Articles: Mountain News & Travel Stories
LAMM 2010 Glen Fyne
Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon (LAMM)
12th & 13th June 2010
Glen Fyne
Often referred to as the ‘Connoisseur’s Mountain Marathon’, the LAMM has a loyal following and, despite being held in the summer months, the two day mountain marathon should not be underestimated; in fact, my first LAMM, back in 2004, saw many teams retire on the first day due to blizzards and swollen rivers. Fortunately this year we did not encounter any snow but for those of us who had been studying the mountain specific weather forecast in the days prior to the event, we knew that the sun and clear skies forecast for Saturday would give way to a weather front bringing rain, wind and low cloud through the night and into Sunday.
Although the general area of the event (i.e. northern, mid or southern highlands) is disclosed early on, the exact location is not announced until midday on the Thursday, i.e. the day before we need to set-off. This information is broadcast via the LAMM website and sent by e-mail and it is always an exciting time waiting for the news to be broken. So at exactly midday, the news that Glen Fyne was to be the location (with the event HQ being at the head of Loch Fyne) hit the screens this was promptly followed by an exchange of e-mails with my event partner, Russ Cannon. Fortunately a ‘southern’ event would mean a much shorter journey, less of a concern for getting there but much more helpful on the drive home !
So with kit fine-tuned and the camper loaded we headed north, picking up another team en-route. Arriving at the event centre early evening we were pleased to have a cool breeze blowing up the loch, no midges is always a good start. The organisers had commissioned a special ale from the Fyne Ales with the proceeds being donated to Arrochar Mountain Rescue Team (who had provided support for the event for many years), a temptation too difficult to resist, of course only in the interest of carb loading !
So on to the event, we were in the ‘B’ class and this meant an early bus departure taking us to Inveruglas on the east side of Loch Lomond; the start was just up the track leading to Loch Sloy. The weather was promising, patchy high cloud and some breeze, just what was needed for the initial steep climb to within touching distance of Ben Vorlich (941m). On the way we visited checkpoint 1 (the rules dictate that you must visit all checkpoints in the correct order – these are marked on the pre-printed map which is handed-out whilst heading to the bus departure point – however, you only find out which checkpoints you must visit once the clock starts ticking – there is no mass start, just a gentle staggered start).
With excellent visibility, checkpoints 1 and 2 were easily found but a slightly trickier contour and then descent led us to the third; fortunately I could actually see the control (marked by an orange and white orienteering flag) as we dropped into the re-entrant but we could see many teams struggling to find the control. Without wishing to be too sneaky (it is a race after all) we managed to ‘dib’ at the control and move swiftly on without too many teams spotting the control. This gave us an edge and one which we took full advantage of as we headed North West to cross Strath Dubh Uisage and head towards the next control on a knoll close to the summit of Beinn Damhain (684m).
Day 1 continued to go our way and we came into the overnight camp in Glen Fyne early afternoon; we were one of the first teams to arrive so had no difficulty in finding an ideal camping spot. Obviously being one of the first teams to start, our early finish did not mean we were secured a high position but, as the afternoon, wore on we found ourselves lying in 5th place.
A word or two about the overnight camp; the LAMM organisers always manage to find a remote overnight location, not an easy task given that there may well be somewhere in the region of 500+ tents ! Although a back–to-basics approach is adopted, the organisers over the last couple of years have relented and port-a-loos are available – prior to this, only slit trenches !! Water comes from the river and all rubbish must be carried-out. For those football fans, the first of England’s world cup fiascos was relayed by car radio – I was more interested in eating, drinking and resting for day 2.
As forecast, the rain, wind and clag did arrive overnight and it was a fairly subdued piper that played his tunes at 6am on day 2 (this being another LAMM tradition). Day 2 did not start so well for us, heading uphill from the start we did not give enough thought to route choice and missed an obvious contour into the valley rather than the more time-consuming up and over, we obviously cracked under the pressure of being in the chasing start (this meaning that the leaders from day 1 set off first and the next teams (up to a cut-off point) set-off in delayed intervals depending on how far they are behind the leaders – after the cut-off, teams can start at their leisure).
As is often the case, one bad decision can lead to a loss of focus and we found ourselves making several other poor route choices and slight navigational oversights ! Conditions were far from ideal with the rain and clag persisting during our time out on the fells. It was a relief to finally collect the penultimate control and drop out of the cloud into the valley with the event centre and finish in sight. Even this last descent proved difficult, with bracken, brambles and steep wet ground eventually taking us to the track which led to the finish – this coincided with the weather improving and cloud lifting.
Despite being 22nd on day 2, our overall position was a credible 12th and, with lessons learnt, we tucked into some much needed food and the last of the LAMM ale.
More details about this year’s, as well as previous year’s, event can be found on the LAMM website: www.lamm.co.uk
David White
27/07/10
Key items of kit used:
Tent: Terra Nova Voyager Superlite
Stove/cookware: MSR Pocket Rocket & MSR Titanium Kettle
Sleeping Mat: Torso Mat
Sleeping Bag: North Face Beeline
Pack: OMM Classic 25l
Footwear: Inov-8 Roclite 295’s
Waterproofs: Montane Atomic DT Jacket & Pants
Insulated Top: Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover
Headtorch: Petzl e+LITE
