G/LD-001 Scafell Pike, G/LD-005 Great Gable, G/LD-014 Kirk Fell - Activation Report 12/09/2020

[2E0HQS]

I decided to solo summit Scafell Pike, Great Gable and Kirk fell. My first time in the Lakes since I was young. I was not sure on my level of fitness but I felt that doing just Scafell Pike on its own would not be enough reward for the 6hours of driving, I realised I could probably do the other two peaks, with associated exit routes if required.

Got up around 03:00 and drove 3hours to Wasdale head. Arrived at first light - 06:40 and got on with it, 2h20min up.

I don’t have timings for the others worked out but needless to say it was pushing me. Cramp set in at top of Great Gable.

Ran out of water and had to purify some tarn run off. 10hours of walking, 1500m climbed, 28k steps, 12.5km, 447 floors.

Planning paid off and I learned a lot to improve for next time.

26 SOTA points.

Nice summit to summit with Portugal as well as contacts with Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Spain. I focused on 2M for the rest of the trip due to the conditions.

Overall, 40 contacts, many thanks to all the Chasers and those who stuck with me for the day - it really helped me to keep going.

12/09/2020	08:37	08:37	7.175	SSB	10	HB9DHA	59	59	SOTA	G/LD-001	REINHARD	Switzerland
12/09/2020	08:42	08:42	7.175	SSB	10	SM4CJM	55	52	SOTA	G/LD-001	Hans	Sweden
12/09/2020	08:43	08:43	7.175	SSB	10	LA5WNA	55	55	SOTA	G/LD-001	Harald	Norway
12/09/2020	08:44	08:44	7.175	SSB	10	EA2CE	55	44	SOTA	G/LD-001	Esteban	Spain
12/09/2020	08:45	08:45	7.175	SSB	10	EA2CKX	55	42	SOTA	G/LD-001	Pedro	Spain
12/09/2020	08:47	08:47	7.175	SSB	10	CT2HOV/P	55	41	SOTA	G/LD-001	Nuno - Portugal	S2S CT/TB-017
12/09/2020	09:02	09:02	145.475	FM	5	M7XUP/M	55	56	SOTA	G/LD-001	Steve	Dearham
12/09/2020	09:04	09:04	145.475	FM	5	2E0TDX	55	52	SOTA	G/LD-001	Neil	Chester
12/09/2020	09:05	09:05	145.475	FM	5	2E0XYL	55	52	SOTA	G/LD-001	Karen	Chester
12/09/2020	09:06	09:06	145.475	FM	5	GM4WHA	59	59	SOTA	G/LD-001	Jeff	ANNAN
12/09/2020	09:07	09:07	145.475	FM	5	GW1CJJ/P	55	52	SOTA	G/LD-001	Phil	Colwyn Bay
12/09/2020	09:08	09:08	145.475	FM	5	G1JPV	58	54	SOTA	G/LD-001	Tony	Frodsham
12/09/2020	09:09	09:09	145.475	FM	5	M0TRI	52	33	SOTA	G/LD-001	Andrew	Penrith
12/09/2020	09:10	09:10	145.475	FM	5	2E0IKM	58	58	SOTA	G/LD-001	Mike	Cockermouth
12/09/2020	09:12	09:12	145.475	FM	5	G1OHH	59	59	SOTA	G/LD-001	Sue	Lancaster
12/09/2020	09:12	09:12	145.475	FM	5	G0TDM	53	31	SOTA	G/LD-001	John	Penrith
12/09/2020	09:13	09:13	145.475	FM	5	G7CDA	59	59	SOTA	G/LD-001	Dougghie	Lancaster
12/09/2020	09:14	09:14	145.475	FM	5	G7KSE/P	54	59	SOTA	G/LD-001	Alex	Cumbria
12/09/2020	12:20	12:20	145.475	FM	5	2E0IKM	58	57	SOTA	G/LD-005	Mike	Cockermouth
12/09/2020	12:21	12:21	145.475	FM	5	GM4WHA	59	59	SOTA	G/LD-005	Jeff	ANNAN
12/09/2020	12:22	12:22	145.475	FM	5	M7XUP	59	59	SOTA	G/LD-005	Steve	Dearham
12/09/2020	12:24	12:24	145.475	FM	5	G1OAE	55	59	SOTA	G/LD-005	Tony	Seaton
12/09/2020	12:27	12:27	145.475	FM	5	G0TDM	55	51	SOTA	G/LD-005	John	Penrith
12/09/2020	12:28	12:28	145.475	FM	5	G1OHH	55	57	SOTA	G/LD-005	Sue	Lancaster
12/09/2020	12:28	12:28	145.475	FM	5	G6LKB	58	57	SOTA	G/LD-005	David	Ulverston
12/09/2020	12:29	12:29	145.475	FM	5	2E0JCM/M	58	53	SOTA	G/LD-005	John	Blackburn
12/09/2020	12:30	12:30	145.475	FM	5	GW4ZPL	53	53	SOTA	G/LD-005	John	Caernarfon
12/09/2020	12:31	12:31	145.475	FM	5	M7AVT/M	54	59	SOTA	G/LD-005	Aigars	Carlisle
12/09/2020	12:32	12:32	145.475	FM	5	G7CDA	51	54	SOTA	G/LD-005	Dougghie	Lancaster
12/09/2020	12:33	12:33	145.475	FM	5	G0LWU	52	41	SOTA	G/LD-005	Andy	Lancaster
12/09/2020	12:34	12:34	145.475	FM	5	GM6LJE	58	59	SOTA	G/LD-005	Robert	CANONBIE
12/09/2020	12:34	12:34	145.475	FM	5	G7KSE/P	51	59	SOTA	G/LD-005	Alex	Cumbria
12/09/2020	14:08	14:08	145.475	FM	5	GM4WHA/M	51	54	SOTA	G/LD-014	Jeff	ANNAN
12/09/2020	14:08	14:08	145.475	FM	5	M0TRI	53	11	SOTA	G/LD-014	Andrew	Penrith
12/09/2020	14:11	14:11	145.475	FM	5	G0TDM	52	31	SOTA	G/LD-014	John	Penrith
12/09/2020	14:11	14:11	145.475	FM	5	G1OHH	53	53	SOTA	G/LD-014	Sue	Lancaster
12/09/2020	14:14	14:14	145.475	FM	5	G4ZRP	52	57	SOTA	G/LD-014	Brian	Wirral
12/09/2020	14:15	14:15	145.475	FM	5	G0LWU	52	52	SOTA	G/LD-014	Andy	Lancaster
12/09/2020	14:16	14:16	145.475	FM	5	M7XUP	56	56	SOTA	G/LD-014	Steve	Dearham
12/09/2020	14:17	14:17	145.475	FM	5	G1OAE	59	59	SOTA	G/LD-014	Tony	Seaton

