That's OK JM, I'm taking spice for walkies so already had my big boots on!

John -

It's odd you should say that.

I was wondering whether there was scope for those who are on the standby list to submit routes for pre-vetting, so that when they are awarded their place they are already good to go. Obviously pre-vetting standby routes would take a lower priority than vetting the routes of those who already have their places (IF they've submitted them ...) - but it would, I am sure, both (a) be welcomed by those who are on the standby list, and (b) help to smooth the peaks and troughs in vetting work.

It might mean that you ended up vetting half a dozen more routes than actually needed to be vetted the first year you did it; but at the same time, you can be fairly certain that anybody who had a route pre-vetted and then didn't get their place, would be likely to submit the same route again in future, and coul dsay that it had been pre-vetted. Obviously, some light-touch vetting would still be needed, just to check that they weren't planning on using a birdge that had come down in the meantime, or planning on using a patth through a valley that had since become a hydro-electric reservoir. But this apart, the fact that the route had already been pre-vetted woul dlikely savfe work in future years, so it would be redistributed effort rather than weated effort.

Anyway ... I'd been thinking of mentioning it, and this thread seemed the idea opportunity for doing so.

A good point for possible consideration J. But I am afraid that it will not find favour with me. I have only checked 20 routes this year but I recon to have spent about 80 hours on these. I am still waiting for some Challengers to come back with their revisions (some dating back several months) and it looks as though I will still be checking route revisions after the end of March. I started in November and I think five months is enough time to devote unpaid to the Challenge. These are my personal opinions and others on the vetting team may feel differently.

Agree wholeheartedly Mr Grumpy.

One thing we have done in just a couple of instances is accept routes from Standby Listers in advance of them getting a place. They've not been vetted immediately; instead I held them so that if/when they got lucky the route could be vetted as quickly as possible.

However, we've only done this where 1) the Standby Lister was going to be overseas for an extended period and 2) they were absolutely sure they would still be available to walk in May.

In both cases it worked very well and in both cases the routes were exceptionally well presented requiring little if any revision.

Most of the vetters have got through between 15 and 30 routes each, some of which have had to have 12 hours or substantially more time devoted to them. They need time to replenish their glasses an nip down to Booze-U-Like from time to time!

These days I seldom post anything on this site but Jeremy raises a pertinent point which I feel obliged to answer.
Despite the merits of J's point, as a vetter I'm wholeheartedly with Peter (Mr Grumpy) on this issue. This year I've so far only vetted routes from 19 individuals or teams but a number of these have been returned more than once for revision(s). On one route I eventually started logging my time spent on it and can safely say I spent over 14hrs on it alone!

There is also a possibility that someone on S/B list having had their route vetted feels they are entitled to be on the challenge whether this is the case or not.

I don't think it's too much to expect all who were on S/B list to have been planning a route just in case a place is gained and to have finalised this by end of January. Consequently if they then gain a place their route could be submitted within a week of notification. As most now have access to internet and route sheets are available on line they could even have their route sheet filled in before gaining a place.

Thanks for all your answers, guys.

As ever, it's necessary to appraise a suggestion like this from all angles, and I only have the one point of view, namely, that of the participant sitting near the top of hte waiting list, with a route ready to go, thinking "this is ready for vetting; I'm probably going to get my place now; but some poor vetter is going to have to look at it very late in the day when, if they had it in their hands now, they would at least get the choice whether to leave it until late in the day or take a look at it now while waiting for those seventh additional route revisions to come in from so-and-so".

However, the vetters' perspective seems to be a bit different and of course I respect that.

p.s. Whichever of you has my route ... yes, I do know that I can't use Culra Bothy, but that wasn't announced until AFTER I sent the route in and, alas, my crystal ball appears to be defective this year. It's a good area for camping spots, though, so please just substitute "Wild camp in the Culra / Pattack area"