Lessons from the OMM

Last week Pete and I went on our annual pilgrimage to whichever set of rainy mountains the OMM team pick. This year it was the Tweedsmuir Hills in the Scottish Borders, which was an area I had never visited.

We'd entered the "Medium Score" event, which is like a big orienteering event spread over many miles of mountains and moorland. As we crossed the start line we were given our maps, which showed the finish point for the day (and overnight camp) and many control points dotted around the area, with different numbers of points. We had six hours, carrying everything we needed for two days in the hills (tent, sleeping bag, clothes, food...) to get to the overnight camp, collecting as many points as we could manage. And then we'd do it all again the next day, with a new map and a new set of controls.

A short video of our exploits is here (although in reality we walked much more that the video suggests!)

This was our sixth mountain marathon, so you'd think we were getting the hang of it by now, but there is still plenty to learn.  Here's a few thoughts....

If you are finding it hard, then probably so are other people!

Over the first couple of hours we agreed that this was hard. Ok, it is always hard, but harder than usual! I think we both felt that we were somehow failing ourselves. The hills were too steep. The heather underfoot just the wrong height. It just shouldn't be this hard!  But we noticed that we weren't the only people walking rather than running. In fact almost no-one was running where we were! And when we got to the overnight camp we heard lots of people saying "Wow! That was hard!" Blogs afterwards said the same thing.  It is what it is!

It is easy to make silly mistakes when you are tired.

On the second day we navigated (accurately!) to a control.  I'd chosen a sensible route - down the ridge to the col, where it would be easy to identify the route down the valley to the stream and then to the checkpoint at the stream junction. We got there, and found the little orange flag. I checked the map and found it was the wrong checkpoint. This was "CC" and we wanted "CK". I couldn't understand it.  I looked at the map, and checked where we had come. Pete looked at the dam on the reservoir and said that we were miles from where we needed to be. I took a bearing. He was right. How did we go so wrong? I was angry with myself and embarrassed for taking Pete so far off course.

And then I turned the map over .... and found that we had indeed been aiming for CC. CK was on the next ridge along and in a similar position relative to the ridge. The navigation HAD been ok. we WERE on the right control. But in my tiredness I had turned the map over and focussed on CK. 

We could take more food!

We took the bare minimum of food for the overnight camp. A Mugshot for when we arrived. A Fuizion dried meal, supplemented by sticky bread* and snack bars. Instant porridge for breakfast. It was ok, but we could do better without carrying much more.  Next year we will take bacon for breakfast, partly to make the rest of the campsite jealous!

A Laser Competition is smaller than my Laser

OK - they are both one man tents and squeezing two people in is always going to be tricky. But this year my old Laser had a bent pole and at the last minute I borrowed Alice's Laser Competition. We managed, but it was a squeeze! Back to the older (and slightly heavier) Laser next year!

Keep Eating

We were much better on Day 2 about eating regularly. Pete was insistent about it and we had a regular 30 minute routine of getting out something to nibble. We had a good variety (Mars Bars, Chia Charge Bars, Jelly Babies, Nuts, Sticky Bread), so no excuse.  

We CAN do that last control

On both days we almost argued ourselves out of going for a last control (and its 30 points), telling ourselves we might be late and lose points. Remember - It would be better to go for a 30 point control, and be 15 minutes late (losing 30 points) than not to have tried!  In both cases we achieved the control with plenty of time to spare.

Our packs are getting lighter

When we started this game, I think both of us were carrying too much "just in case" gear, but this year my trusty Osprey 33 was noticeably less full. Pete has a new OMM pack, which was lighter and also seemed to take all his kit with no problem. It will always depend on the forecast, of course, but we seem to have managed to get rid of some of the unnecessary extras. (That'll leave room for bacon next year!)

I guess we learn something new every time we do something like this.  Roll on next year!

* Sticky Bread - Family slang for malt loaf!