The challenge: Written by Kim, one of the team
Climb Ben Nevis (1,344m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Snowdon (1,085m) in under 24 hours
A demanding challenge in any weather, but for us the forecast was particularly horrendous – heavy rain on Ben Nevis, strong winds, hail and thunderstorms on Scafell Pike and heavy rain and 40mph gusts on Snowdon. At 6.30pm on Saturday 22nd June David White, Joe Lee, Lauren Lewis, Josh Hawkins, Chris Everard and I set off on our National Three Peaks Challenge from the base of Ben Nevis.
We were greeted by the heavy rain, but to our relief it soon cleared to glorious sunshine, allowing us to enjoy the amazing views on our way up. As we neared the top, the clouds came down and the fog thickened, but we were not deterred and soon greeted by snow at the top of the mountain. We completed Ben Nevis in 4.5 hours. Considering Joe and I had climbed it in 6 hours previously, this was an excellent start to our adventure and we were soon on the road to Scafell. We reached the start of the Scafell climb by 5am and immediately heard the sirens of mountain rescue coming to someone’s rescue. This definitely focused our attention to the main task in hand – working together to stay safe!
Scafell was particularly difficult in the weather, especially crossing the stream that had become a river and the persistent rain and winds. Joe’s selection of ‘Rocky’ music on repeat helped us to keep our spirits high. We completed Scafell in 3.5 hours. Again we had beaten our target by over an hour.
We reached Snowdon by 2pm and knew we had 4.5 hours to climb one of the most climbed mountains in the UK. ‘Easy’ we thought. How wrong we were!
Within 100m I lost a contact lens, which was literally blown out of my eye. We had all tried to save a dry set of boots, clothes and waterproofs for Snowdon, but the heavy rain and winds soon penetrated them. The temperature was the coldest so far, with winds and rain relentless. The route up the Pyg track is spectacular in the right conditions, but for us it was undeniably treacherous. As we neared the final ridge, the descending hikers that we passed were giving us words of advice ‘there are 80mph gusts up there, go carefully’, ‘hold on to each other’, and my personal favourite ‘consider turning back!’ Not a chance, we were determined to make it! Chris went first onto the top of the ridge and immediately crouched to the floor to fight against the wind, with words of advice he helped us all onto the ridge and led the way up the last 500m to the top. Having never experienced conditions like it before, there was a massive sense of achievement as we reached the top of Snowdon.
At the top we had a quick group photo and an even quicker turnaround to get out of the battering winds. We reached the top in 2 hours, leaving 2.5 hours to get down to the minibus to reach our 24 hour goal. ‘Easy’?! Definitely not! The winds were literally breath-taking, the temperatures continued to plummet and the paths had become streams.
So, did we do make it in 24 hours?!
Absolutely, with half an hour to spare!
I would like to say a massive thank you to my fellow team mates for a fantastic weekend of adventure, our driver Paul Osbourne who had volunteered his services very last minute after our first driver had to pull out, and the support of Stratford Riding for the Disabled Association.
We have raised over £1,500 for Stratford RDA, which is the ultimate motivation for any challenge!
Well done the team and a big ‘Thank you’ from Stratford upon Avon RDA.
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