UKH

The UK's Big Three hill rounds, the Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley and Charlie Ramsay, are lifetime ambitions for many runners and even, these days, backpackers. Each is an inspiring goal, but more than a little daunting. In this series we guide you through the process of planning and undertaking a biggie for yourself.      

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This is a link to a lad I met doing a solo Ramsey winter round a while ago on Carn Mor Dearg. Interesting footwear with Katoola spikes.

https://imgcdn.ukc2.com/i/137517?fm=webp&time=1555012426&dpr=1&...

That's an amazing photograph...

9 images stitched together. 96 inches wide Rob!

Is that a normal amount of snow in winter, or was that a "more snow than usual" winter?

It just looked to me (with my vastly limited experience of winter conditions) that there was rather a lot of snow on the Ben.

That's a good fresh blanket but nothing out of the ordinary. Early season type conditions, the bigger gullies haven't banked out fully and I'm not seeing much ice in the usual places on Carn Dearg (eg the Curtain).

Rob, I must point out that 29th May in the Lakes I had absolutely perfect conditions - starry night, cool breeze from N - NW, near cloudless sunshine and dry underfoot after a month of no rain. Just had to attempt the Joss Naylor despite no hill support, and ran out of steam on Esk Pike. It was a brilliant day on the hills so not really bothered that the challenge was not completed, and less worried about needing perfect conditions if I do try again with proper support.

Coincidentally, my first BGR attempt finished in the same place under much the same conditions (but warmer) in 1989. 2057 should be a good year!

To your point about 'over-use' of certain paths, another option for those not aiming to go under 24h (or the very fit) is is tick the summits, but find find nicer routes between them particularly on the most popular areas of the Lake District and Snowdonia.

Winter of 2011 if my memory serves me well. The previous winter was also a good one. You tend to remember those. There was frost hoar crystals growing upwards from the snow surface, and hardly any wind.

A friend of mine is attempting an unsupported Ramsay round as we speak, he just passed Aonach Beag according to his tracker.

How did they get on? Given that they were at Aonach Beag I'm assuming they made it?!

Not if they were going the same way as the person in Sean's photo! Is that unusual?

This is true and it's not unusual at all. There's a breakdown of who did what on Charlie Ramsay's website. In recent years anti-clockwise has become the most popular, and that's the way I did it, hence presuming (rightly or wrongly) that they were getting close.