Lythgoes Adrenalin Rush

Getting the Ropes Ready

Rob / 27.05.2002

The main focus of Monday was the trek across the Blue Stack Mountains and the special rope stage which took place half way through the trek. This was in a spectacular setting and the specialist team who set it up had to work hard to make it a success.

Nigel Shepherd, Bill Wayman and Jan Fromme had flown up to the steep cliffs on the South East side of Binmore by helicopter at noon the day before the race began. They needed a lift to help carry 1000m of rope, some steel cable and other hardware. It was a lucky break they could land at all, the cloud just lifted enough, and the helicopter keep it’s rotors running as they unloaded before flying off and leaving them to set up on a rain soaked mountain side.

They had 24 hours to get 3 separate stages ready, covering a sizeable area, and it rained almost all of the time. The teams started with the abseil and 2 ropes were set up side by side for a 130m descent down to the lough below. Then came the rope ascent, two 25m jumars up nearly sheer faces and 300m of fixed line to scramble up on, including one very “wet and horrible gully�. The finale, which was only just set up in time was the 60m Tyrolean traverse over an airy gully that plunged down to the lake shore far below. For this competitors had to walk face forward down the edge for a frightening10m, then jump and hang free of the pulleys to let gravity take them across.

There was no rest for the ropes team as once the racers began to arrive they had to instruct and safety check all the activities, but the lead teams were mostly very familiar with the techniques and not too slow. The later teams were Shepherd’s main concern, especially as the ropes were so wet, but he was keen to get as many as possible through. “The later teams are likely to be more intimidated and slower�, he said, “but at least it’s not a vertical abseil so that makes life easier.� As the weather improved in the evening the night time cut-off wasn’t enforced and but Shepherd’s fears for later teams were well founded. He didn’t let Ukatak onto the ropes as he felt they were too exhausted to be safe, but they may continue after resting and CapAdventure withdrew at the PC late in the evening – also too tired to go on.�

When all the teams are through the climbing team will have to dismantle everything, and get it back down the mountain, before moving on to the caving stage, which is where the teams will see them next.