine through gaps in the gloom illuminating  small wispy clouds floating in the valley- simply stunning.

Descending Aonach Mor

On Tuesday morning my friend started her attempt. She was wearing  a tracker so we could watch on the internet as she  traversed the mountains which was very exciting.
 Unfortunately it soon became clear that she was slower than planned .By mid afternoon she was several hours behind  schedule. It turned out that she had some problems with her eyes and  was struggling  to see - not good when negociating steep slopes and ridges. Eventually with the weather deteriorating and  night falling she was forced to pull out . However as she said the mountains will always be there for another go
. So I didn't get to run a step except to retrieve the water I had stashed.

The Summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor with Aonach Beag in the background

A Sunny Day

 After what seems like weeks of rain yesterday was frosty and bright. Snowfall overnight on the hills meant that he ski slopes were open . In the morning the sunlight caught the steep eastern slope of Aonach Mor; I sketched the above view from our house.
 Later we had a wonderful  run up to the north face of Ben Nevis, which look magnificent with its plastering of  fresh snow.
 Meanwhile in other parts of Britain there was extensive flooding . We are very lucky that despite a  high annual rainfall, flooding rarely affects our area.

Today it was dull and then wet again. We stopped for a coffee on the way to Inverness and I painted this view of Loch Ness..

Aonach Mor

Yesterday I went for a slow run in the forest and stopped for a sketch . I had just finished the above picture of Aonach Mor when heavy rain came on again . There is still snow on the hills and every shower of rain fell as a dusting of  new snow on the tops. It feels very cold for mid May.
The mountain bike downhill series races were on at Nevis Range. The riders cycle down a precipitous course on Aonach Mor ( the right hand side of the mountain in the view above). Normally they take the gondola to the top but yesterday it was closed due to high winds, so they had to push their bikes to the top.
Hopefully the weather will be better for the world championships on the 6-7th  June.

Some quick sketches

I painted a  two quick sketches on the way home tonight. Cloud was billowing over the Ben and Aonach Mor and was rapidly changing in the evening light. Patches of blue sky were still in evidence but there was an amazing range of clouds varying in colour from fluffy white through cream ,dark blue and almost black. When I started the first Ben Nevis was partly visible but soon completely disappeared under shifting cloud.

Ben Nevis partly obscured by cloud.

Aonach Mor