3 Peaks Challenge
A new team will be taking part in the Challenge on July 10-11 2010, read more here
On the 16-17 of August 2008, nine intrepid adventurers set out with one thing in mind, tackling Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in the space of 24 hours. With a pretty awful weather forecast for the weekend, we were all prepared for the worst but as the challenge began at Ben Nevis we had perfect walking weather. It wasn’t too hot or too cold and luckily no rain! We had been warned it could get pretty cold with the low cloud cover at the top of the mountain and so we all had rucksacks full of spare layers. The scenery was stunning but we barely had time to take it all in because with two mountains still to climb, the clock was ticking. Spirits were high and we had lots of laughs, one of the funniest moments being our instructor, Iain, turning round and walking backwards to tell us we were at his favourite part of the mountain but having his sentence cut short as he promptly fell down a hole! As we got higher it was amazing how quickly the temperature dropped the further we walked into the cloud, it was not uncomfortable though as the energy used to climb kept us all warm. After three hours climbing with only 5 minutes of rest, we were at the summit! Then a quick bite to eat and a quick photo and we began to descend the mountain as the wind chill at the top made it -4 degrees so it was not a place where you would want to hang around! It took about 10 minutes of descending to be back at the warmer, less exposed part of the mountain. We got lots of smiles as we descended with our army camouflage face paint on – well, we had to do something to keep ourselves smiling! The two hour decent seemed to only take 30 minutes and we were soon back in the bus for the drive to Scafell Pike.
It was a very slow drive out of Scotland as we got stuck behind lots of camper vans and were held up by an unbelievable amount of road works. Spirits stayed high, however, and before long we were at the foot of Scafell Pike, where the weather forecast (and our worst nightmares) had come true - it was pouring with rain! Before the bus had stopped we were in our wet weather gear and ready to go. With the light fading it looked like this could be a tough climb. An hour in and progress was as expected but as we got higher and it got dark, the winds increased and the rain got harder. Our pace inevitably slowed but we were all determined not to let the weather hold us back and continued to climb. There were a couple of scary rock faces to overcome but no time to think what might happen if we slipped! We continued to battle through and came across some other ‘3 Peak’ challengers who had given up and were heading back; this proved how bad the weather was or were they just lightweights?! Soon we needed a quick stop to change the batteries on Iain’s GPS (luckily it had not broken or we may still be up there). With some serious gritting of teeth we soon reached the summit. I would not like to guess how cold it was or how strong the wind was but once again it was definitely not a time to be hanging around. No time for photos either as it was pitch black and our cameras would not have survived the heavy sideways rain. At this point we came across two other ‘3 Peak’ challengers who had lost seven of their team members; they were lost and ready to stay on the mountain in their survival bags. Iain recommended they descend with us for 20mins and then split off to another path which would get them back to their starting point. Luckily their friends were found by the volunteer mountain rescue team in the morning and they still managed to complete the challenge! As we descended the wind dropped and the knowledge that we were now on our way back to our warm, dry bus was awesome. There was lots more falling over and Helen has now discovered she tore a knee ligament in one of her falls! She should win an award for being so hard-core as, despite the pain, she did not moan once! This was the toughest descent of the weekend and we were a bit slower than expected but we all made it back, cold and wet through but extremely happy with the achievement.
Back on the bus we all got as much sleep as we could but the time flew and it was no time at all before we were at Pen-y-Pass ready to face Snowdon. The rain was still pouring down, so back on went the wet weather gear even though it had not quite dried out after Scafell… nice! Half the team now were now very fatigued or had very sore joints but the other half were still setting an amazing pace! We did the initial part of the Pyg track together but about half way up the guys who still had pace, ‘Team Alpha’, went ahead with our assistant instructor, Faye. I was with the slower group, ‘Team Zulu’, and once copious amounts of painkillers were taken and several Kit-Kats were devoured, the pace picked up slightly. We all battled hard and eventually made it to the top; seeing the group who went ahead of us coming back from the summit really spurred us on and they encouraged us by saying that it wasn’t much further. We were soon all there and if we’d had more energy, I’m sure we would have been jumping for joy but again there was only time for a quick snack, a photo and then the decent began. Like the other two summits, it was very cold and wet but we still managed to have a chat with a guy who worked up there seven days a week, building a hotel, I don’t envy him but at least he gets the train up and down! We descended down the miners’ track which was far steeper at first but once we were at the bottom, the path became much flatter and there was then a long walk round the lakes back to the bus, which was far easier on all of our aching joints. Once again there were amazing views to see but barely enough time to take them in; 20 minutes of very fast walking later and the challenge was complete.
