It’s a biggie this weekend.
The first section about The Dragon’s Back Race that’s maybe making me the most nervous (of course, there are many), is Crib Goch, the ‘knife-edged arête’ over which us foolhardy participants must scramble, located in Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon).
Translated from Welsh, Crib Goch means Red Ridge – it stands proud at 923 metres above sea level. Many of my compadres and fellow dragon-slayers have already recced it – this weekend will be my first time. And just like most things first time around – they can be terrifying.
Googling Crib Goch in itself can be fatal.
There are plenty of articles suggesting one slip and it’s game over, or check out those videos taken with a fish eye lens that make it look like the climber is standing on a hairs-breadth ridge. Becoming “cragfast” – literally frozen with fear on the rock face – can be the downfall of the uninitiated.
For now, I am the uninitiated, which is why this is paramount for my training. Confidence building and making the unknown more familiar is all part of the process. Having booked on, once again with the fabulous Raw Adventures, I’ll be taking this part of the mountains all too seriously, and will make sure I do it right.
Reports to come later. That is, of course, unless I fall off.
For further Dragon’s Back tips from the man who organised it (yes, it was his idea that Crib Goch was a good plan!), Shane Ohly is over on the podcast talking to me about how to tackle this beast and how to finish the toughest mountain race in the world.
Vegan Fitness Runner 