Welsh 3000's 2007

=Welsh 3000’s 20th-22nd April 2007=

Participants, Speeds & Timecard
All groups started from Pen-Y-Pass at 0355. They “woke up” at 0300. Below are their speeds.

Support Crew were Hereward Cooper and Mike G who cooked, drove and ridiculed.

Also present were Chris Banks, John Proctor, and Rob Hudson who went rock climbing, ridiculed, and ate the club food.



Costs
Total cost per person was £40.00 for current members, £20 for Old Gits (because they used mostly their own transport). The breakdown was as follows:

Transport: £365.00 (£22.81 per person) Accommodation: £246 (£12.95 per person) Food: £72 (£3.80 per person)

Because we had three members who were staying with us at the hut but independent of the clubs activities (and transport, food etc), their accommodation added £36 to our final accommodation payment.

Routes
Routes were walked as per route card with one group finishing at the second checkpoint and one group starting along Crib Goch east ridge which proved quicker, albeit more technical.

Vagrants & Hobos
One participant completed the challenge disguised as a tramp. The same participant also subcumbed to a severe chaffage injury, though it's not clear if this was genuine or part of the disguise. Short, but accurate video clip of the attack of the chaffinch is here. One member of the support crew also practiced their chav-style joyriding in a Salford Van Hire mini-bus, causing several hundreds pounds worth of damage to the vehicle. They have not yet received their ASBO (because ASBOs are only given to dodgy London-folk who can't keep a job down!).

Support
There was plenty of food, although we ran out of milk. Checkpoints were at Nant Peris and Idwal Cottage. The last pickup is a half hour drive from Gwern Gof Isaf. We brought breakfasts of eggs, bacon, sausage (inc. vegetarian), crisps, chocolate bars tea, coffee and squash. Lunch at checkpoint two was of a large quantity of 8p noodles. The pickup at the end brought with them crisps, chocolate bars and squash. For dinner at the hut we made spaghetti Bolognese including a vegetarian option. We also put on Swiss roll and custard.

Accommodation
We stayed at ULMC Hut, Gwern Gof Isaf, Capel Curig. It’s a really good hut with lots of room and a big kitchen. Nearby crag to satiate the needs of those vertically inclined who revel in the pain of climbing/scrambling on sore feet and with a painful back.

Equipment
We needed the kit bag, camping kit bag, W3K bucket and water carriers. Walkers need to be told to buy bivvy bags, maps and compasses.

Finishing Points
This year the weather was good which contributed to a high number of finishers and some good times. Support was well coordinated; I am told that the warden at Idwal Cottage was impressed with the level of organisation with which our support team conducted themselves. It should be noted that the telephone reception on Foel Fras was a bit intermittent and it is highly that all participants have phones and try them from standing next to the trig point. I think that people need to be better informed about the more technical sections along Crib Goch, Tryfan and to some extent Pen Yr Ole Wen. Making Paul’s route card available to groups before they start would allow them to make adjustments for their planned stops. Making the GPS track logs available to them may also prove more and more useful as modern technology takes over long standing traditions of using a map and compass.