Got back down around 17:00 and back home around 20:30, 17.5hours end-to-end.

Definitely found my limit. 40mph winds, no rain but might as well have been with the amount of sweat.

[M6GYU]

Thats a pretty long day out.! Thanks for sharing!

Don’t you trust the water on the fells? So far I’ve reached 70 with no ill effects (Although Mrs M6gyu would not necessarily agree!)

[2E0HQS]

I think on balance you’d probably be alright, though there were plenty sheep roaming around there may be a small risk of parasites. YMMV, caveat emptor etc.

[M0NOM]

Congratulations, not sure how I missed you, but clearly not short of chasers!

I’ve bought a SAWYER PRODUCTS SP181 All-in-One Squeeze Filter as a belt-and-braces option for lightening the water load. I’ve been warned about dipping into fell top tarns, but others have confirmed that if you are intelligent about choosing your water sources (high as possible, running water) then you should be fine.

It’s a fine balance between intelligence and perceived risk otherwise. We have had some stories about drinking water from a lovely, fast flowing stream only to find a dead sheep in it upstream.

Enjoy!
Mark.

[G4IPB]

Well done - an impressive achievement! I also have one of the squeeze filters, it doesn’t weigh much and gives me a bit of extra confidence. It is always somewhat worrying to have a drink from a stream on the way up to find a dead sheep round the corner. It would be really interesting to know what the risk is.

What is the next challenge? St Sunday Crag, Fairfield, Seat Sandal and Helvellyn? ( I managed the first three in a (long) day but had a much shorter drive )

73 Paul

[2E0HQS]

This will get done at some point for sure, perhaps after Dec 1st. Only two hour drive to boot, luxury!

[G8CPZ]

@2E0HQS

Cramp set in at top of Great Gable …… Ran out of water and had to purify some tarn run off. 10hours of walking

Alistair, great achievement, well done. I also got bad (thigh) cramps on Thursday on the long steep descent after activating Scafell Pike and Scafell.

Scafell Pike (G/LD-001) and Scafell – 10th. September 2020

Scafell Pike G/LD-001 (WOTA LDW-001) and Scafell (WOTA LDW-002, HEMA G/HLD-044) – 10th. September 2020 WOTA = Wainwrights On The Air HEMA = HEMA stands for HuMPs Excluding Marilyns Award HuMP = a HuMP is a summit that has a Hundred-Metre Prominence I’ve wanted to walk the Scafells since moving to Cumbria last year but there never seemed to be a right time (either the summit’s far too crowded or weather too adverse for me). The compromise was to activate this month now that the main tourist a…

I hadn’t drunk all of my 0.8l bottle of sugar-free cordial. I didn’t feel that thirsty. Maybe I should have drunk more anyway as I was sweating on both ascents. Seems like you weren’t out of water per-say as you purified some wild water. I think a lack of sugary food and absence of replacement electrolytes in the water were probably factors in my case [I just bought some electrolyte tablets for my next long walk]. Did you use them?

I also think [although I’ve read about this I didn’t find a definitive answer – so experts please comment or disagree] that cramp can be caused by depletion of muscle energy ( adenosine triphosphate or ATP, apparently) especially if those muscles are made to do the same action repetitively for many hours. And it may be, that one cannot replace this stored energy fast enough in real-time for a given size of muscle.

Take a few days off.

73, Andy

[2E0HQS]

Salient points Andy. You’re right, I did not run out of water but I knew I did not have enough to do the final peak if I hadn’t have collected more (I carried 2.5l of fluid and feared the weight to carry more than this). I finished it off before I went up (I’d been informed I could get some at the top).

Very interesting on the electrolytes, I do not carry any but I did have a range of fats, sugars, proteins, salty crisps etc through the day to keep the energy levels up. Kendal mint cake and coffee did a lot for the morale.

I think that it was purely down to muscle mass, cardio fitness and as you say the repetitive nature, perhaps not something any additive could fix other than more walking!

73 and well done on your summit of both - great on getting the 200th!