Three Peaks Challenge
What a team! All 10 of us completed the challenge in under 23 hours!! Everything worked very smoothly, no injuries, 'acceptable' weather, no vehicle breakdowns and everyone got on well. It was also great that James Tottle was with us, although at times I think he would much rather have been somewhere else!
We started at 4:30pm on Saturday, set off up Ben Nevis and reached the summit at 6:50pm. The path gradient is not too steep, so we jogged a lot of the way down and got back to the minibus at 8:40pm, which means a round trip of 4 hours 10 minutes - ahead of schedule! After a quick cup of hot soup we hit the road for Scafell Pike at 9pm, arriving at 3am, feeling refreshed (not!).
Head torches attached, we set off for the summit of Scafell Pike at 3:20am, but missed a turning and soon found ourselves crossing a fast flowing stream and clambering out of a gully to try and get back on the right path! Found it eventually but lost about 20 minutes of time and reached the summit of Scafell Pike at 5:30am in daylight. Got back down by 7am, so the round trip was 3 hours 40 minutes.
Hit the road again at 7:10am for Snowdon and by this time we were all loving the minibus! Arrived at 12:10pm, which gave us 4 hours 20 minutes to get up and down. Reached the summit at 1:50pm, We had the summits of Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike to ourselves but Snowdon was mobbed, busier than Friars Square on a Saturday! And based on what some people were wearing, it looked like they had come straight from there to the mountain!! We all got down before 3:30pm so beat the target by over an hour. A brilliant effort by all.
It's definitely a walking challenge (we walked about 24 miles!) but being cooped up in a cramped minibus for 11 of the 23 hours also makes it a driving challenge!
Thanks again to everyone who donated to the British Heart Foundation. Once all the money is collected, I reckon we'll have exceeded our £3,000 target by at least 50%, which is fantastic.
Anyone still wanting to make a donation to the worthy cause should click on http://www.justgiving.com/voaac_3peaks_challenge