After a long wait with plenty of training, we finally completed the Three Peaks 24hour Challenge. 12 of us headed up to Fort William on Friday 4 July and stayed at the Ben Nevis Inn Bunk House, which is situated at the base of Ben Nevis. The weather was lovely and the view of the mountain spectacular. The food in the Ben Nevis Inn was fantastic – I certainly recommend the Ben Nevis Burger with salad.
After a long night (the bunk house has people coming and going at all hours), we started the challenge at 8am Saturday morning. Again, the weather was great and we completed the ascent and descent of Ben Nevis in 4 hours 40mins.
We programmed the tomtom for Wasdale head in the Lake District and enjoyed a few sing-a-longs. Andy made a compilation CD containing everyone’s favourite hits. This ranged from Queen to Abba! With only one quick service stop, we arrived at the base of Scafell Pike for 7.35pm. At this stage we were about an hour behind our original schedule and took the decision to cancel all the remaining pit stops and set off the minute the last climber reached the bus. We reckoned we could get back on track if we could make time savings.
Scafell Pike was extremely tough. The rain poured down within our first 15 minutes and we all got drenched. But spirits were high and we pushed on for the top. The ascent took approx 1hour 45mins, which was really pleasing considering the bad conditions. The descent was rather more tricky. The rain had made the rocks wet and slippy. Furthermore, by 10pm it was pitch black. The last walkers wer back in the bus by 11.10pm and we set off immediately for Mount Snowdon. A total time of 3hours 35mins.
The drive to Mount Snowdon was much quieter. We were all starting to feel the aches, pains and tiredness. With no stops we reached Pen-y-pass car park at 4am exactly. We gingerly poured out of the bus into the dark car park and took the ‘miners track’ route up Mount Snowdon. Everyone found the scree climb particularly hard due to muscle abuse and 20hours without sleep. But with persistence and very little talking, we reached the summit for 6am. For the first time, we realised that the 24 hour goal was well within our reach. With a lot more enthusiasm, we took the same route back down to the base of Snowdon, arriving to our drivers smiling face and a warm hand shake. Time on the clock 7.40am (TOTAL TIME
23HOURS 40MINS).
After a quick change out of our wet clothes, we enjoyed a lovely cuppa at the Snowdon base café and some of us even managed to polish off a full cooked breakfast.
All in all, it’s been a fantastic event. The limbs are now aching like mad, and we’re all walking like c3po from Star Wars. But it’s a proud achievement for us all, and something to look back on forever.
A special thanks goes to our dedicated driver Matt. He was fantastic – driving all the routes, getting us to our destinations safely. He also bought sandwiches and drinks whilst we were climbing, therefore saving valuable time and keeping us all well fed and motivated. Having a good driver is the most valuable asset for the whole event.
Wonder what event we’ll try next year……………………..probably something with less walking and more beer!
Jon
Ben Nevis
4hours 45mins
Scafell Pike
3hours 35mins
Snowdon
3hours 40mins
Total distance on foot
22.8miles
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