Liverpool Round Table 8

The Three Peaks Challenge involves climbing the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales in as short a time as possible. Our own challenge was scheduled to begin on Saturday 28th June at 6am, here is the report of the highs and lows of our challenge.

The chalengees just about to set off for scotland

Following months of detailed planning, everything was going fine, until the last week, when loss of drivers and vehicles made for some interesting last minute changes. We finally settled on a Volvo XC 90 driven by Tim and a Discovery 3 Driven by Andrew carrying the seven walkers Adam, Dave, Howard, Mark, Mike, Richard and Will.
Setting off from our base camp in Liverpool on the Friday, the challenge team were jubilant and optimistic (that wouldn’t last!). Lively debate and a rundown of number ones (especially the more camp ones for some reason) made the journey to Fort William entertaining and good time was made with some of us making it to the pub before 8pm. After an uncharacteristically short time, we had decamped to the nearest restaurant and were off to bed for 11pm. Our discount lodgings weren’t the most comfortable or the quietest, but most managed a few hours of sleep, rising at the unholy hour of 04:00. Mike’s first comment was something about the size of Andrew’s appendage, but the details of this exchange are lost in the hazy memories of porridge, tea and ‘dippy’ boiled eggs.

The Walkers massed prior to their assault on Ben Nevis

We arrived at Glen Nevis visitor centre following a brief (and unexpected) driving tour of Fort William to find a smattering of activity as other groups were setting off/waiting for walkers to return. Setting out behind schedule (06:02) we were still a merry bunch as we began strolling off into the rather damp morning. The climb up Ben Nevis was a new one to most, with none of us having

The Summit of Ben Nevis is Reached - as you can see, excellent weather

climbed to the summit previously. Cloud shrouded the summit from about 500m up, so there wasn’t much indication of how far we had left to climb, until we reached the very top. The paths were crowded with many walkers attempting the challenge themselves and this did slow us up at some points (particularly on the way down). But we managed to reach the summit with the advance party of Richard and Howard getting there around 09:30 and the rest of the group getting there at 10:05.

A short turn around was very much on the cards with the high winds, thick cloud and drizzle making for a very damp and cold experience. The walk down was much quicker, although it began to dawn just how far it was up the peak! Arrival back to the visitor centre was staggered with the advance party returning for 12:02 and the remaining 5 (after some navigational debates) at 13:02. Owing to the drenching weather and need for members to avail themselves of the facilities in the visitor centre, our turnaround was somewhat tardy, with a final departure time of 13:30.

Dusk sets in as the team reach the summit of Scafell Pike

Luckily we were not held up too much by the traffic and, aside from the odd caravan, managed a good run to reach the National Trust Campsite at Wasdale Head for 19:00. After more calls of nature and sorting out of damp kit and we were on our way to the summit of Scafell Pike, facing the likely prospect of a large amount of the walk being in darkness. The walk was a long slope of somewhat slippery rocks, but we managed to reach the top by 21:49 with little incident. As it was now after sunset and the clouds were yet again at 500m, we were keen to get of the rapidly chilling and darkening summit, so we assembled for the group photo and set off apace downwards. Once the light began to fade to darkness, head torches were switched on to bathe the area at our feet in a small beam (or in some cases, bring artificial daylight to half a mountain) to help avoid trips and falls on the rocky paths. Unfortunately, the combination of darkness, dampness and tiredness led to a very slow descent and the odd non-fatal slip. We were most surprised to see some groups still heading to the top during our descent – something none of us envied (and the walkers in question didn’t seem to be revelling in either). Some further navigational difficulties in the slower group (not helped by the lack of light now meaning it was not possible to see further than 20m) led to a short exchange on the team CB and fallback onto the old favourite in the navigational toolkit of ‘wandering about until something looks familiar’. Eventually, we managed to retrace our steps and were back for Ferrero Rocher and Tea by midnight. Turnaround was similar, despite having now leaned how to deal with wet kit (shove it in the boot and we’ll sort it out when we get to Snowdon) and we departed Wasdale Head at 00:30.

Finally, we reach the summit of Snowdon, and it's not dark or cloudy for just a second!

The journey to Snowdon is not recorded since all team members took the opportunity to get some sleep, (apparently including the drivers on occasion). Arrival to the Pen-y-pass greeted us with torrential rain and we sat, unhurried, in the cars for a good 5 minutes before any attempt was made to put on boots which now pressed exactly where the blisters were and soaked waterproof clothes. After a 20 minute ‘kitout’ we set off for our third and final summit at 05:20, still in quite good spirits given the previous 23 hours, but slower than we had been on the training walks! Following the deceptively long Miners Path, we managed a somewhat slow pace, with everyone hanging back for the slowest walker and providing encouragement. We reached the summit by approximately 08:40 (memories are hazy on this point) and began the descent. The challenge was close to finishing off some walkers, with knees getting decidedly sore and necessitating walking backwards on some of the trickier parts. The incessant rain continued, further sapping spirit, but the final walkers returned by 11:43 to complete the challenge!

Breakfasts all round was the order of the day in the Pen-y-pass café and a final photo saw the challenge draw

The challenge is complete - home to bed for a well earned 20 hours solid sleep!

to a close. A quick bust of ‘She Wears Red Feathers’ and the group split to head home, finally arriving back to Liverpool for 15:30, some 50 hours following the departure of a happy group setting out on their challenge.

In less than 30 hours, we raised over £5000 for Zoe’s Place in Liverpool, making it all worthwhile!

Thanks to all the sponsors who gave us the incentive to push on through the pain to achieve our goal!